Joe McNamee: Your Valentine's chocolate could be confectionery — here's how to tell the difference
Joe McNamee: "Confectionery ‘chocolate’ smells vaguely of cocoa and vanilla (often artificial), whereas single origin real chocolate can inspire olfactory orgasms, a deep and intense cocoa aroma, often with notes of red and black fruits and even citrus."
Happy Valentine’s Day, second only to Easter when it comes to chocolate. Actually, the grá for chocolate is year-round: a recent work meeting where a colleague made a passing reference to the soaring price of chocolate eggs, spiralled into a discussion of chocolate in general that would still be running if there wasn’t a paper to get out.
Since 2020, the price of raw cacao, from which chocolate is derived, has risen from a stable long-term average of $2,000–$2,500 per tonne to a staggering $10,000–$12,000 per tonne by early 2025, a rise of around 400%. Those prices have slipped back but are still 200% higher.
