Malagos Chocolates From Davao Wins Four Golds at International Competition in Germany
We already know Malagos Chocolates are pretty great. They’ve won plenty of awards here and abroad and have become a source of pride for Filipinos; they’re delicious proof that chocolates need not be imported to be world-class.
Here’s some more good news for fans of the Davao-based chocolate brand. Malagos Chocolate won four gold awards at the World Drinking Chocolate Competition 2020 held in Hannover, Germany last month. It won the top prize in the Plain/Origin Drinking Chocolate Dark category, winning against entries from all over the world. The other golds were in three other Special Awards categories: Growing Country, Chocolate Maker, and Direct Traded. The results were announced last October 25 during the virtual Schokoladen Gourmet Festival.
According to the Department of Trade and Indsutery (DTI), Malagos won gold in categories that “emphasized the integrity of their products.” In Growing Country, for example, the gold is given to chocolate products completely produced and packaged in a recognized cacao-growing country. The winning chocolate should have also qualified in the Grand Jury round. The category also requires that at least 10 products from the country are entered into the category.
The Chocolate Maker award, meanwhile, is presented to a product fully made from cacao beans into finished chocolate in the entering company’s own factory. Finally, the Directly Traded gold is given to chocolate made from cacao with no middlemen involved, with as few steps as possible in the supply chain, and where the chocolate maker has direct contact with the grower.
"It goes to show that our chocolate is world-class and makes you proud to be a cacao grower," said Rex Puentespina, managing director of Malagos Chocolate.
"We highlight our Philippine cacao in foreign countries as a high value product that matches the taste of chocolate lovers across the globe,” said Anthony B. Rivera, executive director of the Foreign Trade Service Corps, an attached agency of the DTI that has been working with Malagos Chocolates in its journey towards global recognition.
“This is a validation of our nation's never-ending quest for excellence in the field of cacao farming and chocolate-making,” DTI Secretary Ramon Lopez said. "We are dedicated in helping the local chocolate industry reach new heights and make a global imprint. This would create more livelihood and employment opportunities for our local farmers.”
