• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Lambs Ears and Honey | A Food & Travel Blog
  • Home
  • Recipes
  • About Me
  • Work With Me
  • Cookbooks
  • Cookbook Club
  • Navigation Menu: Social Icons

    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • RSS
    • Twitter
menu icon
go to homepage
search icon
Homepage link
  • Recipes
  • About Me – Lambs Ears and Honey
  • Work With Me
Γ—

Home Β» Food Β» First ever Australian single origin chocolate out this week!

First ever Australian single origin chocolate out this week!

04/11/2011 by Amanda

Share

Share
Pin
Tweet

Queensland canefield – Creative Commons image from Wikimedia

For most of us, thinking of Far North Queensland conjures up images of lush greenery, tropical holiday spots, crocodiles and vast fields of sugar cane.  However, these days those fields of sugar cane aren’t quite as vast as they used to be.   When the bottom dropped out of the Australian sugar market and prices fell sharply just over 11 years ago, many cane growers moved out of the industry that had supported their families for generations.  As more and more cane properties were being sold of for housing subdivisions, the threat of seeing valuable arable land built over gave some of the remaining cane growers the incentive to start thinking of ways to diversify and adapt to the prevailing economic conditions.  Back in the 1960’s and ’70’s there had been some successful individual attempts to grow cocoa in Far North Queensland using beans imported from Papua New Guinea, but it was clear that  Australian cocoa production could not successfully compete with world cocoa bean prices.

Nevertheless, by the end of the 20th century much thought had been given to alternative crops for the region and this week, after extensive research by former chocolate industry experts and government agricultural researchers, Daintree Estates Australian Cocoa is ready to launch the first ever Australian single origin chocolate and Australian single origin organic chocolate.   Chocolate is one of the products which can present those who are keen to embrace the locavore ethos with something of a dilemma, but this exciting new brand gives us all the option to chose a truly local, ethically produced product.  Employing a business model which makes the growers not only suppliers but shareholders too, and using local products including Queensland raw sugar, Daintree Estates controls the entire chain of production from growing the seedlings to blending, conching, mixing and packaging this premium, distinctive Australian chocolate, guaranteeing the power to deliver the “plantation to palate” promise to consumers.

The local growers have been quick to embrace this opportunity to diversify their businesses, although some of them have come from families who have grown sugar cane for over 70 years.  Many of these families could see the writing on the wall in 2000 and appreciate the benefits of varying and/or combining their agricultural practices to include cocoa among their crops thus reducing the risk of financial exposure  inherent in placing all of ones agricultural eggs in the one basket. (Oh dear, I think I’ve mixed my metaphors there.)

Daintree Estates Australian Chocolates are to be launched  this afternoon in Port Douglas and, also this afternoon, their website store will be open for secure, online ordering.  At this stage their products include 80 gm blocks of both 45% Milk Chocolate and 70% Dark Chocolate and gift boxes of 12 pieces of 7 gm individually wrapped pieces in both the Milk and Dark.  All website orders will have free shipping within Australia, so it won’t cost us extra to ethically indulge in what promises to be a great new Australian product.  I will take this opportunity to state that I have yet to try this product, but am pretty keen to get my hands on some and will be among the first off the ranks when the store opens!

 

[mc4wp_form id="16750"]

Related posts

  • Why Food Diversity Matters – Check out Food Diversity DayWhy Food Diversity Matters – Check out Food Diversity Day
  • Native Australian Flavours – Edible Reconciliation on Everyone’s PlateNative Australian Flavours – Edible Reconciliation on Everyone’s Plate
  • Australian Garlic from Kangaroo Island – The Story of Three AmigosAustralian Garlic from Kangaroo Island – The Story of Three Amigos
  • Wheat Flour and Sourdough Bread – Where Did the Flour in Your Bread Come From?Wheat Flour and Sourdough Bread – Where Did the Flour in Your Bread Come From?
  • Sashimi Grade Tuna from KIN Seafood – Enjoy the Very Best At HomeSashimi Grade Tuna from KIN Seafood – Enjoy the Very Best At Home

Share

Share
Pin
Tweet
« You’ve checked out SA’s Riverland food – now how about a drink?
The Greedy Girl and the Dentist »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Hotly Spiced

    November 05, 2011 at 7:31 am

    I can’t wait to try it. I’ll definitely be looking out for this chocolate in the shops.

  2. InTolerant Chef

    November 05, 2011 at 7:44 am

    Good on the producers for being brave enough to try something new! I hope they have a huge sucess- but who could go wrong choosing chocolate? πŸ™‚

  3. Lizzy (Good Things)

    November 05, 2011 at 4:01 pm

    Very exciting news indeed!

  4. Lorraine @ Not Quite Nigella

    November 06, 2011 at 3:00 pm

    Will definitely have to try some of this! πŸ™‚

  5. Cakelaw

    November 08, 2011 at 8:13 pm

    Thanks for spreading the news – we have our very own version of “Willy” (from the UK TV series) in Queensland!

  6. Celia

    November 11, 2011 at 8:48 am

    That’s very exciting news indeed! Thanks for the headsup, Amanda! πŸ™‚

  7. Hannah

    November 14, 2011 at 2:58 pm

    *dances around the room wildly* Oh my heavens!! This is tremendously exciting! I hope I can find this to review on my blog sometime πŸ™‚

  8. Amanda

    November 14, 2011 at 3:05 pm

    Hannah – I’ll be interested to hear what you think of it.

Primary Sidebar

Don't run the risk of missing a post! Subscribe to Lamb's Ears and Honey

Check your inbox or spam folder to confirm your subscription.

Connect with me

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter

Recent Posts

Italian home cook, italian month

Italian Month in Lambs’ Ears Cookbook Club!

Scones on a tray

On Scones, Grandmothers and Food Waste

apple cake and apples

10 Common Baking Questions

baking cookbook

Eat, Drink and Read – April in the Cookbook Club

COMMENTS, FEEDBACK, QUESTIONS?

I love to hear what you think so please leave a comment or ask me a question!

Search This Website

Archives

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License.

Footer

Featured Recipes

Featured Posts

COPYRIGHT © 2023 LAMBS' EARS AND HONEY