{"id":2199,"date":"2013-08-19T12:34:18","date_gmt":"2013-08-19T10:34:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/test10.co.za\/C\/?p=2199"},"modified":"2014-08-25T13:23:35","modified_gmt":"2014-08-25T13:23:35","slug":"cocoafair-the-real-organic-chocolate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test10.co.za\/C\/cocoafair-the-real-organic-chocolate\/","title":{"rendered":"Coco\u00e1Fair &#8211; The Real Organic Chocolate"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Coco\u00e1Fair, the organic chocolate factory that aims to make the world a better place \u00a0\u2013 one delicious truffle at time.<\/p>\n<p>We were lucky enough to be guided around the basement of the Coco\u00e1Fair chocolate factory by passionate, former pastry-chef and business partner, Nino Allegro. He introduced us proudly to his small, hand-trained team, letting us know each of their humble beginnings, the skills they had acquired and the plans he has to grow them going into the future.<\/p>\n<p>Nino points out the first chocolate tempering machine that he built himself, by hand. He quickly states that no one gets to go straight to the computerized machines. \u201cThey all learn to make chocolate by hand first,\u201d says Nino. According to Nino, there is no formal training to become a chocolatier in South Africa.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/test10.co.za\/C\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/cocoafair4.jpg\" alt=\"cocoafair4\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The off-cuts and bars that are slightly off the correct weight are recycled and melted together. I immediately assume that this is because their chocolate is just too scrumptious to throw away but Coco\u00e1Fair have another good reason why they don\u2019t simply toss the left over chips and splinters away \u2013 as a company they believe in no wastage and the chocolate will be recycled to possibly be sold at reduced prices in the townships \u2013 creating township vendors and feeding kids with chocolate that has less sugar content than its commercial counterpart.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/test10.co.za\/C\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/cocoafair3.jpg\" alt=\"cocoafair3\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Nino\u2019s partner, Thor Thor\u00f8e from Denmark, is the visionary behind the social entrepreneurship that is at the heart of each coca bean that gets roasted in Coco\u00e1Fair\u2019s shiny, white basement. His vision is complex but essentially he wants to share knowledge, skills, create job independence, build a network of local suppliers and make end-products in Africa like the Coco\u00e1Fair brand that are ready for global consumption. Peel back the hand-wrapped, gold foil that encases the rich, crafted chocolate and you\u2019ll know they are producing an African chocolate of a standard similar to the experienced European chocolate makers.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/test10.co.za\/C\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/cocoafair1.jpg\" alt=\"cocoafair1\" \/><\/p>\n<p>They are also willing to share their knowledge and pass on their skills to anyone who is interested. They will be running a three hour bean to bar chocolate introduction course that promises to be fascinating and undoubtedly extremely tasty. Just don\u2019t ask Nino for any of his secret recipes \u2013 understandably these precious scripts and precise calculations are the one thing he keeps to himself!<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/test10.co.za\/C\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/cocoafair2.jpg\" alt=\"cocoafair2\" \/><\/p>\n<p>So go and check out the 2000 truffles a week that are meticulously shaped by hand. Breathe in the aroma of chocolate and be mesmerized by the swirling, stainless steel pots of chocolate being mixed before it\u2019s molded into its familiar solid state. Talk to the passionate staff and of course taste lots of chocolate!<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/test10.co.za\/C\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/cocoafair5.jpg\" alt=\"cocoafair5\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Coco\u00e1Fair, Albert Rd. 373-375, 7925 Woodstock, Cape Town, SA<br \/>\n(at the Old Biscuit Mill)<\/p>\n<p><strong>Phone<\/strong><br \/>\nSales: 073 855 8096 &#8211; Factory: 082 0798 687 &#8211; Office: 076 454 1025<\/p>\n<p><strong>Opening hours<\/strong><br \/>\nMonday &#8211; Friday (09:00-16:00)<br \/>\nSaturday (09:00-15:00)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Coco\u00e1Fair, the organic chocolate factory that aims to make the world a better place \u00a0\u2013 one delicious truffle at time. We were lucky enough to be guided around the basement of the Coco\u00e1Fair chocolate factory by passionate, former pastry-chef and business partner, Nino Allegro. He introduced us proudly to his small, hand-trained team, letting us know each of their humble beginnings, the skills they had acquired and the plans he has to grow them going into the future. Nino points [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":2202,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"wprm-recipe-roundup-name":"","wprm-recipe-roundup-description":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4098],"tags":[3036,3037,3038,3039,3040,3041,2936,3042,3043],"class_list":["post-2199","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","tag-chocolate-cape-town","tag-chocolate-factory","tag-chocolate-factory-south-africa","tag-cocoafair","tag-nino-allegro","tag-old-biscuit-mill","tag-organic-chocolate","tag-organic-chocolate-cape-town","tag-thor-thoroe"],"acf":[],"brand_slug":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test10.co.za\/C\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2199","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test10.co.za\/C\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test10.co.za\/C\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test10.co.za\/C\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test10.co.za\/C\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2199"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test10.co.za\/C\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2199\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test10.co.za\/C\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2199"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test10.co.za\/C\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2199"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test10.co.za\/C\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2199"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}