They say that necessity is the mother of creation and in the case of Ethicoco, it was. Well, the father…

Ethicoco was born out of dissatisfaction. My daughter suffers with nut and dairy allergies. Since she was a tiny baby, I have cooked from scratch, creating meals that suit her needs and are prepared with love. But when it came to Easter and Christmas it was all too easy to become disillusioned with the lack of high (or even medium!) quality chocolate and sweets available for her.

So one Easter, I decided to create my own. Nothing fancy, just some melted down dark chocolate, into a cheap egg mould and decorated hideously with sweeties. Artistically talented I am not, however this first step set me down the long road of discovering how chocolate is made and the fascinating ways I could do it myself from home.

Like many hobbyists, I was more than happy pottering about in my kitchen, combining ingredients and searching for those perfect flavours that other dairy free chocolates flatly failed to deliver on. No doubt about it, my ego told me I could do better than what was on the market, but I never expected to make it my livelihood. Then came unemployment. For a whole year I was out of work, and that steady spiral down of self esteem; wondering what on earth I could do to support myself and my child.

So out of necessity, after finally getting tired of weekly job rejections, in 2014, came Ethicoco.

The Politics
It’s all in the name.

Ethicoco strives to be ethical. Nothing is perfect, but I think carefully about where I source our base ingredients and only buy from ethical traders that guarantee no child slavery and offer decent prices for their growers. GM free, no chemical nasties and 100% recyclable packaging.

I am creating chocolate for my daughter, why would I want other children or the environment to suffer for her enjoyment?

I want my daughter to be proud of what we have achieved together. Just our little team of two.