Curitibanas Cuore di Cacao and Utopia Tropical win international awards

Chocolates bean-to-bar (from almond to bar) from two brands from Paraná are among the best in the Americas in 2023. The chocolate shops Cuore di Cacao and Utopia Tropical, from Curitiba, were awarded at the International Chocolate Awards, Americas stage, one of the most important global competitions in the category.

The winners of the award, which recognizes excellence in the manufacture of original chocolate and other products made with premium cocoa, were revealed on September 9, in a ceremony held in New York and broadcast via Zoom, with the participation of organizers and members of the International Grand Jury, made up of experts from all over the world.

In total, Brazil won 42 medals – eight gold, 24 silver and ten bronze –, as well as two special awards. The medals were divided among 16 Brazilian manufacturers, all producers of fine cocoa-based chocolates, with special concern regarding sustainability.

Local medalists

Curitiba’s Cuore di Cacao, a frequent name on award lists year after year, this time, won three medals at the International Chocolate Awards: the 46% Cacau Milk chocolate took silver, with a score of 89.1, in the Microlot of bars category. plain/origin milk chocolate; Cuore also won a special gold medal in this same category, Producing Country. Completing the awards, the intense chocolate 60% Cocoa with Cupuaçu took silver, with a score of 88.4, in the category Dark chocolate bars with inclusions or pieces.

Also from Curitiba, the experimental Utopia Tropical chocolate factory, which operates in the Historic Center, received two awards: silver, with a score of 87.1, in the Microlot category of simple/origin dark chocolate bars, for the Intense Chocolate 72% Cacau (origin Tocantins River, Pará); and silver, with a score of 86.5, in the Simple/origin white chocolate bars category, with White Chocolate 38% Wild Cocoa Butter (origin from Rio Purus, Amazonas.

Among Brazilians, the chocolates that received the most medals in the American edition of the International Chocolate Awards 2023 were the gaúcha Miroh! Chocolate Makers, from Gramado (RS), with eight awards; Mission Chocolate, from São Paulo, with six medals; and Odle Chocolate Maker from Minas Gerais, with five award-winning products. The highest score among the national competitors went to the 70% Cupuaçu chocolate from Ceará’s MOA Chocolates, which scored 90.7, taking gold in the category of dark chocolate bars with inclusions or pieces and the special Bioma prize.

Created in 2012, the International Chocolate Awards are managed by an international consortium of independent partners, based in the United Kingdom, Italy and the United States. In addition to the Americas stage, the award also holds Asia-Pacific, Europe, Middle East and Africa editions, and regional competitions in countries such as Colombia, Peru, Central America, Italy, France, among others. All winners of the regional stages can compete in the global final, which takes place at the end of the year.