Interview with Martin van Almsick at Al Nassma Chocolate

Feb 2, 2015
2 min read

After more than a decade working as Head of Marketing & Public Relations at the Cologne-based Imhoff Stollwerck chocolate museum, Martin van Almsick now runs a successful start-up company, Al Nassma Chocolate LLC – the world’s first camel milk chocolate company based in Dubai.

How did somebody from Cologne come up with the idea of making chocolate from camel’s milk in Dubai? Martin van Almsick: Having worked for many years at the Cologne Chocolate Museum, I had always been a declared lover of chocolate. Making chocolate from camel’s milk was a new challenge that we happily set ourselves there with a team of chocolate experts. It was actually always said that camel’s milk was too low in fat for chocolate production. That made the task even more enticing. Looking back, the process of development from the original idea to the finished chocolate always sounds very quick and easy, but in fact from the first brain wave to launching the product on the market took four years. How many years have you now been in the Gulf and what have you already ticked off on your to-do list? Martin van Almsick: Al nassma is celebrating its sixth anniversary this year and we are very proud of what we have built up with relatively modest means. We started out with two employees – me and my wife – and our team has now grown to 20 members of staff. We are seeing rapid growth in sales, too. As a company it is and was our goal to offer a unique, high-quality product from Dubai all over the world. We now have strong representation throughout the Arab region and have also taken the first step towards Asia, Europe and the USA. What does camel’s milk actually taste like? Martin van Almsick: Camel’s milk is a touch saltier than cow’s milk. That gives our chocolate its characteristic trademark taste – not too sweet, creamy, with a hint of caramel and honey and a slightly salty final note. It melts on the tongue and leaves a pleasant softness. P lease read the complete interview in our print issue of THE FINEST EMIRATES, published in September 2014. Yours, The-Finest-Emirates-Team

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