Hi ClayIndeed you are right. Cocoa Camino does sell a three flavour line of Fair Trade and Organic couverture.Bittersweet 70%, Semi Sweet 56%, and Milk 41%No soy, no preservatives, five or six ingredients (depending).Dominican and Peruvian cocoa. 50/50 blend.Happy to send you some samples. Love to hear what you really think.Only available in Canada though. Pity.(Canadians of a certain age will get the reference.)So send me you address at my email and I will send some down!WarmlyRodd HeinoWorker-Owner andFood Service ManagerLa Siembra Co-op, makers of Cocoa Camino products.
Casey:I am not totally sure as Chocosphere sells to retail, not wholesale, customers. I do know that wholesale customers who Hershey considers to be competitors to their brands are not going to be able to get the chocolate going forward. However, they still might make it available to home chefs. Best to contact Jerry at Chocosphere and ask him what he's been told.
Does this mean that the Dagoba couverture I have on hand now will be discontinued? I did not know that. This was from Chocosphere, which sells two lb. blocks of Dagoba, calling it "baking bricks," in four percentages.
Gwen: This is a really interesting discussion in its own right - what are chocolate makers, chocolatiers, and their customers looking for when it comes to various certifications?I happened to speak to Frederick Schilling of Dagoba about the recall after I blindly published the news feeds concerning it. First off, Frederick said, the amount involved was nowhere near the 20 tons cited in the reports, it was a small fraction of that amount and it only applied to bars made from Ecuadorian beans grown in areas in or near the mountains that form the central backbone of the country.Why is this? Volcanic soils typically contain very high levels of heavy metals such as lead and cadmium. If someone were to eat chocolate made from beans from these areas then there is the possibility of heavy-metal contamination. This is going to be an especially big issue for cacao grown in Hawaii because all of the arable land is volcanic in origin.Heavy metal contamination has nothing to do with any kind of certification. Anyone can grow cacao "organically" in volcanic soil and it would still qualify as organic. Organic certification mostly cares about is the use of chemicals and certain other farming techniques and does not, as far as I know, address the issues of compounds that are naturally present in the soil.It turns out that virtually no chocolate made in the world is routinely tested for the presence of heavy metals. I do know that when I was in Venezuela and Mexico with Shawn Askinosie on a bean buying trip in 2006, Shawn was very careful to take soil samples in several of the orchards of the co-ops he was looking to buy beans from. He had the soil analyzed for heavy metal content and was prepared to walk away from any co-op growing cacao in soil contaminated with heavy metals.One of the "problems" with virtually all of the certifications is that they don't really try to deal with issues related to quality. If I were creating a certification program I would absolutely require the testing of soil not only for synthetic chemicals but for naturally occurring substances that are poisonous to humans when ingested.
I've known the founder of Vintage Plantations since late 1998 and took part in his University of Chocolate trips to Ecuador in 2003 and 2005. (Also on the 2005 trip were Shawn Askinosie, founder of Askinosie Chocolate ; Marc Boatwright and Patricia Hinjosa, co-founders of Choctal ; and Samantha Madel and Langdon Stevenson of TAVA (Tropical Agriculture Value Added) in Australia. Elsewhere, someone posted a link saying that Askinosie Chocolate was now available in Scandinavia, and the founders of that company, ScandChoco , were also on that 2005 trip. I feel honored to have been in such an accomplished group.)Unless I am missing something, it looks like the only certified organic product is the cocoa powder. Everything else is Rainforest Alliance certified - but not organic. I have to agree with you on two counts, though, the cocoa butter is one of the better ones you can buy (I don't think it's deodorized) and the quality has been steadily improving since its first introduction.
