Chocolate That Started With A Migraine

A teacher, a spice grinder and a class of willing volunteers

Lucy Bennetto was teaching high school English and Drama, loved chocolate, and got migraines from it. So in 2010 she started making her own on the kitchen bench in Christchurch, New Zealand, using a spice grinder and organic cocoa beans, with her students as enthusiastic and unpaid taste testers. A trip to the Dominican Republic to see ethical cocoa sourcing for herself settled the rest of it. The test kitchen is still in Christchurch.

Organic, Fairtrade, and rather good

Every bar is organic, Fairtrade, vegan, gluten-free and net climate positive, made from single-origin cocoa. Much of it comes from Acopagro, a Fairtrade co-operative in Peru's San Martin region on the edge of the Amazon, which is about as far from an anonymous supply chain as chocolate gets. Bennetto is a certified B Corp and a living wage accredited employer.

The flavours

70% Dark, 82% Super Dark, Coconut Flakes, Dark Mint, Salted Caramel, Orange with Chilli, Raspberries in Dark and Toasted Hazelnut, all in beautifully illustrated recyclable packaging.

Find it here

Have a browse through the rest of our Food Hall, or the Gifts edit, where a good bar of chocolate has never once been the wrong answer. There are more B Corp certified brands here too.