Quality cocoa → flavor!

One of the main reasons why artisanal chocolate (craft chocolate) is better than industrial chocolate is that it is made with high-quality ingredients—first and foremost, of course, the cocoa. Industrial chocolate is almost exclusively made from lower-quality cocoa beans. The cocoa is roasted at high temperatures (often burned!) and contains additives and flavorings to enhance or mask the taste. Artisanal chocolate, on the other hand, is made with only a few simple ingredients, allowing the natural flavors of the cocoa beans to shine. Cocoa and a bit of sugar—that’s really all you need for good (dark) chocolate.

Another reason why artisanal chocolate comes out on top is that it is made in small batches using traditional methods. It stays much closer to the source—the cocoa. The cocoa is not separated into cocoa butter and cocoa powder and then recombined later; instead, the cocoa is simply ground, sugar is added, and sometimes milk— and that’s it. This way, the many flavors naturally present in cocoa are much better preserved. Not all chocolate is the same, and not all cocoa is the same. Depending on the origin and processing, a variety of flavor notes can emerge: nutty, fruity, and so on. Industrial chocolate, on the other hand, is produced in large factories using industrial machines, where quality and unique flavor are subordinate to consistency and mass production.

Artisanal chocolate also offers a more diverse range of flavors than industrial chocolate. Because small chocolatiers can experiment with different cocoa beans and production methods, they are able to create a wide variety of unique and interesting flavors. Industrial chocolate, on the other hand, is usually mass-produced according to the same recipe, resulting in a more limited range of flavors.

Better for people & nature

In addition to differences in taste and quality, artisanal chocolate also has a positive impact on both the environment and people. Many artisanal chocolatiers source their cocoa beans from small-scale farmers who use sustainable farming methods. This not only helps protect the environment but also supports the local communities and economies where the cocoa is grown. A true win-win.

Moreover, bean-to-bar chocolatiers are committed to fair and transparent trade, ensuring that farmers receive a fair price for their cocoa beans. This helps improve the lives of cocoa farmers and their families while promoting sustainable farming practices. In this way, they set an example on a smaller scale for the larger companies—which could adopt the same practices if they chose to.

In short, craft chocolate is in many ways clearly superior to industrial chocolate because it is made with high-quality ingredients, produced using traditional methods, and offers a more diverse range of flavors. It also has a positive impact on the environment and people through its commitment to sustainable farming and fair trade.

What makes craft chocolate special?

• Made with the finest cocoa. High-quality cocoa purchased at a fair price instead of in bulk.
• Produced in the traditional way. The cocoa is fully processed instead of being separated into cocoa powder and cocoa butter.
• Offers an incredibly rich range of flavor notes.
• Made by passionate, independent, small-scale chocolate makers
• Has a positive impact on both the environment and people through sustainable farming and fair trade.

Discover craft chocolate in our online shop, full of exceptional chocolates.

We offer an assortment of hundreds of chocolates from small-scale chocolatiers around the world. Feel free to browse our selection, or if choosing is difficult, opt for a chocolate box or a subscription.

The post Craft Chocolate vs. Industrial Chocolate – What Are the Differences? appeared first on Craft Chocolate Store.

For us it is fortunate that we are particularly well found in our web store, and that we have been putting in and getting the most energy out of it since we started five years ago. That is why not much will change for our chocolate company. The post office within walking distance is closed, but we love cycling, so we cycle with our panniers (and backpack, and a bag) full of packages to the Spar a village away.

We will continue to do our utmost to bring more people into contact with good chocolate. We remain proud of all the great reactions we receive. We are happy to continue to make nice selections for chocolate gift packages and of course the subscriptions.

Chocolate is a beautiful gift. Below some more information about ordering via the webshop, ordering for your company / employees and not to forget: other sellers who, like us, are committed to good chocolate. The physical chocolate shops are usually open as usual (of course with applicable standards) – so chocolate is food. Of course we would like to ask you to avoid crowds there as well, and to order online if possible.