For the past several years, one of the better sources for organic couverture for artisan chocolatiers has been (believe it or not) Dagoba. Several well-known and award-winning chocolatiers have built their businesses on that chocolate.However, since its acquisition by Hershey's Artisan Confections company, Dagoba has been forced to close down several lucrative side businesses, which include short-run bar production and selling couverture. Presumably, Artisan Confections views this as selling basic raw ingredients to competitors.I've been asked on several occasions to help chocolatiers locate sources for organic couverture. One of those came in my e-mail yesterday and I decided to follow up on it because of an increase in interest in this subject overall.There is the obvious choice: Barry-Callebaut. They are arguably the largest supplier of organic couverture to artisan chocolatiers. Valrhona has recently entered the business, but its prices make it a no-go option for many. In fact, couvertures imported from Europe are getting increasingly expensive as the dollar shrinks against the Euro.So - what are you all using these days? Who are you looking to to provide organic couverture of high technical quality (i.e., consistent workability) that also tastes good?One Canadian (Ottawa, Ontario) company my research unearthed is Cocoa Camino . They offer only three couvertures (70%, 56%, and a milk) but they are all certified organic, fairtrade, and kosher.Does anyone have any experience with these - or have other recommendations for organic couverture?
updated by @Clay Gordon: 04/07/25 13:00:14
New Orleans has an outsized reputation for many things: it's a world-class party destination with great parades featuring lots of beads, great music, great food, low-class strip/clip joints, and a fascinating history, not to mention drive-through daquiri bars.The list of culinary classics on the savory side of the menu from this part of the south is almost endless. But from a dessert perspective, New Orleans' rep does not shine nearly so brightly. Apart from the Bananas Foster it's hard to name a truly great New Orleans dessert. And yes, I know of the beignets at Cafe du Monde with their heavy dusting of powdered sugar. And although you can order the beignets at the Cafe du Monde most any time of the day or night, the best time to eat them is in the stillness of the very early morning before the heat of the day starts to enervate the Quarter's inhabitants; washed down with a cafe au lait where the cafe is laced with chicory - so I don't really think of them as dessert.The one confection that New Orleans is known for is the praline (pronounced praw'-leen). Real New Orleans-style pralines resemble large cookies, but these cookies are made from boiled sugar in which you can find swimming pecans. The best pralines are really quite good, but for every place that makes a good one there are dozens that don't measure up. One of the best-known makers of pralines in New Orleans is Laura's Candies . While they do sell what they call truffles at Laura's, they fall into the category of "hometown favorites" and are best compared with the products of other companies at their price point, such as See's.From 2000-2005, the "Best Candy Shop" in New Orleans (as voted by the readers of Gambit magazine) was Blue Frog Chocolates . I would also categorize Blue Frog as being a hometown favorite, but one with aspirations to reach beyond their hometown. The signature Blue Frog chocolate is a molded frog made from white chocolate that is colored blue. From what I can see from the pictures on their site, these will turn your tongue blue - which may be their major attraction. Other Blue Frog specialties I would call "novelty" chocolates: molded alligators, Mardi Gras gelt, chocolate voodoo dolls, and such like. In addition to these novelty products, Blue Frog also sells products made by other companies, most of which command a higher price point. Brands include Joseph Schmidt, Green and Blacks, and Michel Cluizel. They do, however, carry one very downmarket brand of truffles imported from France, Chocmod Truffettes. Many flavors can't even be called chocolate because they don't actually contain any cocoa mass (the ingredients list for their "Original Flavor Truffettes de France is: partially hydrogenated vegetable oils, sugar, low fat cocoa, whey powder, cocoa powder, emulsifier: soy lecithin, natural flavor: vanilla). To be fair, the ingredients list for their Organic Truffles (note truffle, not truffette - a real giveaway) is not at all bad: organic cocoa mass, organic coconut oil, organic cane sugar, organic cocoa powder, organic cocoa butter, soy lecithin.With the opening of Sucr (French for sugar) in April 2007, New Orleans finally has a local artisan chocolatier that it can truly be proud of. Located betwixt and between the Garden District and Uptown on Magazine St just two hops, three skips, four jumps and some bon temps (not to mention TurboDogs) from Tipitina's. Sucr is the handiwork of successful local restaurant entrepreneur Joel Dondis and Pastry Chef/Chocolatier Tariq Hanna formerly of MotorCity in Detroit.(By an odd coincidence, I happen to have spent some time with Tariq in the Arizona desert in 2005 when he was a contestant on a Food Network Challenge that was being filmed at the Marriott Desert Ridge during the World Pastry Forum, just before the National Pastry Team Championships.)The physical presence of Sucr is quite impressive as the following photos of the exterior and chocolate case attest to. In addition to their chocolates, they make traditional breakfast pastries (Viennoiserie), a range of petit pastries, entremets (cakes), macarons, pate de fruits, chocolate-covered nuts, a selection of seasonal gelatos and sorbets, in addition to coffees, teas, and drinking chocolates, rounded out by a lunch menu that includes sandwiches and soups.
