Domori’s 80% Criollo wins gold at the Academy of Chocolate Awards in London
It hasn’t even been launched yet, and has already won one of the most prestigious awards in the world of chocolate: the gold medal in the category Dark Bean to Bar Over 80% of the Academy of Chocolate 2016 Awards, the UK’s Oscars of fine chocolate. The winning chocolate is Domori’s 80% pure Criollo, which will be released on the international market starting from next September, along with the 70% and 90% chocolate bars.
The 70%, 80% and 90% will complement the 100% Criollo, one of the most popular products of Domori, in a tasting journey for chocolate lovers to discover the highest expression of this cocoa variety.
"The Criollo is a unique heritage of Domori. The different percentages of cocoa allow our fans to understand this excellent product through their taste experience. This first recognition by the Academy of Chocolate encourages us to continue this path to rediscover the world’s finest cocoa," says Gianluca Franzoni, founder and president of Domori.
Criollo is a variety of cocoa that used to be at risk of extinction: it’s the cocoa of the Maya and the Aztecs, and its cultivation was progressively abandoned due to its low production yields. The Criollo cocoa is both rare and fragile, and its production represents only 0,001% of all the cacao harvested worldwide. Nevertheless, its quality remains unmatched: being devoid of tannins, which give a certain roughness and astringency, the Criollo results in a creamy, round and sweet chocolate, unique in its kind. With the Criollo Project, Domori has recovered this precious cocoa variety and created world’s largest Criollo plantation in Venezuela. Since 15 years, Domori has concentrated its efforts in recovering the Criollo cocoa right there, in Venezuela.
The Academy of Chocolate was founded in 2005 in the United Kingdom by a handful of chocolate professionals, united by the belief that tasting fine chocolate is one of life’s greatest pleasures. The goal of the Academy is to promote a greater awareness of the differences between fine chocolate and mass-produced chocolate. Every year, the Academy selects and awards the world’s best chocolate.