Chocolate Futures

Chocolate-Project--
Ever tasted Haitian chocolate?

No… maybe not, since until recently no Haitian-grown chocolate was available in the United States.

With chocolate being called Haiti’s “golden ticket to prosperity,” interest is high among chocolate makers and chocolate connoisseurs to sample it.

“Haitian chocolate is an exciting and interesting origin,” explains Eli Curtis, who runs Bisou Chocolate in Berkeley with his partner Tracey Britton. “Hispaniola has traditionally been an island of great cacao. The Dominican Republic is well known as one of the finest origins available; what people don’t realize is that they also have great trees in Haiti.”

Ben Feldman, a Berkeley-based advocate for local food and sustainable farming says, “I recently traveled to Haiti to learn about cacao. I only spent a week there, but Haiti is a place I will never forget. What I learned about the potential for chocolate in Haiti led to the development of the Haitian Chocolate Project.”

On January 28, the Haitian Chocolate Project launched their Kickstarter to allow U.S. consumers to buy Haitian Chocolate bars. Within 36 hours, the funding goals were met and the entire first batch of chocolate bars was sold out. The project is now adding more batches and working on stretch goals to continue giving back as much as possible to the Haitian cacao farmers. Learn more about it here.