I received a nine-piece selection of their chocolates for review. Reflecting the clean, clear lines of the store, the packaging is straightforward and attractive (as can be seen in the product photo, below).
Where Sucr really shines is when it turns its attention to the flavors that New Orleans and the South are best known for - which is sort of odd when you think about it because Tariq is not a name common in cajun country. A case in point is the Blang, Sucr's interpretation of the Bananas Foster in a confection. Also in this category is the piece called Avery, a milk chocolate and caramel ganache with a pinch of Avery Island salt (Avery Island is the home of the McIlhenney company, makers of Tabasco hot sauce which uses a lot of Avery Island salt). Sucr's Magnolia pays homage to that most southern of nuts - the pecan. A final piece, Meuniere, combines the signature ingredient of the sauce, browned butter, in a white chocolate ganache infused with the flavor of toasted almonds, a common sauce meuniere garnish.The ganaches are all smooth as silk with varying densities ranging from quite wet (in the shell molded pieces) to quite firm (in the enrobed pieces). The collections all display nice variations in shapes as well as surface treatments and so are visually quite pleasing. Based on the descriptions, much if not all of the chocolate used is Felchlin, including the Bolivian Cru Sauvage and the Maracaibo Clasificado (Venezuela) 65%. If Chef Hanna consistently uses Felchlin, then the milks available to him, the Criolait (38%) and Creole (49%) are two of the best going. It sure is easier to make great confections when you start with great chocolate. Rating: Category: Gourmet, Prestige Style: Nouvelle-American Rating: Very Good to Superior Company Info: Sucr3025 Magazine StNew Orleans, LA 70115Tel. 504.520.8311Fax. 504.520.8312info@shopsucre.com www.shopsucre.com updated by @Clay Gordon: 04/09/15 19:07:08
I dug up this old review of the books associated with the Taste TV and Chocolate Salons after a newsletter was received this week from Taste TV stating they were doing a Chocolate Salon in Hawaii. I asked the organizer why they selected the location of Waikoloa resort on the Big island. he told me for several excellent reasons but provided none <( except maybe he and others get a vacation write off? )I further inquired all my chocolate colleagues in Hawaii if anyone had heard of this ( scheduled for August) and no one had.odd that the very people who might potentially exhibit had no clue. Waikoloa resort, while lovely, has no local population to draw from and has been experiencing weak tourism and vog. ( volcanic smog) the organizers est attendance at 500-1000 is beyond eggagerated. The well organized , well marketed thru media and well represented by people in Hawaii 's chocolate industry, recent Hawaii chocolate Festival in Honolulu on Oahu, a city of 1 million, drew about 1000 people.it is likely not many of us would bother with the expense of a booth, air cargo goods. Hotel and other costs to go to a sketchy event where because of no attendees and especially no repeatable as in local business would be guaranteed to lose money. Apparently the organizer has only his own interests in mind.
I get all my chocolate shop recs from bloggers anyway! Thanks to Candy Blog I just had a great trip to LA. I was certainly deterred from purchasing this guide after coming up with my own negative opinion of the French guide (so there Andre Crump!).I would still consider purchasing the Western guide after a few revisions, but am really looking forward to seeing the lists of shops here grow. I was creating my own personal guide, but became exhausted with all the locations across the States!
