BUSINESS PROFILE:

Fair Trade Chocolate Factory, Hantsport

The old building at 35 William Street in Hantsport hides a sweet surprise. Formerly a sail factory, a movie theatre, a union hall, and a medical equipment factory, Just Us! Coffee Roasters Cooperative has transformed a portion of the historic building to the Fair Trade Chocolate Factory and Café.

While images of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory may be flooding your mind, the Fair Trade Chocolate Factory is anything but mass production chocolate. Each chocolate is elegantly created through a labour intensive process beginning in the cacao farms of Bolivia, South America.

A Background on Just Us! Coffee Roasters Cooperative

Just Us! Coffee Roasters Co-Op began its operation approximately ten years ago in New Minas, NS by Jeff and Debbie Moore. Their mission was to provide Nova Scotians with organically grown, fairly traded coffee as well as to educate the population on the social and environmental issues related to the international coffee trade. Since that time, Just Us! has successfully opened four cafés and supplies fairly traded coffee and tea blends to a variety of shops, food establishments, and grocers across the region. In unity with their mission statement to educate the public, Just Us! opened the Fair Trade Coffee Museum this past June, and in September the Fair Trade Chocolate Factory opened its doors in Hantsport.

Sourcing Fair Trade Cacao Beans for Chocolate

Fair trade chocolate begins in countries like Bolivia where organic cacao bean producers pool crops through fair trade cooperatives, allowing the farmers to earn a respectable living from their quality product. The cooperatives act as a liaison/distributor to fair trade markets, seeking out and being sought by purchasers within developed countries who demand such quality.

Just Us! sources the high end couverture (high quality chocolate) used at the factory from a fair trade organic chocolate manufacturer in Europe who sources and mixes the raw ingredients. The manufacturer blends the cacao beans with organic fairly traded cacao powder and cacao butter that is purchased from the first organic chocolate factory in the world: the El Ceibo Chocolate Factory in Le Paz, Bolivia. The final ingredient, organic fair trade sugar, must also be sourced from such suppliers as the Manduvira Co-Op in Paraguay.

Jeff Moore frequently visits international fair trade cooperatives to ensure the integrity of the products he brings to Nova Scotia, providing safe organic products for our region in return for fair, liveable wages to cacao farmers in South America.

Learning the Craft of Creating Organic Chocolates

Kevin Gauthier is the “Crafter of Conscious Confections” at the Fair Trade Chocolate Factory in Hantsport and modestly shies away from the term Chocolatier. “It takes many years to become a Chocolatier,” says Gauthier, the sole employee of the factory.

A native of Quebec, Gauthier has a background in environmental studies, and health and wellness. He relocated to Halifax a couple of years ago to enjoy the ocean, the green space, and the overall quality of life enjoyed in the Maritimes.

Although he initially worked in construction, an opportunity arose for Gauthier to apply for a position at a Just Us! Café on Barrington Street. Gauthier found his educational background, combined with his passion for food, was a good match with the cooperative. He proved to be a quick learner with a unique set of skills and spirit that paired well with Jeff Moore’s vision of expanding his coffee cooperative to include chocolate production.

On March 6, 2005, coincidentally the date of Gauthier’s birthday, he was sent to the University of California for his first lesson in chocolate production. A whirlwind of learning quickly followed with a trip to Paris, France for Intersuc, a tri-annual four-day convention for the celebration of fine foods, and visits to high-end Parisien chocolate factories. Upon his return to Canada, Gauthier was enlisted in a three-month Internet course through École Chocolat in British Columbia and is currently preparing for one-week visit to that province to study under a genuine organic Chocolatier. An excursion to Equador may also be in the near future. Throughout his spring and summer training and travels, Gauthier also laboured through the design and construction of the Hantsport Fair Trade Chocolate Factory for a seemingly impossible Fall opening.

Creating a Chocolate Masterpiece

With such care taken to source legitimate suppliers with appropriate inventory, there is little wonder why each chocolate in the Fair Trade Chocolate Factory is handcrafted by Kevin Gauthier.

Organic chocolate must be slowly heated to and sustained at 45 degrees Celsius for a minimum of eight hours (often overnight) before the temperature can be decreased to 28 or 32 degrees Celsius, the correct temperature to ensure the perfect “tempered” consistency of milk and dark chocolate, respectively. The cooling period is a minimum of one hour, during which time seeds are added. The “seeds”, fine shavings from a tempered block of couverture, encourages the entire batch to come to temper with proper mixing and time span. The tempered chocolate is then poured into small hand buffed mould trays. Cacao butter left over from the previous filling is used to polish each mould, with care taken to meticulously buff each crevice to ensure the desired high gloss appearance will be created. The intensive procedures do not lend kindly to mass production as one error could ruin the entire batch.

Where to find Just Us! Fair Trade Chocolates

The Fair Trade Chocolate Factory currently produces milk and dark (dairy free) chocolates as moulded solid products, full size and half size chocolate bars, and truffles. Truffles blends include decadent indulgences such as; Mocha Madness, a chocolate and organic espresso coffee blend; Ménage a Trois, an exotic combination of dark chocolate, with a soy and Green tea centre that packs a particularly potent antioxidant punch; and Chai Rooibois Spice, a truffle that combines Black Teas and African Red Bush Herbal Teas. The Chai Rooibois Spice truffle is full of antioxidants and is high in many essential minerals with a multitude of truly effective benefits including: boosting one’s immune system; providing relief from stomach cramps and for colicy infants; promoting a restful sleep; and assists with the prevention of allergies, to name but a few. Seasonal chocolates and customer requests keep Gauthier busy thinking about and taste testing new ideas.

Look for Fair Trade Chocolate Factory chocolates at Just Us! Cafés on William Street in Hantsport, Barrington Street in Halifax, Acadia Theatre in Wolfville, and at the Just Us! head office in Grand Pré.