By
Pedro Lafargue
Bristol
Get a treat while making a positive impact for farmer families in coastal Ecuador.
Hi my name is Pedro Lafargue and I'm the founder of TOW SuperFood Chocolate. In 2009 I start planting 1000 trees of cocoa to reforest a plantain field in an organic way as the native farmers did (Mixing fruits such as Papaya and banana) and in 2017 I plant 2000 new trees of native cocoa in a different field and we start peaking seed by seed for building a heirloom cacao green house. At the moment I'm working in a PhD research developing a methology to determine the origin of chocolate and cacao beans from around the world.
Hi my name is Paula and I'm the Co-Founder of TOW SuperFood Chocolate and in 2013 we start working with Pedro in our chocolate brand and handmade production, one of the things that I love about TOW is the friendship and relations that we built with farmers and consumers. We produce "tree to snack" artisan cacao beans and chocolate so we can show to the world how the hard work of farmers should be recognize and support.
Our dream today, is that TOW SuperFood Chocolate becomes a direct trade brand between small farmers and European market but also to continue building this cooperation as global farmers . We consider that the only way of fighting poverty and sustainability is by incentivising farmer families to become skilled. We could achieve this by training workers, pay15% to 20% over the market price to fresh and fermented cacao beans and involving local farmers to the professional supply chain.
As we are, FoodScience Engineers our aim is to research and develop new products from cacao and different type of chocolates. Until now we have developed cold raw cacao butter, sport chocolates high in energy and low in added sugars, gourmet chips and pastry single origin chocolate and our special nibs with Andean fruits and partially roasted cacao mass (Liquor). This leads to more family income and opportunities for individuals inside the community.
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Find us here
https://twitter.com/TowSuperfood
https://www.facebook.com/pg/TOWChocolateSuperFood
https://www.instagram.com/towsuperfoodchocolate/
info@towsuperfoodchocolate.com
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Interesting Facts:
After 4 years of taking care of the trees in an ecological system, the production began and after selling my first fresh bag of cacao beans I realised that it will not be possible to recover the investment. The difficulties in price and cost of maintaining cacao are high and working with my mother in the field was not the best way of increasing the yield. With an income as a small farmer and the low price of traders I decide to start giving added value to the beans and went to work for free to a farm 9 hours away from my city ( Quito). During this period, I was working in harvest, pruning, fermenting and drying cacao beans. Right away after this, I met my business partner(Paula) a colleague from University and we started making small batches of "tree to snack" artisan cacao beans and chocolate so we can show to the world how the hard work of farmers should be recognize and support.
During the first years, we were presenting the chocolate in different fairs and stores so we can develop a brand. During these years, I start developing a small farmers collaborations and working with different communities of micro farmers as direct trade suppliers. Interestingly most of the micro farmers didn’t know how to process the cacao beans or hadn't even try the chocolate so with TOW our mission was to develop a business model of presenting the beans and our technical knowledge to develop origin cacao products and in 2015, we got our first organic chocolate certified. As a Cacao Farmer and chocolate maker, I have learn in the fields that this hard labour is not well paid and it is required to get value added during all the stages of the fruit. Most of cacao beans for chocolate industries comes from small farmers ( 70% worldwide ). These producers, like me rent or owns less than 2 ha of cacao production that represent less than the minimum financial equilibrium for getting a profit.
Family Farm Cooperatives:
Select this reward if you just want to donate to the project without receiving a reward.
