Since the Chocolate Detective started it has been an imperative to avoid the use of plastic unless completely unavoidable.
We use recycled or recyclable materials wherever possible.
Our new egg cartons are made from bagasse, a by product of sugar cane. The result is an elegant, smooth white food that is safe board, so we no longer need to line the boxes with tissue, they are also home compostable.
Our new black and white tissue paper is printed using water-based inks on historic mill site of Roach Bridge harnessing the power of the river Darwen.
Soon we will soon be offering this beautiful tissue paper as standard wrap for all our web orders, and soon with a carrier bag as a gift option online. In the meantime we will be using it at every excuse and in particular at all pop-up events.
Any clear bags we use to pack the chocolate are made from Natureflex TM which is a wood based home compostable material. They may look like plastic but they are not!
Natureflex Circular Economy
There’s much debate about composting as some materials need an industrial process to break them down, we aim for home compostable components.
The one thing we have struggled to source because of our tiny scale is a chocolate tray (for protecting chocolate bonbons inside a box). In this instance we have compromised by using a PET1 plastic that is fully recyclable by its similar to a plastic water bottle. It’s made from the same material as a plastic bottle.
This area of packaging is rapidly evolving and we will be keeping our eyes open for any new innovations.
We feel powerless to help in the face of such atrocities. There is a very small way in which we can raise some funds to through our chocolates. We hand coloured blue and yellow eggs and packed them into our box with the Ukrainian stock designed by our bird illustration specialist Madeleine Floyd:
“The national bird of the Ukraine is the White Stork… a bird that is usually associated with the arrival and joy of new life. It is seen as a symbol of family, loyalty and patriotism. The national flower of the Ukraine is the sunflower which represents warmth and the power of the sun.
War uproots all of this. We choose peace.”
All profits will be donated to the DEC Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal (British Red Cross).
#standingtall
Madeleine Floyd
We have donated 100% of the chocolate, the packaging and labour to put them together, thank you so much to Ruth Morgan for her help on this, Madeleine for the images and to our local printer Danny at Mailboxes who did the work for cost price and turned the job around super quickly.
From the ticket price of £12.75 a min of £10 goes to the DEC Ukraine Emergeny Fund (around £2 to HMRC for VAT which is what we have to do!).
So please help us by buying some eggs and we will donate to
In March I had a conversation with Dan Baker, an English national married to Victoria (Ukranian) they had been living in Kyiv for five years with their daughter Veronica & cat Pumpkin – he is now back in Brighton sofa surfing while raising funds for direct causes. If anyone wants to get involved at a grass roots level please connect directly with @danbakerukraine via instagram or youtube https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-sussex-60933264 or if you are able to help with accommodation in the Brighton area.
The Park Tower Knightsbridge, a Luxury Collec;on Hotel launches a choco-tastic Afternoon Tea in partnership with world renowned chocolatier, Chantal Coady OBE
The Chocolate Afternoon Tea will feature a selection of sustainably sourced cocoa treats from Grenada, set to thrill any choc-a-holic
28th March 2021: The Chocolate Detective, Chantal Coady, has arrived at The Park Tower Knightsbridge Hotel. Sustainable chocolate expert, (founder of Rococo Chocolates) and lifelong chocolate activist, Chantal, is dedicated to uncovering the rich heritage of chocolate and now launches her cocoa in afternoon tea for the first time, exclusively at the hotel’s Knightsbridge Lounge.
From ‘tree to bar’, The Chocolate Detective’s treats are naturally grown in the Caribbean and created in a solar powered factory, using zero emissions. This tasty collaboration between The Park Tower Knightsbridge’s imaginative pastry team, led by Executive Chef Gaurav Puri, and Chantal Coady will delight both afternoon tea and chocolate lovers alike.
From 100% unsweetened dark chocolate to frothy white chocolate mousse, the new menu celebrates the very best of chocolate, with every palate in mind. The menu signatures include Chantal’s classic light chocolate sponge club sandwich with raspberry and Grenada dust and a white chocolate mousse crown with pistachio and cardamom. The indulgence con-nues with a morello cherry cupcake topped with cocoa buttercream and a wicked minted dark chocolate ganache to finish the experience.
Guests will also enjoy warm, plain or chocolate infused scones served alongside an array of savoury sandwiches including sun dried tomato and gruyere quiche, Severn Valley smoked salmon with olive tapenade and Burford brown egg, cress and mayo on a buttery croissant.
Available in the stunning Knightsbridge Lounge, the tea parlour is surrounded by a hand painted canopy of magnolia blossom on draped silk and features a spectacular 18-foot teardrop glass chandelier.
Bookings for the Chocolate Afternoon Tea must be made in advance. The tea is available from 2pm to 6pm daily, and costs £39 per person or £49 with a glass of Champagne.
The Luxury Collection®, part of Marriott International, Inc., comprises world-renowned hotels and resorts offering unique, authentic experiences that evoke lasting, treasured memories. For the global explorer, The Luxury Collection offers a gateway to the world’s most exci-ng and desirable destinations. Each hotel and resort is a unique and cherished expression of its location; a portal to the destination’s indigenous charms and treasures. Originated in 1906 under the CIGA® brand as a collection of Europe’s most celebrated and iconic properties, today The Luxury Collection brand is a flowering ensemble, recently surpassing 100 of the world’s finest hotels and resorts in more than 30 countries and territories. All of these hotels, many of them centuries old, are internationally recognized as being among the world’s finest. For more informa-on and new openings, visit theluxurycollection.com or follow Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. The Luxury Collec-on is proud to par-cipate in the industry’s award-winning loyalty program, Starwood Preferred Guest®. Members can now link accounts with Marriott Rewards®, which includes The Ritz-Carlton Rewards® at members.marriot.com for instant elite status matching and unlimited points transfer.
About The Chocolate Detective
Chantal Coady OBE is known for being a sustainable chocolate expert, founder of Rococo Chocolates and she champions the exceptional & groundbreaking work of The Grenada Chocolate Company (based on the Caribbean Island of Grenada). This company is a small cooperave of Organic cocoa farmers who work with the ‘Farm to Bar’ model to create delicious chocolate that supports their local economy and ensures well-paid jobs for local farmers. The factory has been run using solar power and the farms are carefully worked to ensure maximum biodiversity in the fragile rainforest ecosystem. Chantal also curates a collection of chocolate from other carefully chosen makers. This Easter there is a collection of bird eggs packed in beautiful boxes and she is working with the Park Tower on a Chocolate Detective Easter egg hunt.
Absolutely Kensington & Chelsea February 2022 by Zest Media Group – Issuu
@chantalcoady sells a range of ‘broken chocolate’ in the Chocolate Detective recipes, including an intriguing white chocolate with wild fennel and cardamom (it’s delicious, and a world away from overly sweet white chocolate thanks to its aniseedy flavour and subtle cardamom notes). Chocolate, says Coady, is like wine, and can improve with age – this is something we’ll be hearing more about, she thinks. ‘Chocolate’s flavour depends on the weather and the soil, just like wine, or coffee.’
Chantal Coady spent 36 years working at luxury chocolatier Rococo Chocolates, until she left in 2019 when the company went into administration.Now she’s back with the new collection inspired by her uncovering the rich heritage of chocolate — The Chocolate Detective.
