IDEAS FOR GOODThe best season to cool off with iced-cold drinks has come. There is a cool “ethical drink” named “Chocolappé Kara Mandarin” in Kamakura city.
This float is made with rich bitter chocolate with Kara mandarin citrus juice which has distinctive thick sweetness. When you savor the drink, Kara mandarin juice, which has thick orange flavor, brings out the great taste of cacao. Truly refreshing, a perfect drink for early summer.
You can find this drink at VANILLA BEANS, a chocolatier that runs several shops in Kanagawa prefecture. VANILLA BEANS is a brand by Chocolate Design Company, which aims “to make the world happy with chocolate”. They started their business by making products with a “glocal” perspective, meaning global and local at the same time. The float mentioned earlier was provided at VANILLA BEANS Minatomirai, Kawasaki and Kamakura shop from late May.
So, what’s glocal about it? Cacao beans used for the drinks are 100% fair-trade certified and Kara mandarins are invariably produced in Kanagawa prefecture. It is a locavore drink that also keeps the influence on their foreign producers in mind.
What philosophy is behind making their products with such concept? A spokesperson from Chocolate Design Company, Mizuki Watanabe shared their story.
The beginning of VANILLA BEAN’s “fair trade x locavore”
VANILLA BEANS began using internationally certified fair-trade chocolate in 2007, 7 years after its establishment. By February 2019, their cumulative consumption weighed over 400 tons, comparable to the fair-trade chocolate consumption of a large corporation.
Katsuhisa Yagi, founder and pastry chef, has considered using fair trade cacao beans initially. In Cote d’Ivoire and Republic of Ghana, who are major producers of cacao beans, social issues related to human rights such as low-paid forced labor and child labor are critical. Yagi began using fair trade cacao beans when he learnt of this issue. He wanted to make the world better by changing to fair trade chocolate.
Since 2018, he began to adopt “locavore (local production for local consumption)”. Born and bred in Yokohama city, Yagi wanted to contribute to his home town, Kanagawa prefecture. He began searching for a producer in Kanagawa so he can run a sustainable business with local fruit. That was when he came across Yagishita farm. Yagishita farm has been cultivating mikan (mandarin oranges) since the Taisho period in Odawara city, Kanagawa prefecture. (They own a store called “Mikan honpo”.)
At Yagishita farm, they produce various citrus fruits through an eco-friendly cultural system. They reduce pesticides and use organic fertilizer made with fish lees. When Yagi spoke to the representative of Yagishita farm about his dream to enliven his home town, they hit if off right away. Moreover, Yagishita farm had great interest in producing delicious food and even suggested citrus fruits’ match with chocolates. So Yagi decided to form a partnership with them.
Initial problems with responsible production
It was not easy to use fresh fruit to make sweets. Picking season is greatly affected by nature. Once they’re in season, they harvest in abundance. Then, processing operation will require great care, but it must be done fast or else the fruits lose their freshness. Many other issues such as storage, shipping and processing system had to be overcomed too.
To solve these problems, he frequently exchanged information with Yagishita farm regarding the picking season and the quantity.
At first, the limited harvest yield was also an issue. VANILLA BEANS is a brand that originally started from online sales. So when the flagship store opened, they were reluctant to release products in a limited quantity. But now that they have a track record at storefront sales, they sell products that are in season in a limited quantity with confidence.
Fruits are seasonal and yield is naturally limited. If you force yields throughout the year, you will have to use additives to store food over a long-period of time and likely to increase food waste. Enjoying fruits that are in season makes both the customer and the environment happy.
The future in glocal chocolate business
VANILLA BEANS is now trying direct trading, importing cacao beans directly and home-roast them to make chocolates. This will allow a major reduction of distribution costs, and an even better relationship with cacao farmers while paying a fair price for the products.
This could build a close relation with the producing region. Recently, vegetables sold at grocery stores have names of the producers printed on the package to ensure traceability. This could be done for chocolates too. It may become an opportunity to draw people’s attention to cacao farmers’ situation.
It is important for us to know how and where the products we consume are manufactured. It is an important key to shift us into an ethical lifestyle. Hopefully more people will grow interested in regions they live in and the farmers who grow cacao beans while they enjoy the refreshing chocolappé with a savor of Kara Mandarin.
[Definition] Sustainable Business[Definition] Sustainable Consumption
This article was originally published on IDEAS FOR GOOD.
Translated by Chisato Shizume.
