New Prestat ESOKO Chocolate
Prestat, chocolatier to Her Majesty The Queen, has just launched its new Finest Selection Chocolate Bean Bars. Each of the four bars is a masterpiece created from cocoa beans sourced from Sao Tome, Ghana and Tanzania – ranging from fabulously creamy white chocolate with Madagascan vanilla to an outrageously intense 80% dark bar.
The bars launch Prestat’s ‘Committed to Trading Fairly initiative’. Every cocoa bean in every bar is grown by farmers who benefit from ESOKO – an alternative initiative to the Fair Trade scheme – which Prestat has helped to pioneer. It directly benefits each farmer by helping them get the best possible price for their crops via a subsidised SMS information system.
Nothing less than the ultimate expression of Prestat’s expertise and passion for chocolate would do – so tracking down the finest cocoa beans from Africa was followed by weeks of perfecting each couverture in Prestat’s artisan kitchen. The extravagant packaging, designed by the renowned artist and illustrator Kitty Arden, has already passed muster at the ‘Palace’ and provides a glorious prelude to what lies inside…
Tasting notes:
• Fabulously Creamy White Chocolate - The smoothest creamy, white chocolate with real Madagascan vanilla
• Velvety Smooth Milk Chocolate - A bold milk chocolate bursting with the fragrance of hazelnuts and a note of caramel
• Dark & Rich Chocolate 71% - Dark but not bitter with hints of coffee and hazelnuts
• Intensely Dark Chocolate 80% - Hints of forest fruits, ginseng and angelica
All bars are 75g/2.65oz
Prices: White, Milk and Dark – RRP £1.80: Intensely Dark – RRP £2.00
Unlike the Fair Trade scheme, the ESOKO initiative guarantees provenance and is very streamlined and unbureaucratic. Having trialled the ESOKO system with 200 farmers in Ghana, the initial feedback suggests that it typically raises a family’s income by around 25% – significantly more than the benefit they get from the Fair Trade scheme.
Prestat subsidises regular SMS texts which are sent to farmers through ESOKO, providing them with local and international commodity prices for the crops they grow. The farmers are then able to negotiate with local traders much more effectively and sell their crops when prices are relatively high. Given the volatility of prices, that can make a very significant difference. ESOKO also gathers information from farmers on likely crop yields, the quality of produce and problems with disease and pests for example, all of which can benefit the whole industry – from farmers to manufacturers.
Although Esoko does not directly address the problems of child labour, many people who are familiar with West Africa feel that the exploitation of children and other social issues are caused and fuelled by widespread poverty. There is a powerful argument that significantly boosting the local farmers’ real income over a sustained period is therefore the best way to curb social problems.
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