Menakao - Dark chocolate 100% with cacao nibs - MADAGASCAR - 75g
Bean-to-Bar
Menakao - Dark chocolate 100% with cacao nibs is a dark bar with deep and bold cocoa notes. The crunch of nibs adds a rustic, robust touch that blends nicely with the red fruit notes of the chocolate.
The packaging features a portrait of a Bezanozano man. Living mainly on the east-central coast of Madagascar, the Bezanozano were organized in small clans that set up their fortified villages on mountain ridges. This ethnic group used to specialize in transporting goods on their backs between the capital and the east coast of Madagascar.
Cacao beans (100% Madagascar)
Cocoa farmer and chocolate maker
For their range of 75g bars, Menakao has been working with René Julien's family plantation since the beginning of 2020, located near the village of Ampamakia, 30 minutes from Ambanja (on the banks of the Sambirano River).
100 people work on the 150-hectare site where 60T of dry cocoa beans are produced annually. The plantation is located in the shade of large authentic trees that do not undergo any transformation, with 50% sunshine. The types of cocoa harvested are certified organic by ECOCERT: Trinitario (mostly), Forastero and Criollo. Fermentation & drying methods: The shelling and sorting are done manually and the plantation is equipped with fermentation tanks and a drying area; it has plans to expand the latter.
All the plantations Menakao works with are located in Sakalava villages (an ethnic group in the northwest). 60% of the families' income in this region comes from cocoa production.
Menakao Madagascar Chocolate Since 2013, Menakao has been highlighting Malagasy know-how and diversity in a Tree-to-Bar chocolate, using the best beans from Madagascar and selecting the finest local ingredients. An ethically committed brand which, by transforming fine cocoa into chocolate in its country of origin, allows the local added value to be multiplied by four. Less than 5% of the cocoa produced in Madagascar is transformed on the island, and Menakao's bars are part of this. At the heart of Menakao chocolates, there are men and women! It is therefore quite natural that they wished to illustrate their bars by putting forward the faces of the different ethnic groups that represent the Malagasy people. The Tanala, the Betsimisaraka, the Mahafaly, the Antanosy, the Bara or the Merina, all represented in their traditional headdresses and clothes....
Read more ...
More products by Menakao Madagascar Chocolate
