The chocolate world of Mott Green
The Food Programme
BBC
4.4 • 977 Ratings
🗓️ 16 June 2013
⏱️ 29 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The story of Mott Green, cocoa farmer and chocolate maker, who was changing the industry one bar at a time.
Born in New York, this gifted engineer and mathematician left Manhattan in his twenties to explore the Caribbean. He ended up in Grenada, fell in love with cocoa and with a local drink, "cocoa tea".
Despite this chocolate tradition and Grenada having some of the finest cocoa trees in the world, farmers were leaving the land and abandoning their crop because of low prices. Mott Green took it upon himself to change that.
By using hand built machines and creating a co-operative, Mott managed to build a chocolate factory in a tropical climate, the first time this had been done. Sales of his quality bars grew and cocoa farming on the island once again became profitable.
His success was documented in a film, Nothing Like Chocolate, and he was celebrated in Grenada as someone who had not only made a big impact on the island's economy but also changed thinking about chocolate around the world.
Tragically, shortly after the Food Programme recorded with Mott Green he was killed in an accident as he was repairing some equipment. The programme follows him through the chocolate making process and as he embarked on a three month voyage transporting his bars across the Atlantic using only wind and solar power.
Producer: Dan Saladino.
Transcript
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| 0:49.4 | W.W. dot B.C. dot co- |
| 0:52.6 | UK slash radio four and now enjoy the podcast I've been told that you often sleep with your chocolate in the factory. |
| 1:07.0 | I've been told that you often sleep with your chocolate in the factory. |
| 1:10.0 | I sleep with it every night. |
| 1:12.0 | It's only been 11 years. Where do you sleep? |
| 1:14.6 | I'm just... This is your bedroom. It's a little messier than usual because I'm getting ready to pack for the sea. |
| 1:18.9 | So it's sort of the changing room. It's also the tool room and it's where I sleep. |
| 1:23.0 | On one level, this is a story all about chocolate, but it's also a remarkable food story about a remarkable man. |
| 1:31.0 | His name, Mott Green. |
| 1:33.0 | At night, everyone leaves and I look after the machines, some of them running 24 hours a day. |
| 1:38.0 | So you literally babysit your chocolate. |
... |
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