Miami Beach, Fla.--Choco Soleil organic chocolate sourced from Ecuador is delicious. "We have the plain bar, the 80 percent, very unique because it has a jute bag inside with actual cocoa beans inside, and you can open it and you can have a cocoa bean, and you can feel it, taste it, it's truly unique," Gabriel Carrera, Sales Executive for AOG Foods (the Canadian parent company), said during an interview at the 22nd Americas Food & Beverage Show.
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| Choco Soleil Organic Chocolate, AOG Foods, 22 Americas Food & Beverage Show, Miami Beach, Fla. Copyright 2018 by Helen A Lockey |
Three styles of Choco Soleil chocolates were on display at the show; all were USDA certified organic, Fair Trade certified, bean-to-bar, single origin, and dark. All the bars had been on the market for just six months and were already being sold in all the major cities across Canada, according to Carrera. AOG Foods came to the Americas show to find Florida and United States distributors.
Their two plain bars, with the highest percentage of cacao, came from just two specific areas of Ecuador: Esmeraldas and Manabí. "It gives us a really specific flavor to the chocolates," said Carrera.
The Manabí sourced bar, with 70 percent cacao, had more of a fruity flavor whereas the Esmeraldas, 80 percent, had more of a floral flavor. "This is more like the flavor of flowers because of the style of cocoa beans was sourced around flowers. It's truly unique, truly wonderful," said Carrera.
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| Choco Soleil Organic Chocolate, 65 percentage disc with fruit, AOG Foods, 22nd Americas Food & Beverage Show, Miami Beach, Fla., Copyright 2018 by Helen A Lockey |
The Choco Soleil line also had a 65 percentage chocolate, shaped into multiple wafer-like discs that were combined with exotic ingredients like banana, golden berry, cranberry and cocoa nibs & salt.
"Everyone likes the products," said Carrera.
AOG Foods had two other cacao brands: YAAL Ecuador, and GCP Gourmet Cacoa Products.
They had many reasons for starting their company two years ago including selling dark chocolate for its health benefits but mainly it was about supporting local growers. “We saw we had connections with cocoa plantations and we wanted to do something different, unique, that represents Ecuador,” said Carrera.
To find out more about them you can go to: www.AOGFoods.ca
