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Commitment to sustainable chocolate
In 2019, these plantations signed a charter with the Maison pledging to respect three fundamental ethical criteria in order to protect the planet and its people.
Commitment #1:
No children work on our plantations
In an industry where child labour is still widespread, the Pierre Marcolini Maison and the plantation owners who have signed the charter forbid child labour.
The charter adopts the definition put forward by UNICEF and the International Labour Organisation.
As such, any activity that deprives children of their childhood, potential, and dignity, or that is detrimental to their education, health, or physical and mental development, is strictly prohibited on these plantations.
Commitment #2:
We do not use glyphosate
Labelled by the WHO as a “probable carcinogen“, plantation owners who have signed our charter use natural herbicides instead of glyphosate.
To guarantee the absence of toxic substances in our chocolate and to establish the quality of the cocoa beans and their fermentation, each batch of beans is subjected to a series of tests carried out by an independent organisation.
Commitment #3:
We do not use CCN-51 cocoa beans
In our quest to produce the finest chocolate with unrivalled taste, we strive to preserve biodiversity.
We therefore do not use cocoa beans from the genetically-modified “hyper productive” CCN-51 cocoa tree.
To make this all possible, we pay our plantation owners well above the international market rate. We pay a minimum of €4000 per tonne of cocoa beans: more than double the market price.
In house roasting and "Grands Crus" chocolate
As well as being committed to sustainable chocolate, the Maison is committed to producing chocolate of exceptional taste. To achieve this, Pierre Marcolini is one of a very small number of chocolatiers to have mastered the entire chocolate production process and roasts the cocoa beans himself.
From sourcing the raw ingredients, sorting the cocoa beans, refinement, preparing the ganache, the tempering process, to the final stages of production… the entire process takes place “in house”.
To find the finest cocoa varieties – such as Criollo, Trinitario, Nacional, or Forastero – Pierre Marcolini travels the world himself and sources cocoa beans directly from the plantation owners who have signed our Commitment Charter.
“There are as many differences between cocoa beans as there are between the grapes of different vineyards. There are nuances that can only be discovered by going to the source: whether that is Ecuador, Cuba, or Peru.”
Pierre Marcolini
Meet our growers and their plantations
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