Summer is here. With its latest gelato product range, the Italian chocolate and gelato manufacturer Venchi offers a surprisingly refreshing taste experience. The ingredient for the new cocoa fruit sorbet is produced by the start-up Koa. The natural cocoa fruit juice “Koa Pure” offers the ideal basis for innovative applications with a sustainable vision.
Until now, the pulp that surrounds the cocoa beans couldn’t be processed in cocoa-growing countries due to a lack of infrastructure and technology. In conventional cocoa processing, only a small part of the white pulp was used for fermentation. Koa has found an innovative way to gently process the cocoa fruit in close cooperation with 1,600 smallholders.
“The utilisation of the cocoa pulp enables the smallholders to earn an additional income and at the same time creates jobs in rural Ghana,” Daniel Otu, Operations Director at Koa in Ghana, explained.
Koa Pure opens up new possibilities for the food industry
Thanks to the 100% natural juice and its gentle processing, the original aroma of the cocoa fruit is preserved. Besides aroma, sweetness is an important factor for gelato creations. Koa Pure naturally provides it. Especially at low temperatures, the exotic fruity taste unfolds. Thus, it’s ideal for applications such as gelato. The Italian chocolate and gelato manufacturer Venchi has discovered this potential and recently presented its product innovation, the cocoa fruit sorbet. Based on the sorbet, Venchi also offers a gelato shake and a gelato praline. The three creations are available in Italy, England and Germany at Venchi boutiques.
Giovanni Battista Mantelli, Venchi Director and Innovation Manager, emphasised: “I am really glad we found a partner which is located directly at the cocoa farms and perfectly preserves this precious nectar. Thanks to this collaboration, we can present a world premiere of our Italian gelato made with cocoa pulp to discover the delicate fruity and refreshing taste which I tried for the first time when I visited the cocoa rainforest.”
For Koa, the partnership is a milestone. “As young entrepreneurs, we’re particularly proud to cooperate with the traditional manufacturer and innovation leader Venchi for this new gelato,” Anian Schreiber, Co-Founder and Managing Director of Koa, highlighted.
“Venchi’s launch clearly shows how versatile Koa Pure can be used and what potential the cocoa fruit has. The additional income benefits not only the cocoa farmers but also gelato fans with a wonderful summer-like taste and the conscience of doing something good.” By using the pulp, cocoa farmers can now benefit twice. Koa aims to partner with 80,000 smallholders by 2030 to sustainably transform cocoa farming.
The Swiss-Ghanaian start-up Koa uses the pulp of the cocoa fruit, thus reducing food waste and providing cocoa smallholders with an additional income. Today, 42 employees in Ghana and Switzerland dedicate themselves to the growth of Koa to boost value creation in the cocoa-growing regions and to developing innovative and pioneering processes. With the natural cocoa fruit products, Koa brings a previously unknown taste to the European market and opens up new possibilities for both the food and beverage industry as well as for gastronomy.
Image credit: Venchi
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Kiran Grewal
Editor, International Confectionery
Tel: +44 (0) 1622 823 922
Email: editor@in-confectionery.com