Our measures as Chocolate Vendors

Of course we are temporarily not selling chocolates at Ieder Z’n Vak in the Lange Hezelstraat in Nijmegen.

But we are lucky that we already sell most of it through the webshop and that part remains unchanged. To limit contact, we still do not offer pick-up and bicycle delivery. We send via postnl, which are of course very busy so we also keep asking for extra patience when you order something.

In conclusion:

• Ordering via the webshop remains possible as before.
• Buying at Ieder Z’n Vak is currently not possible

Chocolates delivered as a gift

We notice that there are a lot of orders for gifts at the moment – that is of course always the case in December.

For convenience, the possibilities and impossibilities at a glance:

• We can send your order directly to the lucky recipient. We can supply a card with a text. Write your request in the comments box. Do not forget your name, because we will of course not include the invoice.
• We send in standard cardboard (letterbox) boxes with cardboard filling material and paper tape. We cannot provide gift wrapping.
• Most chocolate bar orders fit through the letterbox, they are quite large boxes. For orders outside of the Netherlands we use a package service.
• You will receive a track-trace code after sending.
• We do not ship daily and the post is also very busy. So really keep in mind that it takes a while before the chocolate is there. It is also possible that the Trackntrace information is incorrect because of this. Letterbox deliveries then indicate delivered but just arrive a day – or two – later.

Choose a nice selection yourself or opt for a ready-made package. Order chocolate.

Chocolate as a gift for your company / employees / organization

We receive requests from companies and organizations more often. Of course it is nice to give special chocolate as a present. We like to work to promote good and fair chocolate, so we always like to think along.

What we can and cannot do in short:

• We can deliver to one address or several addresses. You can also supply address details for larger orders via an XLS / CSV
• We can send cards with your own text printed on them
• You have come to the right place if you are looking for quality, special and fair chocolate from small makers. Something special that people don’t know yet,
• You are not in the right place if you are looking for cheap, cheaper cheapest and the proverbial ‘dime in the first rank’.
• We cannot deliver printed or otherwise personalized chocolates.
• Delivery times depend on the wishes. We cannot deliver on a specific day, but we can ensure that something is available before a specific date. Of course we can also put something on the box like ‘do not open before ‘

Send us an email with your wishes, and we will answer the possibilities!

Other sellers of good chocolate

We only see the supermarket shelves as the main competitor. Anyone who looks outside the supermarkets for special chocolate is a won soul. Anyone who – with love – sells good chocolate from the smaller chocolate makers automatically deserves our praise. Whether you call it bean to bar or craft chocolate doesn’t really matter to us.

That is why we also like to share some other places where you can go, from other small entrepreneurs who are also involved in good chocolate. Because you can eat chocolate (gosh), the physical stores usually remain open as well, of course pay attention to applicable restrictions and opening hours and especially do not queue together in the days before Christmas. They also usually offer online ordering options so if you

Cacaolab – Founded by Sabien & Pauline. Have been committed to good chocolate and chocolate education from Zaandam for a long time. Will unfortunately stop soon. You can help draw up the current stock via the webshop. You help yourself to good chocolate and the people at Cacaolab help you with it too. So highly recommended.

Florentina – From the Witte de Withstraat in Rotterdam. Bean to bar chocolates, chocolate drinks and homemade (vegan) bonbons. It is also nice to have a look on instagram, it cannot but that with all those delicacies you get in the mood for good chocolate.

The Chocolate Shop – based in The Hague in a special (sustainable) building, Ray & Sanna have also been committed to good chocolate for a long time. With a nice assortment, good coffee and other drinks, not to mention: chocolate tastings.

There are more beautiful places, we also think of Cacaomuseum, van Roselen and Chocolatl in Amsterdam. But there is still quite a bit to be found elsewhere. Searching for bean to bar or craft chocolate yields nice mentions. Also a number of makers from whom you can order directly, such as Chocolatemakers and Krak.