One of the things that I am going to be setting up in the next week or so is a version of the chocolate-makers database for chocolatiers. In this way we can create our own guide.At a minimum the database will include the name, street address, city, state, and postcode, country, phone numbers, website address, founder(s) names(s), chocolatier name, and type of sales (retail, wholesale, online, retail store).I also think that a comment space for specialties, year founded, and the ability to upload a copy of the logo as well as a photo (or two) of work.If you have any ideas for what that database should include, please click the Feedback link at the bottom of this page and let me know.:: Clay
Thanks for the review, Clay. I saw it at Powell's and glanced through it and even at a glance I found errors. It is a really good idea and it would be cool to see it more fully realized, and including Alma chocolate, of course
We weren't in the book for the same reason many other excellent companies were omitted: companies needed to pay for their inclusion. Additionally, the size of the layout depended not on their relevance or quality, but on how much they were willing to spend. It may be good publicity for many of the companies, but it also means the book is a willfully inaccurate "guide", at best.
I also agree with Clays assesment of the rather poor editing quality, unfortunately its true. But Im glad someone started the ball rolling on choc guides as they are fun to look at and can be a good resource- but like Clay said, not all choc shops are represented (only those that "subscribe" to Taste TV- TCB Cafe Press- the publisher) and certain regions are NOT covered enough- although their website says a Central USA guide book is still coming....one would certainly want to also gather info off the web for a complete listing of any regions visited.Choc on!
I have also pre-ordered the Eastern edition of this book, Amazon estimates the shipping date for end of April/ early May - its only $10.85 to pre order. I hope others discover these guides too, they are just choc full of photos and great info for any choco lover....
The Western Edition of The Chocolate Guide is brought to you by the same people who produced the book Chocolate French and who are also behind TasteTV, Chocolate Television, and the International Chocolate Salons in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, and Miami, and internationally.I reviewed the first edition of Chocolate French when it first came out, and I did not give it a very good review. Much of my criticism was leveled at the way the book was organized as well as at the apparent lack of professional copy editing and fact checking. As I remember, this level of inattention was also evident in the recipes, several of which could not actually be made successfully if the directions were followed.In my correspondence with Andre Crump the writer/editor/publisher of Chocolate French I was accused of "killing" the book - that my review on chocophile.com was somehow single-handedly responsible for stalling the sales of the book. (Poor sales had nothing to do, of course , with the fact that the book was poorly done.) I was, however, happy to see that Mr Crump was wrong in his assessment of the book's sales potential and that a second edition was published. I did not either contribute (I was asked) or review the updated version so I do not know if the structural issues I pointed out in my review of the first edition were addressed.When I heard that Mr Crump was publishing a guide to chocolatiers, chocolate makers, Boutiques [sic: comma is missing on the cover] Patisseries & Shops, I hoped that he would have learned his lesson from Cafe French and actually create a usable book.Sad to say, that is not the case. Which is not to say that the book is not useful, it's just not very usable.There are huge gaps in the businesses and areas that are covered and it's not apparent (unless you read some fine print in the front of the book) why some companies were included and featured and others overlooked, and there is no rational scheme or order that I can detect in the way the businesses that are included are ordered that would make the book's organization make sense.The book starts showing how little attention was paid to the idea of editorial consistency when you take a look at the Table of Contents and the cover page for the first section. The Table of Contents says the first section is titled "Southern California" while the Cover pages say "Southern California & Mexico." This is born out by the fact that the Nestle Museum in Mexico City is not only mentioned in the Table of Contents, it deserves four full pages of photos. But the Museum does not appear in the "Local Directory" so there's no contact information. And what, there are no other chocolatiers or chocolate companies between the San Diego and Mexico City?This lack of depth