East Forest Wins Gold Innovation Award at Natexpo 2025
Originally published: 2025 · Last updated: August 2026
In 2025, East Forest Kenari Nuts Cacao Cinnamon received a Gold Award for Innovation at Natexpo, winning in the Sweet Grocery Products category.
The recognition marked another stage in the development of Kenari-based products and followed several years of international recognition for East Forest.
Natexpo and Organic Innovation
Natexpo is a major trade event for the organic sector, bringing together organic brands, buyers, distributors and food professionals.
Its awards recognize innovative organic products across different categories.
For its 2025 edition, the Natexpo Awards evaluated products according to criteria including originality, innovation, consumer benefits, impact and overall performance. The jury included journalists, organic experts, distributors, entrepreneurs and health and wellness professionals.
This makes the award relevant not only as a product accolade but also as recognition within the organic food industry.
Gold for Cacao Cinnamon
The winning product was:
East Forest Kenari Nuts — Cacao Cinnamon
Category: Sweet Grocery Products
The combination brings together Kenari with cacao and cinnamon, creating a sweet flavor profile while maintaining the nut as the central ingredient.
The current East Forest range describes Cacao Cinnamon as featuring rich cacao and warm cinnamon.
Developing Kenari Through Flavor
One of the challenges of introducing a new nut is finding ways for consumers to experience it without losing the identity of the ingredient.
East Forest approaches this by using Kenari as the starting point.
The objective is not to overwhelm the nut with flavor.
Instead, the product is developed around Kenari's naturally creamy and buttery character, using ingredients that complement rather than hide it.
Cacao Cinnamon is one example of that approach.
The result connects an unfamiliar Indonesian nut with flavors that consumers already recognize, creating a more accessible introduction to Kenari.
From Recognition to Continued Development
The Natexpo award followed earlier recognition for East Forest and Kenari, including:
BIOFACH 2023 — Best New Product
Anuga 2023 — Top Innovation
Nordic Organic Food Fair 2024 — Finalist
Natexpo 2025 — Gold Innovation Award
Each recognition came from a different event and market context.
Together, they demonstrate continuing interest in Kenari-based products as the category develops.
Why the Award Matters for Kenari
For Kawanasi, the value of recognition goes beyond the individual product.
Kenari remains a relatively unfamiliar nut in many international markets.
Every successful product helps consumers become familiar with its taste, texture and potential.
An award for Cacao Cinnamon therefore helps demonstrate that Kenari can work not only as a natural nut product, but also as a versatile ingredient capable of supporting different flavor concepts.
That versatility is important for the long-term development of Kenari.
From the Forest to an Award-Winning Product
Kenari's journey began with a naturally occurring forest nut in Eastern Indonesia.
Developing it for international consumers required work across sourcing, processing, certification, regulatory approval, product development and market education.
Cacao Cinnamon represents one result of that process.
It brings together:
Indonesian Kenari
organic product development
cacao
cinnamon
an internationally recognized food format
The Natexpo Gold Award provides another external recognition of what can be created from this distinctive ingredient.