Bean to bar is a way for small chocolate makers, like us, to distinguish our chocolate making process from both chocolatiers, & especially from mass produced chocolate. Working in very small batches, we control the entire chocolate making process from cacao bean to chocolate bar.
Yes, our products are made using ingredients from natural sources. We do not use or add any GMOs, preservatives, artificial or synthetic ingredients, flavors or colors.
All our plain dark chocolate bars are vegan friendly
We have a significantly lower sugar content than commercial chocolate bars & we never use high fructose corn syrup. Even with our dark milk chocolate, which has a slightly higher sugar content than our dark bars.
Depends on the specific bean origin, where possible we do use certified organic cocoa beans. Our cocoa butter & cane sugar are always certified organic.
We currently source organic (where possible) cacao from a supply chain company that is a responsible intermediary that provides cacao farmers sustainable prices & access to the market. We pay far beyond fair trade premiums and several times commodity prices. We are always testing and tasting cacao from new and exciting growing regions.
Even better, we source our cocoa beans Direct Trade & pay premiums that exceed those of Fair Trade by an average of 15 times! Direct Trade means that we establish relationships with all farms from whom we purchase, we use our own criteria to judge the quality of the operations in terms of labor and environmental practices, and we deposit our payments directly into the bank accounts of our farms, without any middle men to take a cut.
In a cool, dry place. Ideally between the temperatures of 12-20C. Don’t store your chocolate in your refrigerator, water is chocolate’s worst enemy so humidity or condensation will cause it to bloom (causing gray streaks, crystallization)
Blooming is a process where the fats and sugars of the chocolate re-solidify, & become visible on the outer surface of the chocolate shell. This appears as discoloration, or a dusted texture on the outside of the item. While this does not affect the flavor of the chocolate, it can look somewhat unappealing.
