Chocolate company wants more local cocoa

"Start planting now because we need more cocoa," is the advice to farmers from Wouter Tjeertes, co-founder of Pure Chocolate Jamaica.

"There are more and more chocolate makers coming up. Jamaica has fine flavoured cocoa which ... tells you that the quality is better than the rest in the world, just like with your coffee; we just need to market it, and we need to let the world know," he said.

Tjeertes, who is a native of Holland, founded the company with his wife Rennae Johnson, who is Jamaican. They operate out of Island Village in Ocho Rios, St Ann. Pure Chocolate Jamaica was among the exhibitors on Wednesday at the 'Christmas in July' trade show at the AC Hotel in Kingston. The stall was too alluring to pass. The attention grabber was the bars of chocolate in colourful wrappers with art depicting icons of African descent, with tropic-style vegetation in the background.

"We do everything by hand. All the artwork on our packaging is done by local artists. We actually pay them a commission on every bar that we sell. We have a range of 11 selection of chocolate bars," said Tjeertes. "Our cocoa beans are locally sourced in Portland and St Thomas. Everything is done locally and the business is growing exponentially."

Highgate Food Products, owners of the popular Highgate chocolate brand, folded operations years ago because of financial difficulties. While noting the demise of the brand, Tjeertes explained why he and his wife would venture into chocolate production.

"My wife is from Jamaica and I'm from Holland, and we were both pastry chefs. When we learned how to use beans to make chocolate in St Lucia, we took that knowledge and brought it back here and started our own company. Working in the hotels, we saw a big need for niche products and that's why we started our own company," he said.

Pure Chocolate Jamaica company has been making moves in revamping the use of Jamaican cocoa and providing opportunities for Jamaican people.

"We won the Marcus Garvey Award for Agriculture [in 2022] for the projects that we were doing with the farmers, where we helped them rehabilitate their farms. We also have a community project in Spanish Town, where we are creating jobs by putting some of our production there. We also offer workshops and tours to teach people how to make their own chocolate," he said.

Christmas in July gives shoppers the opportunity to stock up on a few items or get gift ideas for family, friends, staff and clients. With a collaboration of tourism sector stakeholders and associates of corporate Jamaica, 175 local artisans were given the opportunity to display and sell authentic products made from local material. The products ranged from fine arts, decorative pieces, souvenirs, aromatherapy, and processed foods.