Côte d'Or is a producer of Belgian chocolate, owned by Mondel?z International. Côte d'Or was founded in 1883 by Charles Neuhaus, a chocolate manufacturer who used the name Côte d'Or (pseudo--French for Gold Coast) referring to the old name of contemporary Ghana, the source of many of the cacao beans used in chocolate manufacturing.
Côte d'Or was purchased by Jacobs Suchard in 1987; Jacobs Suchard in turn was purchased by Kraft General Foods in 1990, which forked off its chocolate and confectionery brands into Mondelez International in 2012, so that Mondelez is the current owner of the Côte d'Or brand.
Belgians consume 600 million Côte d'Or products a year. The Côte d'Or factory in Halle (near Brussels) used to produce 1.3 million mignonnettes (small chocolate bars--they are now produced in Poland) and two million Chokotoffs (chocolate bonbons) each day.
Video Côte d'Or (chocolate)
History
Logo
The emblem of Côte d'Or is an elephant, a symbol that recalls the African origin of the cocoa beans used in the manufacture of Côte d'Or. One source also claims that elephants were used to haul the sacks of cocoa beans. In an earlier version of the logo three pyramids and a palm tree were also featured. This logo was based on a Ghanaian post stamp, showing three icons (elephant, palm tree, pyramids) of exotic Africa.
Notable events
During World War II, high-quality ingredients became unavailable. In addition, one of their factories in Marseilles, France, was destroyed during the German destruction of the Vieux Port district in early 1943. Because of this, Côte d'Or stopped producing chocolate, making room for the lower quality Congobar.
Maps Côte d'Or (chocolate)
Ethical cocoa sourcing
There have been continuing question marks over the ethical stance of chocolate brands worldwide. After it became public in 2001 that thousands of children were being trafficked and exploited on the cocoa farms of the Ivory Coast, Kraft, along with the rest of the industry, signed the Harkin-Engel Protocol, promising to remove the worst forms of child labour from the cocoa supply chain.
In October 2009 Kraft launched the first mainstream chocolate products in Europe to carry the Rainforest Alliance Certified seal. Starting in France and Belgium, this Côte d'Or premium dark chocolate contains at least 30 percent cocoa from Rainforest Alliance Certified farms. Kraft declared they would roll out the certified Côte d'Or range to consumers in the United Kingdom, Germany, Spain, Hungary, Poland, Portugal, the Netherlands, Canada and the United States. Kraft Foods also planned to use cocoa beans from Rainforest Alliance Certified farms only across its entire Côte d'Or and Marabou lines, representing some 30,000 tonnes of beans, by the end of 2012.
Availability by country
Currently Côte d'Or is sold in more than 40 countries, across five continents.
Product examples
Milk Chocolate 100g
Dark Chocolate 100g - 54% cocoa
Milk Chocolate 47 g
Dark Chocolate 47 g
Lait intense - Milk chocolate around a dark chocolate center
86% Noir Brut - 86% cocoa
Noir Orange 70% cacao 90g
Noir 70% cacao
Noir 70% cacao with caramelized cocoa nibs
Noir de Noir Mignonnettes - 10-gram squares with 56% cocoa
Lait Intense Mignonnettes
Milk Chocolate with Hazelnuts 45g
Milk Chocolate 150g (2 x 75g) - Milk Chocolate featured in Centennial paper wrap packaging from 1911
Dark Chocolate 150g (2 x 75g) - Dark Chocolate featured in Centennial paper wrap packaging from 1911
Chokotoff - Caramel-chocolate toffee
Les Bouchées - Available in milk, white, hazelnut or truffle in the shape of elephants
References
External links
- Côte d'Or Website
Source of article : Wikipedia
0 Comments