and consistency plagues the "Local Directory" at the back of each section. In the Local Directory for Southern California, for example, the first entry is Chuao (which is located in Encinitas which is closer to San Diego than it is to LA). The next entry is for Leonidas in LA/Beverly Hills, followed by a raft of LA metro-area entries which appear to be grouped by city, but are not organized alphabetically by the name of the business or according to the geography of LA. Nor are multiple entries for the same company (Leonidas, for example) listed in most cases, let alone grouped together. (To be fair, the Leonidas site itself is confusing: the store referred to on myleonidas.com as being in Beverly Hills is the same store whose web site is leonidashollywood.com.) So, I can see how the editors might be initially confused, but that is exactly the sort of organization and attention to detail that readers deserve, if not expect.Furthermore, all of the entries in the Local Directories are incomplete : only a small percentage have phone numbers and none of the entries have either web site URLs or zip codes. In this day and age, surely, all of these businesses have both phones as well as web presences. In fact, the only companies with complete street addresses, phone numbers, and web addresses are the featured companies. (More on that in the conclusion.) And in the case of Chuao the address on the featured listing is different from the address in the directory, and Chuao is not the only example of this (Scharffen Berger falls victim, too). Are you confused yet? I was and still am.Nowhere is the unwillingness to do the necessary research and fact checking more apparent than in Emily Stone's article Pacific Northwest Chocolate - The Trip I Didn't Take . Now I know Emily and respect her work and her opinion, but an article like this does not excuse TCB-Cafe Press from actually doing the research. Which reveals still yet another editorial mishap. One of the companies mentioned in Emily's article is not listed in the Local Directory. (Sour grapes? Emily is one of several bloggers whose work is featured in the book and I, and other writers whose work might also be recognized, are not mentioned at all. I know why in my case. It's because of the negative review I gave of Mr Crump's first edition of Chocolate French. And frankly, this book displays so many flaws that I am glad I was not asked to contribute; it's not a project I want my name associated with. Sour grapes? You decide after looking at the book from my perspective.)In at least one case, it appears as if the writer took promotional copy directly from a brochure published by the company being featured and did not read it closely enough. The Qzina description on page 49, in the last paragraph, reads "... at each of our location [sic] hosted by their Corporate Pastry Chef." A clear case of not paying attention.Another challenge the book presents to its readers is that it does not adequately distinguish (in the table of contents - there is no index) between chocolate makers, chocolatiers, recipes, blog entries, photo essays, and specialty foods distributors. You are left on your own to figure this one out, as is puzzling out why Ghirardelli is featured, but not Lindt (its corporate parent) and there is no mention at all of See's, the largest chocolate company actually headquartered in California, and highly regarded by many.The editorial and production issues are not limited to the Table of Contents and the Local Directories: page 174 is blank except for a headline that says "Chocolate Salon." (Clearly someone was not looking closely at the page proofs when they came back from the printer.) Given the context of the facing page, missing are some photos from one of the Salons that TCB-Cafe Press organizes.And promote the various interests of TCB-Cafe Press the book does. Of the 190 pages of the book, more than 10 pages are devoted to advertising TCB-Cafe Press projects and not a guide to chocolate at all, and one of them is an ad for the same edition of the book you happen to be reading. On purpose? Or, was it supposed to be an ad for the Eastern Edition and they just weren't paying enough attention? Conclusion After reading the introduction on the Welcome Page, the actual purpose of the book becomes clearer. It's as much a promotion vehicle for the companies that support TCB-Cafe Press's television and event businesses as it is a true guide. Companies that support TCB-Cafe Press's other businesses are featured in the book; companies that do not, are not. That the next to the last page of the book is an ad for a company that has nothing to do with chocolate, but probably provides business service (promotion, PR, marketing) to TCB-Cafe Press really drives this point home.This regrettable circumstance gets in the way of the book's usefulness in other regards, too. Northern and Southern California fill