Aelan Chocolate – Now Made in Vanuatu!

“Just the thing to take away the taste of kava,” declared Kevin Page, as he and his family returned to Vanuatu after more than a decade. Kevin, formerly Chief Engineer for Radio Vanuatu, wanted to reaffirm Vanuatu’s reputation for having the world’s best kava before meeting up with friends from Tonga.

At Hannington’s nakamal, the verdict was unanimous: Vanuatu kava is indeed the best in the world.

That same evening, Aelan Chocolate made its debut at the nakamal — actually made in Vanuatu, from bean to bar. The Pages agreed there was no better place to enjoy the chocolate than in a kava bar after drinking the local euphoric brew.

What makes Aelan Chocolate unique is that you can choose which island your cocoa beans come from, thanks to a colour-coded liner inside each block.

Aelan Chocolate’s journey to this moment has been driven by the ACTIV Association, led by Sandrine Wallez since 2007. While Vanuatu cocoa had been previously made into chocolate in Germany and Australia, these steps were essential in building the expertise needed to establish local production.

Local island communities have rehabilitated cocoa plantations and refined their fermenting and drying methods to produce high-quality cocoa. Using a simple, traditional recipe of pure cocoa beans and raw sugar, each batch is crafted using vintage machinery and hand-processing, resulting in rich, dark chocolate — dairy-free and all the better for it.

At just VT 900 per block, Aelan Chocolate is available at the ACTIV boutique near the Olympic Snack Bar in central Port Vila and at the ACTIV workshop showroom at Stella Mare, Second Lagoon. Smaller chocolates are also available for those wanting a quick taste.

As the Page family put it:

“There is no better after-taste for maloku than an Aelan bar.”

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Disclaimer: This article is a rewrite from the Vanuatu Daily Post for educational, archival, and non-commercial purposes. Full credit to the original publication and journalist Bob Makin. Please contact us if you require changes or removal.