Gold Medal winner in the Outstanding NZ Food Producer Awards 2022

Made from ground 70% bean-to-bar dark chocolate, with comforting tasting notes of moreish malt and silky caramel. Foundry Drinking Chocolate is delicious made with water, milk or the plant based milk of your choice.

This moreish, bean to bar, craft drinking chocolate began with cacao beans grown by the dedicated farmers of Pinalum, Vanuatu. Then in their little foundry, the cacao was crafted together with only one other ingredient; organic cane sugar, to create a chocolate that highlights the harvest’s mellow personality. Two ingredients, nothing else. Comfort in every sip. Enjoy.

The drinking chocolate is packaged in a home compostable resealable pouch.

This is pure, whole chocolate, not a mixture of powders like most hot chocolate drinks. As it contains cocoa butter, we recommend heating the chocolate and milk (or water) together in a pan on the stove. Mix vigorously with a spoon or - even better - using a stick blender.

250g - makes around ten cups of drinking chocolate.

100% Plant based.

Be sure to check out some of our hot chocolate recipes!

Origin Information

Located on the lush and remote Malekula Island, the small group of famers from Pinalum Village have been specialising in fine flavour cacao since 2015.

Organised by the tireless Olivier Fernadez from Gaston Cacao and managed by local villager Lily Buktan, this well run operation is challenging the traditional supply chain model that drives commodity prices down. With their work, the price that farmers individually get in hand is up to two to three times above the previous market practice.

When Olivier visits Pinalum, it’s a journey to get there. He loads his dirt bike onto the overnight ferry from Port Vila, then it’s a 30 minute ride along coral, gravel and sand roads, which get very muddy during the rainy season. Once at the village it’s incredibly lush, close to the coast, and surrounded by palm trees. After the days work it's a social time, sharing food by the fire and drinking kava.

At Pinalum the boss is Lily. She oversees the fermentation and drying station, and works with her extended family to do the fermentation, drying, packing, storage and payroll.

Since Olivier started working with the farmers in 2015, he has deconstructed the traditional industrial model, and works to pay the famers as much as possible for growing fine flavour cacao. This involved building fermentation stations, drying stations and training individual farmers. Side projects have been developed to provide basic water and electricity services.

Ingredients

Cacao Beans & Organic Cane Sugar.

Dairy Free, Gluten Free, Soy Free and Vegan.