Of course we also like it when you place an order with us – we are also just two small entrepreneurs, who have been trying to spread our chocolate love since 2014 from Beek near Nijmegen. And well, you’re already on our site so we don’t need to mention or tell ourselves more as Chocolate Sellers. If you want to know more, you can look at the About Us page. And if you have any questions, you can always send an email of course.

The post Buying chocolate during lockdown appeared first on Craft Chocolate Store.

Because finding a good chocolate gift can be difficult, we give three tips. For whomever you are looking for chocolate, there is undoubtedly something for the recipient. An original and festive gift. Special chocolate that you can really surprise people with.

Do you have questions? Send an email! We are happy to help you. Paul & Emma – The Chocolate Sellers. (Chocoladeverkopers)

Tip 1: A chocolate package

Difficult to choose? We know that feeling only too well. There are so many chocolates, you can order more than 400 chocolates in our web shop alone.

Fortunately we have something against the choice stress. We have put together a whole range of packages in many different shapes and sizes.

Whether the recipient likes very pure or more of milk chocolate. Whether the recipient likes to live without sugar or vegan. Whether the recipient is used to supermarket bars or already a chocolate lover. There is something for everyone.

Choose your chocolate gift package

Tip 2: Chocolate Subscription

Every month a nice package with the best chocolates on the doorstep. That is perhaps the ultimate gift for every chocolate lover.

We made it extra easy to give the chocolate subscription as a gift:

• You pay in one go
• You can specify a different shipping address
• Do you want us to send a card with your text? No problem! Just ask for it in the comments field

You choose the size, the number of months and whether you want dark or milk. We take care of the rest. Also nice because you can adjust the package to your budget. For now only available for shipping in the Netherlands. 

You already have a 3-month subscription for € 49.95. But you can also opt for a larger package for 6 months. If you want to give a larger gift with a group of people. You choose the size & the number of months and you immediately see the costs. We cannot make it any easier.

Order the chocolate subscription

Tip 3: Surprise!

The ultimate convenience.

A real surprise. All you do is choose dark or milk. We take care of the everything else. As Chocolate sellers, we know every bar we sell. And so we can make a nice selection like no other. We also think it is super fun to do!

Taste preferences or allergies? Can we take that into account. Just mention it in the comments field when paying.

Order the surprise package.

Bonus Tip:

Send Paul & Emma an email.

Then it comes to us. Paul & Emma. The Chocolate Sellers.

We have been selling special chocolate since 2015. And we have some chocolate knowledge. From the chocolates that we sell ourselves, but also from chocolate & cocoa in general.

Whatever your question is, let us know. As long as it’s about chocolate, we are always happy to help! Whether you are looking for a nice gift, want tips for making chocolate paste or want to know more about fair chocolate.

The post Chocolate as a gift? Our 3 Tips! appeared first on Craft Chocolate Store.

Fun to do, and helps other chocolate lovers in making their choice! And ofcourse, we as Chocoladeverkopers love reading it as well!

We already get a lot (really a lot!) of feedback by email, and rating on our shop at Webwinkelkeur, which is great. Now it’s also possible to leave a rating and comments at each and every individual chocolate bar (and package). A feature that has already been requested a couple times so we are sure it’s gonna be used!

Rate chocolates & win!

Everyone who leaves a reviews has a chance of winning one of the 5 Soma Salazar Ecuador 70% chocolates

Won a medal at the International Chocolate Awards World Final in 2018. So, yes, one of the best in the world. You will also get a couple mini chocolates by Original Beans, Chocolatemakers & Friis Holm.

We will inform the winners end of april, ofcourse we will also announce it in our newsletter.

Rating is easy:

1. Go to the chocolate you want to rate
2. Fill in your name and email (or log in, then you don’t even have to do that)
3. Give a rating of 1 tot 5 stars and a short comment. Or longer, that’s fine too ofcourse!

That’s all, really. Won’t take more than 10 seconds

Every review made until 17 april 2019 has an automatic chance of winnning one of five of the fenomenal Soma chocoaltes with a couple mini’s. If you have a great experience with a particular bar, just kinda liked a certain chocolate or maybe you had a really bad experience…everything is very welcome!

