As an antidote to the disproportionately negative and depressing nature of the vast majority of these blog entries, here's a good old made-in-Canada good news story: a tiny family business based in the small town of Almonte, near Ottawa, has won the prestigious Academy of Chocolate award for the world's best chocolate bar.
Hummingbird Chocolate Maker entered six of its chocolate bars into the London-based Academy's annual competition, along with 580 other competing companies from around the world, little expecting to actually win anything. In fact, all six won something: two bronze medals, three silvers and a gold for their Hispaniola 70% dark chocolate bar, which also won the "Golden Bean" winner-of-winners award from among the 14 gold medal winners, the Academy's highest honour.
Hummingbird is run by Drew and Erica Gilmour, who first met as foreign aid workers in Afghanistan, and got into chocolate-making after their experiences working in Haiti following the 2010 earthquake. They operate out of a small chocolate shop on a suburban street in Almonte, roasting their beans in an old rotisserie chicken oven and winnowing them with a home-made winnower heavy on duct-tape and string. They learned their art from the Internet and old books. If there were a prize for back-stories, they would probably win that too.
The Gilmours, who also employ their ten-year-old daughter among their five staff, source their cacao from fair-trade suppliers in the Dominican Republic, Vietnam, Guatemala and Bolivia. Their products are currently available in Canada and (for some reason) China, although they have plans to expand, and these awards may well help them do so. I, for one, am going to try and find some.
Perhaps it's not much, but chalk one up for the little (Canadian) guy.
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