Nechama Brodie picks 10 of the most interesting items on display at the FoodWineDesign Fair and Cape Town based Honest Choclate makes the list.

Cape Town-based artisan chocolate makers Anthony Gird and Michael de Klerk have built up a loyal following for their candid candies (their chocolate is made from raw, organic cacao, no dairy, no sugar – they use Agave nectar instead), and have just launched their seventh chocolate bar, Grains of Paradise, a 72% chocolate bar that includes a touch of spicy peppers from West Africa.

“Everyone raves about the chilli chocolate,” says Michael [their other slab flavours are 72% bars with pieces of crushed cacao beans (nibs); malty Peruvian maca root; coffee beans; Kalahari Desert salt; orange; and a dark 88% chocolate bar]. “We always wanted to do something more subtle.”

The idea for the pepper bar – the pepper is related to the ginger root and grows in Ghana and Nigeria; Honest source theirs from Ghana – came after a chocolate-brandy pairing presentation with Jorgensen’s Distillery. Roger [Jorgensen] had brought along the “different stuff he uses in his gin, and one of them was this spicy African pepper, the Grain of Paradise,” explains Michael.

For the wrapper’s artwork, Anthony and Michael worked with illustrator and artist Carmen Ziervogel to produce a tree with delicate blossoms and fiery roots. “It’s a bit of the good, and a bit of the bad,” says Michael, “the idea of paradise … but with a spiciness to it.”

In addition to its chocolate bars, Honest will also be selling its signature original and mint bon bon truffles, and jars of chocolate spread.

Honest Choclate is featured on the 2013 Cape Town Green Map
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