about 140 pages of the book while only about 40 pages are given over to "Nevada, Utah, Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia." Apparently there are no chocolatiers or chocolate makers worthy of inclusion in the book in Arizona or New Mexico, or any other state West of the Mississippi - which would be a natural dividing line unless a third, Midwest Edition, is planned.Now of course the publisher could complain that this was a print book and not a web site and therefore space was very limited. That's nonsense. The way to handle the space issue would have been to reduce the number of pages devoted to completely and totally irrelevant (at least to true chocolate lovers interested in a real, usable, guide) content. One page of photos of the Nestle Chocolate Museum in Mexico City would have sufficed. There, I just saved three pages for useful content. The double page spread for Sacred Chocolate could also be sacrificed on the altar of more content. Two more pages available. Three pages for the How to Conduct an Interview segment. Six pages for gear, wine, and Vermeer could easily be done in three. The cover pages for each section could be done in one page, not two, saving another three pages. Losing the ads at the back would save three more. There, I just freed up 17 pages - nearly 10% of the book - for meaningful (by which I mean central to the purported premise of the book) content.At this point, after reading all the reasons I found not to like The Chocolate Guide: Western Edition , you've probably forgotten that early on I wrote, "Which is not to say that the book is not useful, it's just not very usable."The book is useful in the sense that it does list a lot of companies whose work you probably should be aware of but have never heard of, even though it fails to mention many others you should also know about. Armed with the base information the book provides, an understanding of its editorial slant, and a willingness to do a lot of your own online research, The Chocolate Guide: Western Edition is worth reading if you are planning your own trip to Discover Chocolate out West.I also want to point out that I applaud Mr Crump and his associates' efforts in promoting chocolate in general and American artisan chocolate in particular. The book is a great idea conceptually. This first edition is flawed, and I hope that the publisher works to resolve the copy editing, design, and usability issues I mention when producing future editions - these guides are supposed to be updated on a regular basis. Book Review Rating: Must Have :: Should Have :: Nice to Have :: Not Worth Shelf SpaceBy clicking on one of the images below, you can order the book whose cover is being displayed. The Chocolate Life earns a commission on each sale. When these links to products on Amazon generate sufficient sales I will remove the Google ads.
updated by @Clay Gordon: 04/20/15 14:49:23
Food Network has a lighthearted look at chocolate with "HAM ON THE STREET" airing Wed, March 5 @ 9:30am (30 min)Please add any chocolate TV show listings here so we can all have our DVRs ready!
updated by @Chocoflyer: 12/13/24 12:16:07
Hi Chantelle, where you have it in the shop it probably isnt getting enough sun. I have one on the window sil at work. It has been growing well for 2 years and is about 70 cm tall now. I planted one in Darwin at my sister in laws house and it was that big after about 3 months, so we do face issues here in Adelaide. On my window in never gers below 15 deg C and as the dappled sun (we have louvers) hits it the terracota pot warms to about 25 deg C even in the last week. This is helped by the large thermal mass of the building i work in, so ambient temp overnight doesnt drop low. Also i water well and use a high magnesium fertiliser. I sometimes water with warm water if it goes a few days where there is not much direct sun. I also spray it with water about three times a day but not on weekends. I found mine was very slow to grow initially but it seemed to reach a critical number of leaves in the last year and is growing super well now. Good luck
I also have a little cacao tree. I haven't had it long- probably 2 months. We haven't really given it enough attention and it's not going so well. It's about to get really cold here in South Australia- was wondering if anyone has any tips to keeping it at the right temperatures and humidity Should I just buy or build something to house it in and keep it at the right conditions?
Hello Lorna, it's interesting to hear that you are trying to grow cacao plants. Unfortunately the cacao trees are very sensitive and require specific geographic and weather conditions.
The good news are that with technology we have been able to recreate such conditions for the trees to grow strong and healthy. In regards to the height, it is not really important, the height will be dependant from the variety that you are growing.
