Canadian Craft Chocolatier Competition, 2023

Location: Toronto, Canada
Closing date: 22 September 2023
Judging dates: 1 Sep 2023 – 1 Oct 2023

Eligible countries: Canada

COMPETITION ARCHIVED.

Canadian Craft Chocolatier Competition

The Canadian Craft Chocolatier Competition celebrates the craft of chocolatiers and chocolate companies who create filled chocolates, truffles, ganaches, pralines, caramels, fondants, enrobed fruits and nuts and spreads made from chocolate couverture or from their own bean-to-bar chocolate. The competition also includes flavoured chocolate bars made from chocolate couverture.

Bean-to-bar chocolate makers of plain/origin and flavored bars were already judged at the Americas Bean-to-Bar Competition, which took place from May – August 2023 and was coordinated in New York, USA.

Remote judging for all products

The products for this competition will be received in our Toronto base and will then be repacked as blinded samples and sent to our panel of Canadian judges and members of our international Grand Jury to judge at home using our online judging system. Reference sets of each submission will be held at the receiving venue in case of any issue with the samples sent to judges and products will be blinded as usual.

Judging will commence once all the samples have been packed, after the deadline to receive samples of 22 September 2023. Judging will take place straight afterwards with winners announced on 2 October with a direct invitation to our World Final 2023.

Winners of the Canadian competition will pass through to the World Final, which will be held in October – November 2023 in Florence, Italy.

Origin traceability

We are committed to supporting economically, socially and environmentally sustainable cacao farming where farmers are paid a reasonable price that reflects the work that goes into growing fine cacao. We also believe that the chocolate with the best flavor profiles comes from directly sourced fine cacao.

From 2021-22 onwards, we will ask every entrant for the origin of cacao used for the dark and milk chocolate in their entries, including chocolatiers. These details are given confidentially when entering. White chocolate and cocoa butter are currently excluded from these rules.

By ‘origin’ we mean a known region, area, district, or farm recognized as a source of fine cacao. We will also limit the number of sources that can be used for an origin to no more than three different cooperatives, commercial farmers, post-harvest centers, individual farmers, research stations or other single sources. Blends are acceptable if they use no more than three different named origins.

We won’t accept origins defined only as the name of the cacao growing country, except for smaller cacao countries producing less than 4000 tonnes of cacao per year.

These rules apply to all chocolate used in filled chocolate and spreads, including commercial couverture. Details of the origin must be obtained from the chocolate maker or supplier if you are not the chocolate maker.

If you do not make your own chocolate, you will also need to supply a 50g sample of the chocolate you are using for your products, in case there is a Grand Jury query about the origin.

We believe that these rules will help to promote the spirit and ideal of craft chocolate and to help the development of good chocolate and cacao.

Eligibility

This competition judges flavoured and filled bars made from chocolate couverture and truffles, ganaches, pralines, caramels, fondants, enrobed fruits and nuts, and spreads made from chocolate couverture or bean-to-bar chocolate.

The competition is open to all companies with their main business or head office in Canada.

All chocolate used in all entries in this competition must be made from cacao with a declared and traceable source. Details of the source must be provided when entering each product and will remain confidential. For products made with couverture, details must be obtained from the chocolate maker.

Restaurants, hotels, and chefs may enter provided their products follow the normal rules of the International Chocolate Awards and our available to consumers as part of a hospitality service.

This is a Chocolatier competition for all categories EXCEPT for Plain/origin and Flavoured dark, milk and white bars made by Bean-to-Bar chocolate makers. These products are judged at the regional Bean-to-Bar competition, held in: United States.

The admission fee for this competition is CAD $70 and the fee for each entry is CAD $70. Prices will be converted into local currency by your credit card company, if required.