Fijian chocolate is at $4.50 locally

Local chocolate manufacturer Fijiana Cacao is selling milk and dark chocolates for as low as $4.50.

Fijiana Cacao owner Tomohito Zukoshi said the move was in line with plans to make chocolates affordable for the local market.

He said he carried out market research which helpd him select a formula for the new range of chocolates. The announcement follows Mr Zukoshi’s intent to change people’s mindset that chocolates were only manufactured abroad.

While locally made chocolates came with its own challenges, it proved Fijians could make chocolate.

Chocolate varieties

Fijiana Cacao began making three locally made chocolate varieties, all sugar free.

These were vanilla beans white chocolate, milk chocolate with 57 per cent cacao and glycemic index (GI)zero, with 72 per cent dark chocolate.

“All chocolates on the shelf other than ours use preservatives,” Mr Zukoshi said.

“We have a manufacturing facility in Fiji that allows us to deliver every week, so we don’t need any preservations.

“This sugar.

“Instead, we use natural erythritol a sugar alcohol that makes one think it is sweet, when in fact your body is natural, as we don’t use won’t receive much sugar it’s a sugar substitute.”

Mr Zukoshi’s aim was to make chocolates available for all ages and gender.

“I adopted this formula from a chocolate factory in Japan, where I also because export to.

“This is good for everybody in Fiji. “I want everybody to enjoy these sugar free chocolates especially during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, where people are becoming health conscious,” he said.