Askinosie releases first new origin bar since 2010

Askinosie Chocolate LLC this week released its fourth origin bar, the small-batch chocolate manufacturer’s first in seven years.

Sourced from a female-led farm in Zamora, Ecuador, within the Amazon rainforest, the chocolate bar is made from cocoa beans and organic sugar, as well as cocoa butter crafted from the beans. The bar represents the company’s second partnership with a female farmer, according to a news release.

“I first began exploring Zamora two years ago, “ Askinosie Chocolate CEO Shawn Askinosie said in the release. “After meeting with our lead farmer partner, Monica, and trying her cocoa beans, I was hooked. It’s an honor for us to partner with Monica and bring these storied beans, which many say date back more than 5,000 years, to life in a chocolate bar.”

Askinosie Chocolate Chief Marketing Officer Lawren Askinosie said origin bars refer to the area where the cocoa beans are sourced. Askinosie Chocolate produces single-origin bars to highlight one particular region, its cocoa farms and the specific bean, she said. With the latest chocolate bar, dubbed Amazonia, the team is utilizing arriba nacional beans.

The Commercial Street chocolate maker’s other origin bars are from:
    •    Mababu, Tanzania, launched in 2010;
    •    Davao, Philippines, 2008; and
    •    San Jose Del Tambo, Ecuador, 2007.

Askinosie Chocolate shares profits with its farmers through a distribution pool of 10 percent of company profits. Farmers also receive a percentage of final sales of the Askinosie Chocolate bars using their ingredients, according to Springfield Business Journal archives.