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Trade: Chocolate Saga: Consumption of artisanal chocolate in Romania has doubled in the last two years
The consumption of artisanal chocolate doubled over the last two years,the Romanians becoming more selective and open to spend more for a better piece of chocolate than the one on the shop shelves, says the organizer of the festival Chocolate Saga, Adina Istrate, event which took place this week-end at the Palace Hall in Bucharest.
The third edition of the festival of chocolate and ice-cream gathers 30 producers of chocolate in Romania, five international ones and over 30 companies in related areas.
"We have the largest chocolate houses in Romania, Poland, Bulgaria and Moldova. Five of the chocolatiers present at Chocolate Saga are international award winners," Istrate explained. New products were presented such as parsley pralines, urd truffles and, for the first time, blood sugar-lowering pralines.
”There will be a doctor present who will test directly, namely take the blood glucose before eating the praline and after eating it. It is a praline containing the famous Topoloveni plum marmalade, plus chicory and oats. It is a praline with extremely healthy surprises. And there is another innovation at this edition, the praline with cucumber and lemon” added Adina Istrate.
Carmela Dragomir, the initiator of these innovations in the field of chocolate, said that the people at the Dulcelle artisan chocolate factory in Campina have always been extremely creative and this has resulted in a series of products that are both appreciated and awarded.
"We used dark chocolate with 72% cocoa mass, which also contains a bit of sugar, but we combined it with Topoloveni plum jam, chicory and oats, and inulin, a natural ingredient in chicory that is known to lower blood sugar. Thanks to these ingredients, blood sugar actually drops, not rises. I also combined the cucumber with lemon and lemon crisp and it came out a very fresh praline and combination. We also wanted to make a praline with tomatoes and basil, but time was too short," said Carmela Dragomir.
Adina Istrate said that at this festival there was present Martin Christy as well, Founder International Chocolate Awards & IICCT who spoke about the way chocolate should be tasted and combined in a correct way. Similarly, during the fair, Carrefour presented different combinations of chocolate and dessert cheeses. ” So, we have many novelties and they also seem educational to me, which bring a lot to the soul” said the organizer of the festival, mentioning that the prices of the products presented at Chocolate Saga are for all budgets, from ”very affordable to large”.
According to Omnia Gusti, the company which sells raw material to chocolate makers and equipment, in Romania over the last 3 to 5 years the market for chocolate has started to develop more and more, registering annual growth of 20 – 25%.
The data supplied by the organisers of Chocolate Saga show that Romania produces less than 10% of the annual necessary of chocolate of the country, the consumption of chocolate being over 600 million euro. Only the production of Romanian chocolate gets to 50 million euro.
Romania occupies the tenth place in the top of the biggest chocolate consumers, with 4.95 kg/inhabitant, up by 40% against 2021, when it was only 3.5 kg/inhabitant. Last year, the chocolate premium consumption increased by over 50%.
Chocolate Saga is the biggest event of this kind in Romania, at the third edition and takes place for three days, culminating with the first competition in Romania dedicated to the domain, The Golden Chocolate. The tickets cost 20 lei and children under 10 have free entrance.