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GOURMET NEWS NOVEMBER 2017 www.gourmetnews.com NATURALLY HEALTHY 1 3 Loving Earth Bean-to-Bar Chocolate Grows Independence for Peruvian Communities BY LORRIE BAUMANN Loving Earth is a brand of bean-to-bar chocolate that's built around the idea that its products should be healthy, sustainable and fair. All of the company's chocolate bars are made in small batches using cacao sourced in indigenous communities who make their homes in the Peruvian headwa- ters of the Amazon basin. Growing cacao is part of the cultural her- itage of communities that have been terror- ized by Shining Path, a guerrilla group known for trafficking coca obtained by the forced labor of indigenous communities and ultimately processed into cocaine for sale on the world market. Giving the peo- ple of the Ashaninka community a market for cacao will also give them the ability to support themselves without being forced to grow coca, according to Scott Fry, Loving Earth Managing Director and co-Founder along with his partner, Martha Butler. Lov- ing Earth has helped the Ashaninka estab- lish a certified organic cooperative and has committed to buy all of the enterprise's cacao at a fair trade price that's significantly higher than they'd been able to get locally Stonewall Kitchen Chunky Peanut Butter Named a Winner by SELF.com Award-winning specialty food producer Stonewall Kitchen is pleased to announce that its Chunky Peanut Butter received a win- ning spot in the 2017 SELF Healthy Food Awards. "We're so honored to receive this award," said Janine Somers, Director of Marketing at Stonewall Kitchen. "We pride ourselves in producing the highest quality and most innovative foods. To have passed SELF's strict criteria and rigorous standards with our Chunky Peanut Butter is very exciting! The ideal match for our delectable jams, our Chunky Peanut Butter is 100 percent wholesome and ab- solutely delicious. Made with just two ingredients, roasted peanuts and salt, we are proud to have this all natural product on our shelves." This is the second Healthy Food Award Stonewall Kitchen has received from SELF Editors. In 2016, Stonewall Kitchen re- ceived the award for its Spicy Tomato Salsa. GN GeeFree Foods Launches Microwavable Sandwich Pockets GeeFree Foods recently launched a line of gluten-free, all-natural, frozen, microwav- able sandwich pockets in three varieties: Sausage, Egg and Cheese; Buffalo Chicken; and Cheese Pizza. GeeFree is the only man- ufacturer of gluten-free puff pastry prod- ucts in the United States. Encased in GeeFree's signature pastry dough, the sandwich pockets come two per box and are free of antibiotics, hormones, ni- trates, corn and soy. The microwavable sleeves keep them crispy. They retail for $6.99. Sausage, Egg & Cheese sandwich pock- ets are packed with uncured sausage, egg, and cheddar cheese. Each 4.5 ounce serv- ing has 320 calories and 12 grams of pro- tein. The Buffalo Chicken variety is loaded with chicken, buffalo sauce, celery, blue cheese and other delicious ingredients. Each 4.5 ounce serving has 350 calories and 7 grams of protein. Finally, the Cheese Pizza version is brimming with mozzarella cheese, tomato sauce and zesty herbs. Each 4.5 ounce serving has 390 calories and 8 grams of protein. Since receiving an infusion of capital from its new investment partner Procida Funding and Advisors, GeeFree has broad- ened its distribution channels. The brand is now sold in 43 states. GN in Peru. "They produced 10 tons the first year, second year 40 tons, this year hoping to get 75 tons," Fry said. "We're hoping to get to 200 tons in a few years, and at that point, they'll be self-sufficient and have a financially viable enterprise. They'll be able to have enough cash flow, based on projec- tions we've done. You need a certain level of scale to be able to run an operation like that." Fry and Butler began making bean-to-bar chocolate bars in 2007, working in their home in Melbourne, Australia, making the bars and wrapping them by hand. From the beginning, demand for their bars out- stripped supply, and the enterprise quickly outgrew that apartment kitchen. Fry has been sourcing cacao in Peru for the past decade, but four years ago, he be- came involved with Rainforest Foundation UK, which was involved with helping in- digenous communities in Peru establish land rights as a first step towards establish- ing a local economy that could provide the kind of self-sufficiency that would allow them to make their own decisions about the crops they'd cultivate. "Their funding has run out over the last couple of years, producing new pressure to generate