This chocolate has reclaimed cotton in its packaging and helps reduce the carbon footprint

And its makers, Kocoatrait, are showcasing it at the Amsterdam Chocoa festival later this month
This chocolate has reclaimed cotton in its packaging and helps reduce the carbon footprint

Guilt-free chocolate is beyond calories for Nitin Chordia. Over the past five months, the chocolate taster who has made rapid strides with his brand Kocoatrait (formerly Cocoatrait) since he launched in 2016, has been working on packaging that is both plastic and paper-free. And now that it’s ready, he’s hoping to encourage other bean to bar players to go the sustainable route as well, when he showcases it at the Amsterdam Chocoa festival (an exhibition of fine chocolates) next week.



For once, we’re more curious about the ingredients the wrapping is made of than the 11 new flavours (think Sukku Coffee Dark, Pink Rose Dark and Masala Chai Dark) in store. How do you wrap chocolate without paper, we wonder out loud? Turns out Nitin uses “reclaimed cotton” and “cocoa husks” for the process. “The latter is the cocoa shell, which potentially ends up in a landfill once we remove them after roasting the beans,” he tells us. 

Biodegradable wrap
Surprisingly, the cost we are told, is roughly the same amount per wrapper (`10 per chocolate bar) as compared to the conventional plastic-layered material which other mainstream players use. The only difference, he explains is, “Our costs do not reduce with increased volumes,” but that doesn’t seem to matter in the larger scheme of things. 

<em>Nitin Chordia</em>
Nitin Chordia



Apart from extending this sustainable packaging to his other products lined up for 2019 — like bonbons, truffle boxes and nut butters — he shares, his team has also found a cocoa farm just 50 km fom Chennai — thus reducing the carbon footprint of the preparation process. While some manufacturers source raw materials from as far as Belgium for quality chocolate — here he assures us, “Every ingredient (for two of their bars) except for sugar comes from less than a 100 kms.” 

Impact theory
Here’s to raising the bar in 2019  — in ways you least expect it. Seriously, how often do you get to impact the carbon footprint while licking your fingers at the same time? 

The Chocoa festival in Amsterdam is between February 21-24. Chocolates available in select stores.
Rs 190 upwards.

 

sonali@newindianexpress.com | @brightasunshine

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