Sofiia Shokoladna: 'Ukrainian chocolate can exist on the world market'
The 12-year-experience chocolatier explains how the Ukrainian chocolate industry builds its own identity — without copying the Belgian or Swiss tradition.
Sofiia Shokoladna's workshop in Kyiv's Podil is a combination of a chocolate factory (12 m² of production space with proprietary tempering equipment) and a café-salon. The chocolatier interned at Belgium's Callebaut Chocolate Academy in 2015 and France's Valrhona in 2018. 'Ukrainian chocolate has a chance on the world market,' she says. 'Not as a copy of Belgium but as its own school focused on flavanols and fermentation.'
The workshop's key innovation is Ukrainian bean-to-bar chocolate using coffee-fermented cocoa beans from African partners. So far this is the only Ukrainian chocolate certified by the International Cocoa Organization. The workshop hosts monthly tasting sessions of chocolate bars from various producers — Ukraine-Belgium-Switzerland-Japan-USA. 'In 2030 Ukrainian chocolate will be available in European premium stores,' Sofiia is confident. 'This is a matter of gradual steps.'
