Mott Green peeks behind one of his Grenada cocoa trees. Photo: Grenada Chocolate Company.
It takes quite a bit of effort for chocolate to travel around the world and into to your mouth. It also takes quite a bit of fuel.
Though the cacao tree is indigenous in the Americas, the chocolate industry has since become an international effort, with half of cocoa beans grown in Western Africa.
The Grenada Chocolate Company, as its name indicates, strays from pack by producing beans in Grenada, an island just off the coast of Venezuela. Still, company founder Mott Green recognizes that the amount of organic chocolate they ship has its mark on the environment.
To counteract the company’s carbon footprint, Green set sail in late February with five tons of chocolate in tow, in conjunction with Netherlands shipping company FairTransport, for the world’s first carbon neutral, trans-Atlantic chocolate shipment.
They will travel from Grenada to New York City, Portsmouth, England and finally to Amsterdam on a ship called The Brigantine Tres Hombres, a 32-meter, 165-ton sailboat with no engine. You can follow the ship’s progress here and read about it on Green’s blog.
The carbon neutral shipment isn’t the first of the Grenada Chocolate Company’s green-minded ideas. Making chocolate is a 24-hour process, the company says on their website. So, their machines are completely run on solar-electric energy.
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