If you rate more than one bar, you will also have more chance at winning

We just ask you to be honest, and especially with very positive or negative reviews, to leave a small explanation. Spam and obvious fake reviews will be removed.

Do you have more general feedback? A chocolate you would love to see in our assortment? Some other advice? A question? Please do mail us!

We look forward to reading your chocolate ratings and comments!

The post Rate chocolate & win appeared first on Craft Chocolate Store.

The 2019 edition has a line-up that is allowed. There are many more chocolate makers than in previous editions. And not the least, on the contrary! It seems to be a true bean to bar chocolate walhalla!

Of course we are there as Chocolate vendors to point everyone in our stall (shared with Clearchox mates) to all the wonderful bean to bar chocolates that we sell. It speaks for itself. Last year we noticed that many visitors certainly already recognized us. The chocolate vendors, I have already ordered! We like to hear. And meeting our customers in real life is fun. There are also enough people left who do not know that you can easily order some of the best bean to bar chocolate makers in the world online. Just with us. So we will proclaim it a bit louder. Of course we also bring some special chocolates that let you taste 1x why you should not buy chocolate for the taste in the supermarket. And why the chocolates we sell are more than worth their higher price.

Anyway, enough about us. More about who else will come!

The festival – Saturday 23 and Sunday 24 February

Chocoa consists of several parts, we start our explanation with the part suitable for every chocolate lover: the festival.

During the festival, the Fair is filled with stalls of makers, brands, web shops and everything else in the world of chocolate. You can meet chocolate makers, taste a lot and of course return home with a bag full of purchases for a whole year.

There is also a lot to learn. There is a full day program with workshops and tastings on both days. For this year the exact program is not yet known but last years there were quite legendary tastings of cheese + chocolate, rum + chocolate, whiskey + chocolate and then a lot of lectures from chocolate makers and chocolate experts. Whether you want to taste something really special or really want to learn something – there’s going to be enough to experience.

Nice of this edition is in our opinion how many chocolate makers are present. Because where we are simple chocolate vendors, you can say that the chocolate makers (together with the cocoa farmers) are the ‘rock stars’ of the chocolate. And yes, in the chocolate world there are really big idols and people who are big fans of specific makers. We do not find it crazy at all, making the ultimate chocolate is an art, and time and time again producing formidable tasting chocolate bars is not only an art but also a profession apart. Delivering the highest quality every year is not something you do – that will undoubtedly satisfy beginning chocolate makers.

Our 7 tips from the Chocoa festival program

1. Dandelion – We have to start with that. If we count them among the world leaders in the chocolate world, we really do not say anything crazy. Chocolate makers from San Francisco. Masterpieces with only 2 ingredients. With pride in our range & we look forward to the arrival of co-founder Greg d’Alessandre to Chocoa.
2. Pairings & tastings. – There are a lot of fun pairings & other workshops at Chocoa. In earlier editions we have experienced the tastings of chocolate with cheese, chocolate with rum and chocolate with whiskey. All quite amazing, sometimes even unbelievable. Certainly our advice to attend one, so chances are that you will be really surprised!
3. Craft Chocolate Pavilion – we do not know exactly how it works, but there is apparently a special place for ‘craft chocolate’. In any case, there are a lot of bean to bar chocolate makers present that we are looking forward to. You will probably find them collected there. From Fruition (we sell with great pleasure) to French Broad (soon in our range!) And from Kakao Bogalet (we are very curious!) To Mirzam (excellent chocolates from Dubai)
4. Zotter – Beans to bar busy in Austria for years. With beautiful and accessible origine chocolates but also crazy madly extensive collection of stuffed ‘handscooped’ bars. Chocolates filled with beer, cheese or tequila – there is little to Zotter. The ‘normal’ bean to bar (fair & bio) chocolates are slightly less crazy, but not less tasty! Definitely a stand to taste!
5. Belgian bean to bar – We do not attach much value to qualifications such as ‘belgian chocolate’. But besides the large chocolate factories, there are of course also some smaller and special bean to bar chocolate makers – also in Belgium. Be sure to visit the stand of Chocolatoa and Mike & Becky for real good ‘belgian chocolate’ – where the country does not say so much, but that with attention and traditional small-scale chocolate is made. – We do not attach much value to qualifications such as ‘belgian chocolate’. But besides the large chocolate factories, there are of course also some smaller and special bean to bar chocolate makers – also in Belgium. Be sure to visit the stand of Chocolatoa and Mike & Becky for real good ‘belgian chocolate’ – where the country does not say so much, but that with attention and traditional small-scale chocolate is made.
6. Dutch bean to bar – In the United States hundreds (perhaps thousands) of chocolate makers have started on a small scale with making chocolate themselves. This yields a very rich palette of chocolates, up to and including the highest quality. Think of Dandelion, Fruition, French Broad. In the Netherlands there are also makers who are making chocolate, also with great success. Chocolate makers from Amsterdam have been successfully working for some time now and Mesjokke has also been making their bars from Nieuwegein.
7. Our Chocolate sellers stand – Of course we are present as Chocolate sellers. Secretly from Thursday, see below, but during the festival we share a stand with mates Clearchox. We always take some nice and extra-special chocolates with us. For example, the chocolate hearts of Dormouse. The rest … we’re going to think about it. It’ll be fine!

