CACAO: How It All Began

by Thomas Gomersall

By now, the partnership between Masarang and Cacao artisanal chocolates should be well known to followers of both groups. Masarang Foundation’s palm sugar is an essential ingredient in Cacao’s chocolates, but what is less known to a lot of people is how the company started and the ethos behind its chocolate making. That is until the publication of an article in the Hong Kong branch of the Epoch Times, which can be found in the link below.

In the article, Cacao co-founder, Charles Gomersall, talks about how his desire to start up his business came from both his love and guilt surrounding chocolate. Despite his love for chocolate, he was unnerved by stories of human rights abuses on cocoa plantations in West Africa, particularly of children. Often, children who work on these plantations are victims of child trafficking and work as slaves dragging bags of cocoa pods many times their own weight and splitting the pods open with machetes, often leading to serious injury. His concerns deepened when he discovered that 90% of West African rainforests have been lost to cocoa plantations and that such plantations are where the majority of commercial chocolate companies buy cocoa from.

The article goes on to explain that Charles, who was already a highly experienced and well-known cook among his friends and family, was encouraged to try to make his own chocolates. Together with his wife Carolyn, he studied chocolate making in Singapore and the couple set up their company, Cacao, in August last year with the emphasis on producing and selling ethically sourced, environmentally friendly chocolates.-hence the logo that describes their chocolates as being “guilt free”.

The authors go on to describe the role of the Masarang Foundation in the production of the chocolates. Upon learning that his parents were now seriously going ahead with their chocolate business after months of discussions, Charles and Carolyn’s son, Thomas, persuaded them to try Masarang’s palm sugar. As a recent Ecology and Conservation Biology graduate and part time Masarang volunteer, Thomas was aware of not only Masarang’s work in Indonesia, but also of the financial limitations that constrain a lot of conservation projects. He therefore felt that using Masarang’s sugar would provide the organisation with a welcome source of regular funding for their wildlife rehabilitation and rainforest restoration work. Happily, Charles and Carolyn found that the sugar produced by the award-winning, zero waste sugar palm factory, complimented the chocolate beautifully and Cacao now use it both in their chocolate production and in their chocolate related products such as cookies.

In the pursuit of ethicality and environmental friendliness in its production line however, Cacao has not skimped on the taste of its products. It’s cocoa nibs (sourced from Colombia where there is no child slave labour and where the government recently committed to zero deforestation cocoa farming) are freshly ground to achieve an intense chocolatey flavour. Sometimes using environmental friendly ingredients has even helped to improve the taste, as a taste test comparing chocolates made with Masarang sugar with those made with normal sugar revealed. The Gomersalls’ have also been steadfast in not using additives or preservatives so as to keep ingredients as pure as possible. They very much hope to be able to include more products supplied from Masarang in the future, in particular, illipe nut butter, could be a valuable component in their vegan range.

If you like the sound of the article, follow the link below for more details. But for those of you who can’t read Chinese and/or would prefer to hear about Cacao’s chocolates straight from the horse’s mouth, visit their Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/cacaohk/ ) for details on products and prices.

Epoch Times: https://hk.epochtimes.com/news/2019-02-11/84471016

Orders can be made via a Facebook message, by emailing carolyn@cacao.hk. or by calling Carolyn on 97807360

Cacao will also be at the Green is the New Black Conscious festival at the Kerry Hotel, Hung Hom Bay on 13/14th April 11am-7pm and at the Discovery Bay Sunday Market on 14th of April.