I have some good information about planting, growing and harvesting cacao but most of it is in Spanish. I consider this two links will be very helpful for you, take your time to review them
I've had a Theobroma cacao for a couple of years now and have been keeping it not only alive, but occasionally flowering. Since my move to Michigan, I lost a branch and started getting brown tips on all the leaves. It's still putting out new leaves, but only about one flower or two in months. I have it near (but not too near) the heater and spray it all the time.I wish I could take this tree to the next level maybe get some height (it's about 2.5 feet) or at least loose the brown tips. I'm working on building it a little greenhouse. I don't ever expect pods, but at least a green, growing tree to add to my botanical assortment.Anyone else have a tree and want to discuss?
updated by @Lorna: 04/11/25 09:27:36
How do I add our company to your data base of Bean to Bar chocolate makers? SAMARITAN XOCOLATA, Perez Zeledon, Costa Rica. 100% organic, Costa Rican, hand-crafted chocolate.
What is the relationship between Ki Xocolatl and CACEP, a chocolate manufacturer in Tabasco?Is Ki Xocolatl subcontracting CACEP for the manufacturing? FYI, I live in Battery Park City, so I will try to attend the Battery Place Market tasting on April 3.
Ki Xocolatl is a bean-to-bar manufacturer in Merida, Mexico. They also grow their own cacao in a vast plantation in the heart of the Yucatan peninsula. And they have an office in New York to distribute their chocolates.
Hi Guys, I guess we can also add Ananda Chocolate to this list? The Bio/FT arriba cacao bar dressed in a home compostable foil... 100% produced in country of origine, being Ecuador. Ananda Chocolate
As far as I know, there are only claims that Vestri is tree to bar, in that they own their own plantation. But in the case of Sampaka, it seems to me I've heard both claims that they are bean to bar, and claims to the contrary.
I added those I mentioned in my reply just above to the master list, plus made made these and all the other newer additions hyperlinks. I have not added Salazon, as I'm slightly suspicious of this company.
For example, this from their FAQ
"Why dont you make milk chocolate? At Salazon we see chocolate as an energy food not candy, so we simply stay away from offering sweeter, more candy-like milk chocolate. "
And what is their chosen default percentage for this "dark" chocolate? 54%!!
But that may be too bitter for many, so
"However, we do understand that some people may want a touch more sweetness so we created our Organic Dark Chocolate with Sea Salt and Organic Turbinado Sugar bar."
Also, there seems to be nothing on the website with any information on who these people are, not even their names, and no information about or photos of their chocolate making process. Except that they are the "Salazon Chocolate Co Team," which consists of "a group of us were on a backpacking trip to Utah."
Therefore, who knows who they are, or if they grasp "bean to bar" meaning.
btw, has anyone tried their chocolates? I see they are available at Whole Foods.
Is Vivani in Germany a bean to bar company? I suspect that they are fondeurs, but I'd like to make sure. I gleaned from their website that they are owned by Ludwig Weinrich, and marketed by their subsidiary EcoFinia GmbH. They said that Weinrich has made chocolate for over 100 years, but they make no mention of actually being b2b. In addition, my very low enjoyment of their dark chocolate (72% bar, my enjoyment rating = 2 out of 10.) makes me suspect that they didn't make it themself. Does anyone have any more information about this?
Thanks Casey. I've added a few of those that I didn't have to my personal list of b2b companies. I've got a list of 284 companies that are bean to bar, fondeurs, or some mixture. Some I don't know what they are.
I wonder if we ought to add Mindo, Snake and Butterfly, Potomac, Salazon, all newer US makers claiming to be b2b, but I have not exactly called them up to quiz them... Isn't there someone on this list also who says they make b2b, Oakland Chocolate Company?
This list is going to be getting so long as small b2b increase exponentially over the next years, so can I just add my grandma's home brew now? She sells to her Mahjong club.
Is Bernard Castelain a bean-to-bar maker or a fondeur? Their website is only in French and I don't read French. I suspect that they're a fondeur but I don't currently have any evidence either way. All I know is that their chocolate wrappers don't say anywhere that they are b2b.
Unfortunately, the content of the site is so poorly written, edited, proofread, and fact-checked that it's self-marginalizing and comes off as very fringe - even farther out than most on this subject. It will be interesting to see how the business takes off.