There is still much more to do. From an election for the best chocolate drink to a debate about fair chocolate (important topic!). There are also a lot more chocolate makers present that we did not mention here but make excellent chocolates (Chocolate Tree we have yet to mention!) – all in all: plenty to do!

More Chocoa: Chocolate Makers Forum & More

The festival is there for all chocolate lovers, for professionals and those involved there is much more to do!

For anyone who wants more floor about chocolate making, there is the Chocolate Makers Forum on Thursday & Friday. Suitable for anyone who wants to make chocolate, or wants to learn more about it. That’s what we are as a chocolate vendor. A session about quality cocoa from Africa, information about Cadmium in chocolate & all sorts of other floors. What too deep for the average chocolate lover but do you ever want to make chocolate or really go ‘the depth’ then it’s two beautiful days!

Then there is also the Trade Fair on Thursday and Friday. The same idea as the festival – lots of stalls – but mainly focused on making chocolate. From people who grow cocoa to people who like to sell their chocolate-making machines. Again here … especially suitable if you are professionally busy with chocolate.

Even more? Yes, it can not be done. Again on Thursday & Friday there is the conference. Here the bobo’s (we say disrespectfully) are talking to each other. Last year there were remarkably many men in suits around. People from the big chocolate companies who talk to each other about how their chocolate can become more honest. Important, for us a little too ambitious – if only because of the entrance fee of 445 euros. Ordinary people like you and me can read the reports and view presentations afterwards, from last year on. Top if you want to know more about what’s going on!

Then there is a chocolate dinner & a tour of the Amsterdam cocoa port.

Full and beautiful program so, if we compare it with previous editions, we see a festival program that is richer than ever. The fact that so many chocolate makers are present makes us happy. Because then you can ask directly to the makers where they buy their cocoa, what they pay for it, how they make chocolate from it & occasionally taste something of course also no harm!

The post Chocoa 2019: Great edition of the Amsterdam chocolate festival appeared first on Craft Chocolate Store.

We really like it when not only is written about why chocolate would be healthy or not, or that a new taste of Tony’s is being launched and that the cocoa farmers in West Africa are still doing badly.

We all read that too, sometimes with some sadness, but as journalists take a small step further and venture outside the supermarket, do research, speak to people. Then they also come naturally to the special world of direct trade, special origin cocoa, bean to bar chocolate makers. Anyway, a bit ‘our’ chocolate world.

At dutch TV channel RTLZ today a nice and informative article on their website. With ample attention to what Adil van Chocolatl has to say, and Enver van Chocolatemakers also speaks extensively. A taste wheel is discussed, the different types of cocoa beans. We were also called, and there is even a quote about us 100% chocolates . They are indeed popular, there is no word of it. Now the attention for our webshop is growing, so precise figures are difficult to give – but that they are more popular than ever is a fact.

