Lake Champlain Chocolates & Author Chris Bohjalian team up to create The Lioness Chocolate Bar
Burlington, VT -- April 26, 2022 – Africa is a long way from Vermont, but when chocolatier Lake Champlain Chocolates(LCC) partners with New York Times best-selling Vermont author Chris Bohjalian, the magical landscape of the Serengeti comes to life.
The Lioness, Bohjalian’s 23rd novel, debuting on May 10, 2022, is a riveting historical thriller in which a luxurious African safari turns deadly. To celebrate the launch of Bohjalian’s latest book, LCC created a tantalizing, limited-edition chocolate bar that captures the taste and place of the novel’s setting in Tanzania. Using an organic and Fair Trade certified 70% extra-dark chocolate sourced from Uganda, the Lioness Chocolate Bar has a satisfying crunch from small-batch, house-made candied coconut and finishes with the fiery intensity of a Berbere spice blend, a classic East African flavor. Like a lioness, the bar’s spicy fierceness, bold chocolate notes, and hints of coconut sweetness evoke the essence of an African safari.
Author Bohjalian enthusiastically sums up the partnership:
“I have been delighting in Lake Champlain Chocolates for years. They create confections that are scrumptious. And the idea that they wanted to create a chocolate bar to celebrate my novel, The Lioness? I was gobsmacked and grateful and, yes, like a kid in a candy shop. I love what they have come up with: an extra dark chocolate bar that you’ll devour —and I really appreciate how two dollars from each bar will be donated to Fair Trade USA to empower women in agriculture across Africa.”
In partnership with Fair Trade USA, Lake Champlain Chocolates and author Chris Bohjalian will raise nearly $2,500 to support female farming communities in Africa with $2 of each individual bar and $12 from every set of autographed book and bar donated to the Women’s Empowerment project. This project was started by Fair Trade USA to challenge the power imbalances of global trade by presenting women cocoa farmers with access to supportive work environments, education, finance, farm inputs and access to land ownership.
“Chris’ enthusiasm and love for our chocolate is truly unmatched,” says Allyson Myers, Director of Marketing for LCC. “The opportunity to support a book launch by such a beloved and successful Vermont author, while also helping to create social change for women in Africa, is the type of partnership we value as a Certified B Corporation. This project epitomizes the impact we all can make when we be the change we seek in the world.”
The Lioness Chocolate Bar becomes available on Tuesday, May 10 and will be sold at Phoenix Books, Norwich Bookstore, and Northshire Books in Vermont, LCC’s three company-owned retail stores, and online at LakeChamplainChocolates.com. Chris Bohjalian will also have the Lioness Chocolate bar on his nationwide tour to surprise and delight fans who attend his in-person events.
The bar’s SRP is $10 and includes a keepsake bookmark inside each package. With only 1,000 bars made, they will be available only until the last bar is sold.
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About Lake Champlain Chocolates
Since 1983, Lake Champlain Chocolates has worked in pursuit of extraordinary chocolate moments™. As a pioneer in the American chocolate movement, the Vermont chocolate company strives to create only the best-tasting chocolates imaginable. In the early days this meant sourcing the highest-quality fresh, local ingredients and never using preservatives or artificial flavors.
Today, the second-generation, family-owned company’s pursuit of the extraordinary continues. As a Certified B Corporation®, the company is committed not only to be the best in the world, but to be the best for the world by supporting cacao growing communities and using 100% fair trade certified chocolate, reducing toxins in the environment by sourcing organic ingredients, whenever possible, and continuing to make extraordinary seasonal and everyday chocolates for all to enjoy.
Lake Champlain Chocolates are available at their three company-owned stores in Vermont, nationwide at specialty stores and grocers, and online at Amazon and http://www.lakechamplainchocolates.com/.
About Chris Bohjalian
CHRIS BOHJALIAN is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of twenty-three books, including The Lioness, Hour of the Witch, The Red Lotus, Midwives, and The Flight Attendant, which has been made into an HBO Max limited series starring Kaley Cuoco. His other books include The Guest Room; Close Your Eyes, Hold Hands; The Sandcastle Girls; Skeletons at the Feast; and The Double Bind. His novels Secrets of Eden, Midwives, and Past the Bleachers were made into movies, and his work has been translated into more than thirty-five languages. He is also a playwright (Wingspan and Midwives). He lives in Vermont and can be found at chrisbohjalian.com or on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Litsy, and Goodreads, @chrisbohjalian