0 claimed
1 Snack Pack 70% (30g) to your mailbox + 1 Tree (Heirloom) in your name + Thank you mention in FB
0 claimed of 2000
Estimated delivery: 1 April 2018
1 Chocolate Bar 70% + 1 Snack Pack to your mailbox + 1 Tree (Heirloom) in your name + Thank you mention in FB INCLUDES: 70% Cacao Bar (50g) 100% Cacao nibs Partially Roasted (30g)
0 claimed of 1000
Estimated delivery: 1 April 2018
2 Snack Packs + 1 Chocolate Bar to your mailbox + 2 Trees (Heirloom) in your name + Tasting seminar introduction + Thank you mention in FB INCLUDES: 70% Cacao Bar (50g) 100% Cacao nibs Partially Roasted (30g) 100% Raw Cacao Butter (30g)
1 claimed of 1000
Estimated delivery: 1 April 2018
2 Snack Packs + 2 Chocolate Bar to your mailbox + 3 Trees (Heirloom) in your name + Tasting & flavour profiling seminar+Thank you mention in FB INCLUDES: 70% Cacao Bar (50g) New Flavour with Andean Berries Cacao Bar (50g) 100% Cacao nibs Partially Roasted (30g) 100% Raw Cacao Butter (30g)
1 claimed of 2000
Estimated delivery: 1 April 2018
3 Snack Packs + 2 Chocolate Bar to your mailbox + 6 Trees (Heirloom) in your name + Thank you mention in FB + Tasting & flavour profiling seminar INCLUDES: 70% Cacao Bar (50g) New Flavour with Andean Berries Cacao Bar (50g) New Flavour chocolate clusters with Andean Berries (30g) 100% Cacao nibs Partially Roasted (30g) 100% Raw Cacao Butter (30g)
0 claimed of 2000
Estimated delivery: 1 April 2018
5 Snack Packs + 4 Chocolate Bar to your mailbox + 12 Trees (Heirloom) in your name + Tasting & flavour profiling seminar+ Thank you mention in FB + dry open cacao pod. INCLUDES: -70% Cacao Bar (50g) -New Flavour with Andean Berries Cacao Bar (50g) x 2 - 100 % Chocolate Bar (50g) -New Flavour chocolate clusters with Andean Berries (30g) x 2 -100% Cacao nibs Partially Roasted (30g) -100% Raw Cacao Butter (30g) -100% Cacao chocolate chips
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Estimated delivery: 1 April 2018
5 Snack Packs + 2 Chocolate Bar to your mailbox + 12 Trees (Heirloom) in your name + 1 kg Cacao Beans +Thank you mention in FB + Postal with instruction for making cacao liquor recipes + Tasting & flavour profiling seminar. INCLUDES: 70% Cacao Bar (50g) -New Flavour with Andean Berries Cacao Bar (50g) -New Flavour chocolate clusters with Andean Berries (30g) -100% Cacao nibs Partially Roasted (30g) x 2 -100% Raw Cacao Butter (30g) x 2 -1 kg Fine & Flavour Roasted Cacao Beans
1 claimed
Estimated delivery: 1 April 2018
15 Snack Packs + 12 Chocolate Bar to your mailbox + 1 Paja Toquilla Manabi Hat + 30 Trees (Heirloom) in your name + Thank you mention by video on multimedia + Postal From Ecuador + Dry cacao pod keychain + Tasting & flavour profiling seminar. INCLUDES: 70% Cacao Bar (50g) x4 -New Flavour with Andean Berries Cacao Bar (50g)x 8 -New Flavour chocolate clusters with Andean Berries (30g) x 7 -100% Cacao nibs Partially Roasted (30g) -100% Raw Cacao Butter (30g) -70% snack pack Single origin x 3 -100% snack pack Single origin x 3
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Estimated delivery: 1 April 2018
Greenhouse Soldier Package: 15 Snack Packs + 12 Chocolate Bar + 1 Paja Toquilla Manabi Hat to your mailbox + 60 Trees (Heirloom) in your name + Memorial Plaque in the greenhouse with the name you choose + 20 bamboo trees with your plaque + Thank you mention by video on multimedia + Postal From Ecuador + Dry cacao pod + tasting seminar introduction. INCLUDES: 70% Cacao Bar (50g) x4 -New Flavour with Andean Berries Cacao Bar (50g)x 8 -New Flavour chocolate clusters with Andean Berries (30g) x 7 -100% Cacao nibs Partially Roasted (30g) -100% Raw Cacao Butter (30g) -70% snack pack Single origin x 3 -100% snack pack Single origin x 3
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Estimated delivery: 1 April 2018
Fermentarie headquarter soldier: 31 Snack Packs + 50 Chocolate Bar + 2 Paja Toquilla Manabi Hat + 1 Guayabera Shirt + Dry cacao pod to your mailbox + 100 Trees (Heirloom) in your name + Memorial Plaque in the fermentation wood box with the name you choose + 40 bamboo trees with your plaque + Thank you mention by video on multimedia + Postal From Ecuador INCLUDES: 70% Cacao Bar (50g) x 25 -New Flavour with Andean Berries Cacao Bar (50g)x 25 -New Flavour chocolate clusters with Andean Berries (30g) x 15 -100% Cacao nibs Partially Roasted (30g) -100% Raw Cacao Butter (30g) -70% snack pack Single origin x 7 -100% snack pack Single origin x 7
0 claimed
Estimated delivery: 1 April 2018