Awajún Chocolate Bar

Dark chocolate bars from Chocolatemakers made with Criollo cocoa beans from the Amazon rainforest in Peru. The milk chocolate also contains hand-picked Arabica coffee beans from Colombia. Made in a traditional way in the Chocolatemakers chocolate factory in Amsterdam, which runs entirely on solar energy; even in winter!

For Chocolatemakers, it’s all about the perfect taste thanks to a sustainable ‘bean to bar’ cocoa chain. The fair trade cocoa is grown by the ‘Awajún’ along the banks of the Cenepa and Rio Santiago rivers in the Amazon rainforest. They are members of the NorAndino cooperative, an organisation with approximately 5000 members, including 1800 cocoa farmers, spread across northern Peru, both on the coastal side and the Amazon side.

Peru has many communities living in the Amazon rainforest and one of the largest groups is the 'Awajún' with a population of around 65,000. They live from slash-and-burn agriculture and control large areas of the rainforest. As the population increases, the pressure on the rainforest increases and other sources of income are important for the survival of their way of life. Cocoa is a perfect alternative here; it requires shade trees and can be planted in combination with other crops. It reduces the need for slash-and-burn agriculture, ensuring the survival of the rainforest.

All cocoa beans are bought directly from farmers' cooperatives. The cocoa comes from farmers who only work with sustainable raw materials on the plantations. Without chemicals and harmful pesticides.

NorAndino is a special project. They process part of the cocoa harvest in their own cocoa factory. The factory in Peru is bigger than the one in Amsterdam, with a modern production line for high-quality Fairtrade cocoa mass. In the future, they will also be able to make their own chocolate.

The dark chocolate contains a minimum of 80% cocoa solids.

Packaging
The chocolate bars are packed in grease-proof paper printed with bio-ink. The inner wrapper is paper with cellulose, to prolong the shelf life of the chocolate. Cellulose resembles plastic, but it is made from plant-based materials and can therefore go straight into the compost heap.