A Stroud chocolatier has won an award at a European chocolate festival.

Coco Caravan picked up the Jury Prize for best chocolate at the Eurobean Festival held at Rochsburg Castle in Eastern Germany.

The festival, held from August 3-5 was attended by 15 ‘bean to bar’ chocolate makers from across the world and 4,500 visitors.

At the start of the festival each chocolate maker is asked to put their best bar forward. Coco Caravan were successful with their Mexican 80 percent cacao Selva Tabesqueno bar.

Jacques Cop, founder of Coco Caravan, said: “We are proud to win this prestigious award.

“Because we do things a bit different from other makers we get great feedback. We only make vegan chocolate and don't use any refined sugars, making it great option for everyone.

“On top of that we only make raw chocolate, meaning that our cacao is not roasted. Roasting brings out a very aromatic cacao scent, but also the bitterness that we experience in dark chocolate.“

Coco Caravan was founded 5 years ago in Cardiff but moved to Stroud in 2015. The chocolate is handmade by Jacques and his family and sold in the Made in Stroud shop.

“That we won with our bar is exceptionally special because, beside Raaka from Brooklyn, we were the only Raw chocolate maker and the only one using coconut sugars. Besides that we work with small machinery instead of large sophisticated machinery and a R&D (research and development) department.

“This makes us especially proud that a small family business from Stroud can bring this award home,” Jacques added.

For more information about Coco Caravan cococaravan.co.uk.

The Eurobean Festival began in 2016 as a collaboration between German and Austrian chocolate makers. The festival celebrates chocolate makers that craft directly from the cacao bean rather than buying in ready-made chocolate.

Fore more information about the festival visit eurobean-festival.org/en.