Chocolates Isabel: artisan and ethical cacao
In Alcorisa, a small town of 3,000 inhabitants in the province of Teruel, Isabel Félez decided to open a small store in 2013. She elaborates artisan and ethical chocolate. After living and studying in France, Germany and the Nordic countries, she realized that it is not only the product that matters but the whole story behind it, especially regarding to cacao. Her project, Chocolates Artesanos Isabel wants to show that consuming more ethically is possible without sacrificing quality.
When did you connection with the world of chocolate?
My story is not a family story. There was no example at home but I really liked it. I studied pastry and when I started this project, I realized that we need a good product and also keep in mind what a product has behind it. In our case, cacao, sugar and panela are products that are grown in southern countries, which usually have a dark history behind with child labor and slavery.
We decided that we had to make chocolate that did not have this dark history and having the guarantee that there were no children working on plantations, that equality between women and men was respected, that the environment was respected too…
We are committed to a chocolate with more ethical criteria, taking into consideration people and the environment.
You have the Fair Trade and Organic Agriculture certificate
Yes, we were the first chocolate in Spain to be reconigzed with both certificates. The Organic Agriculture certificate recognizes respect for the environment and Fair Trade, respect for people.
Your pastry education is very international. Which one would you say was the turning point in your professional career?
Surely France and the center of Europe. It was very clair to me that I wanted to make chocolate and with an ethical point, and there was the place where I could see this philosophy materialized. In Spain it was not done yet but there was interest on the part of the consumer about fair trade and organic products. That made me change my mind and think that if it could be done in France, also in Spain.
Do you notice many differences about how people consume chocolate in France and how we do it in Spain?
Yes, in general about how we consume food. Both in the Nordic countries and in France there is more respect and more interest in knowing where it comes from and under what conditions.
For a customer who wants to try your chocolates for the first time, what do you recommend?
I recommend the chocolate bar with olive oil. We are located in a difficult area, the rural area of Teruel and we try to rely a lot on the products of the area and make local consumption visible. Teruel depends a lot on agriculture and we have a very serious depopulation problem and the idea is to consume local products because they are very good and also to generate wealth in our environment.
I also recommend our cream chocolate because they are very different, even more so if we consider that most contain palm fats or coconut oils. Ours has only olive oil
And finally, the white chocolate bar that we make with natural cacao butter. Many others end up tasting only milk and sugar. In our case, the cacao flavor is still present in the butter part and it also has pure organic vanilla and is very good.
Do you have a new product in mind?
We are going to start making organic chocolates, which are hardly made in Spain and are very difficult to make because there are ingredients that do not exist in organic.
What made you join Spainery? Is there a specific market you want to reach?
We want to sell to Europe. We are selling a lot abroad but we still have many corners left and we think that our consumption is there. Our client has a certain gastronomic culture and also cares about how the product was made and the impact on the environment.
We join Spainery because you work with products like ours, which are differentiated and try to achieve quality not only at an organoleptic or aesthetic level but also what is behind it. And we are delighted to be in Spainery.
Here you can find the products of Chocolates Artesanos Isabel.
