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Good Honest Chocolate

Ingredients

For us, premium quality begins with how our ingredients are grown and sourced. We travel to the ends of the earth in search of the best cocoa growing climates. Selecting beans that are ethically, fairly and sustainably produced and providing education to farmers on cocoa quality and yield.

But we also believe we have some of the best ingredients right here in New Zealand! So we source local where we can. From New Zealand’s world-famous creamy milk, to artisan producers like Tauranga’s Mossop’s Manuka Honey. We’re spoilt for unique flavours. Discover the stories behind our ingredients!

Palm Oil Free

Some palm oil production endangers wildlife, so we don’t use it in any of our chocolate.

No GM ingredients

There are no GM ingredients in our chocolate.

Rainforest Alliance Certified™ cocoa sourcing

All our Ghanaian cocoa beans are now sourced from Rainforest Alliance Certified™ farms.

Our timeline

  • 2022

    100% of cocoa beans traceable from farm to factory

    Including geo-mapping the 2,400+ farms we source from in Ghana.

  • 2020

    Partnership with the Rainforest Alliance

    All our Ghanaian cocoa beans are now sourced from Rainforest Alliance Certified™ farms.

  • 2015

    Artisan Collection launches

    Keeping it local. We showcase some of the world's best ingredients grown right here in New Zealand.

  • 2015

    World Cocoa Foundation membership

    We join a foundation dedicated to growing sustainable cocoa economies.

  • 2014

    Whittaker's Cocoa Improvement Programme established

    To support the local cocoa industry in Samoa.

  • 2010

    Ethically sourced cocoa beans for Creamy Milk Block

    Joined by our Dark Ghana Block in 2014.

  • Early 1900s

    J.H. Whittaker buys cocoa from the Vaa'i plantation

    Our relationship with the Vaa'i family in Samoa continues today.

  • Frequently Asked Questions

    The ingredients in our chocolate change depending on the type of chocolate and flavour combination. You can find the full list of ingredients and nutritional information for each of our delicious treats on our product pages

    Around 96% of our raw materials, excluding cocoa beans and cocoa butter, are purchased from Kiwi suppliers. As a New Zealand-owned company we are committed to supporting local. As it happens, we have some of the best ingredients in the world right on our doorstep!

    Fairtrade and Rainforest Alliance are both working towards the same goals of improving conditions for cocoa farmers and protecting the environment, so it's a matter of choosing one or the other. We are proud to have been an early partner to Fairtrade, but have now chosen to build a partnership with the Rainforest Alliance to extend our commitment to ethical sourcing across our entire range of 116 products that are made with Ghanaian cocoa.

    This is because the Rainforest Alliance certification model best suits our focus on sourcing cocoa beans only from Ghana (apart from a small amount of speciality beans from Samoa and Nicaragua) and means we can have more impact there specifically. 

    We pay our farmers fair premiums for the beans they produce and build strong relationships with local community leaders who support and speak on behalf of our farmers. We also look for additional ways we can help make a difference. For example, we established the Whittaker's Cocoa Improvement Programme in Samoa to provide education and equipment to cocoa farmers. 

    We source a small amount of specialty beans from Nicaragua and Samoa. In both countries we have a close relationship with the cocoa plantations and their community and can trace the supply route without assistance. In Ghana the cocoa industry is more complex, so we partner with the Rainforest Alliance to ensure that all our Ghanaian cocoa beans are sourced from Rainforest Alliance Certified™ farms.