a source of income for the community," Fry said. With its funding in jeopardy, the organ- ization was looking for a partner to help the Ashaninka community figure out how to turn the cacao they already knew how to grow into a product that could be mar- keted internationally. "They'd been selling cacao locally, not getting a good price, quality not good," Fry said. "We pay a sig- nificantly higher price than they would get locally." "We make chocolate out of the cacao beans, bean to bar, process the beans and make it into chocolate. We don't roast the beans because the beans are quite a special heirloom variety and they have a wonderful flavor profile. This also maintains the an- tioxidants and nutrients with all the aro- matic complexity of the natural cacao," he added. "We sweeten it with coconut nectar, or coconut sugar, produced in Java, In- donesia, which harvests the nectar from co- conut trees and processes it into coconut sugar." The result of that process is a unique chocolate with a complex flavor profile that blends perfectly with the caramel fla- vor of the coconut sugar to make a whole food plant-based bar. Loving Earth pro- duces the bars in several flavors: 85% Dark, 72% Dark Chocolate, Crunchy Mint Dark Chocolate, Creamy Coconut Mylk Chocolate, Raspberry Cashew Mylk Chocolate, Lemon Cheesecake Caramel Chocolate, Salted Caramel Chocolate, Turkish Delight Chocolate and Berry Crunch Hazelnut Mylk Chocolate. None of the bars includes dairy or cane sugar, and they're all certified organic and non- GMO, gluten and soy free and raw. "We use the nuts rather than dairy, with the nuts ground into the chocolate to approx- imate a milk chocolate, except without the dairy," Fry said. "We call ourselves a 360 degree brand. We look at every aspect of the product. compostable packaging, post-consumer re- cycled packaging," he added. "We aspire to look at every aspect of the product in terms of making it sustainable, ethical beautiful and delicious." GN Mondelēz International sent a team of em- ployees to Ghana for a two-week skills-ex- change program last month to learn about the challenges and opportunities in secur- ing a sustainable cocoa supply, while shar- ing their diverse business skills with farmers. In its fourth year, the "Joy Ambas- sadors" program is part of the company's ongoing commitment to grow its impact for people and the planet. The 14 Joy Am- bassadors from countries around the world visited communities that are a part of Cocoa Life, the company's holistic, third- party verified program that aims to create a sustainable cocoa supply by transforming the lives of farmers and communities at scale. "This is a unique opportunity for our colleagues to gain a deeper understanding of the cocoa supply chain and share their business skills to help accelerate the impact of our Cocoa Life sustainability efforts," said Sarah Delea, President of the Mondelēz International Foundation and Senior Direc- tor for Well-being and Community In- volvement. "Each year, the Ambassadors return with fresh perspectives and energy that helps us grow our people, business and positive impact we have in the world." This year's Joy Ambassador program fo- cused on strengthening communities through enhanced partnerships across the cocoa value chain – a critical factor to help build thriving cocoa communities. As such, the development and delivery of commu- nity workshops to build capacity and col- laboration among local farmers and stakeholders was central to the experience. The Joy Ambassadors offer a wide range of expertise, including research and devel- opment, marketing, manufacturing, strat- egy and finance. They hosted workshops on key topics such as networking and al- liance building, planning and organization, coaching and mentoring and managing people and teams. The project is funded by the Mondelēz International Foundation through a partnership with VSO (formerly Voluntary Service Overseas), the world's leading independent international develop- ment organization working through volun- teers to tackle poverty in developing countries. As one of the world's largest chocolate companies Mondelēz International is com- mitted to ensuring a sustainable cocoa sup- ply chain through Cocoa Life. Launched in 2012, the program is investing $400 mil- lion USD by 2022 to empower at least 200,000 cocoa farmers and reach more than 1 million community members in six key cocoa-growing origins: Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Indonesia, India, the Dominican Republic and Brazil. GN Learn and Serve in Cocoa Farming Communities in Ghana

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