Even though we remain mostly fan of bars with some sugar, the taste experience benefits us.

Read the RTLZ article here:

Chocolate bars in demand: from expensive ‘single origin’ to 100% cocoa

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]]> https://craftchocolate.store/news-en-2/ruby-chocolate-does-pink-chocolate-make-sense/ Tue, 12 Sep 2017 16:50:54 +0000 https://chocoladeverkopers.nl/news-en-2/ruby-chocolate-does-pink-chocolate-make-sense/ The internet almost exploded when Barry Callebaut announced they created a ‘pink chocolate‘ or ‘Ruby chocolate‘. Even in our surroundings we got asked, from several people, ‘did you see this already….’ The answer is yes, we saw it. And yes, we were intrigued as well. But with a big frown on our foreheads. Why? You […]

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]]> The internet almost exploded when Barry Callebaut announced they created a ‘pink chocolate‘ or ‘Ruby chocolate‘. Even in our surroundings we got asked, from several people, ‘did you see this already….’

The answer is yes, we saw it. And yes, we were intrigued as well. But with a big frown on our foreheads. Why? You can read that below.

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update 22 januari: Buy ruby chocolate? That’s simply not yet possible, please stop searching for now, and read some background. Nestlé has 6 months sole rights to the product. And started with a ‘Ruby Kitkat’ in Japan. The brand is ‘big in Japan’, they also have the luck the brand sounds like ‘kito kato’ which in Japan means something like ‘surely win’. They will sell the bars in popupshops and boutiques.

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update march 24: now Ruby is available at selected chocolatiers in the Netherlands and Belgium. Yes, in theory you could order a pink easteregg now. The review about the taste that we hear and read are…varying. “Sour, creamy” – “Thought it would be more special”, “Only very slightly fruity”, “A little like white chocolate (..) I don’t think the taste is bad, but don’t love it either” (Dominique Persoone). We didn’t taste yet, so we don’t judge. Our concerns mentioned below seem to hold up so far though.

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April 11 2018: From ‘exclusively in Japan’ last month to the pattisier and now ‘exclusively at grocery store Albert Heijn’. And secretly also in the rest of Europe. Don’t know if we’d call it ‘exclusive’ anymore then…

But anyway, interested? Then you can taste ruby chocolate now. We keep asking…but what is ‘ruby cocoa’? Because the importance of the process – over the cocoa being used – seems to be clear.

If you put on the packaging ‘made with ruby cocoa beans’ even though this isn’t an existing kind of cocoa. Then you have some explaining to do, at least that’s what we think. More below.

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Chocolate science & pink chocolate

For discoveries you need scientists. And Callebaut certainly has some working for them. Or at least, as is common these these…there are very tight coöperations between universities and bussinesses. Like the Jacobs University in Bremen and KU Leuven. There and in other places they work on innovations in cocoa and chocolate. For example to develop chocolates with certain characteristics: more resistant to heat, with a lower fat contant, more anti-oxidants. Or ofcourse to know more about how all the tastes of cocoa work…

Cocoa can have a huge diversity of tastes. This comes from the kind of cocoa, where it is grown, the fermentation, and the process of chocolate making. There are a lot of influences, and especially in the areas of DNA & fermentation and the bean itself there is still a lot to learn, on a fundamental level.

Cocoa fermenting is usually done with a  ‘wild’fermentation. The cocoa is harvested, nothing is added, it is only put in boxes in a certain way, banana leaves or something else is put on top, and then nature runs its course.

The next step, which has been researched for years, is helping nature a bit by adding yeasts, for example the yeasts used in beer brewing.

And then, after years of research, what is revealed….pink chocolate.

Pink chocolate – the fog

As happens more often, when the step from science to commerce is made, and media get involved, suddenly a thick fog appears. And as the dutch saying goes ‘the monkey comes out of the sleeve’, meaning the true facts come out. Well, in this case, monkeys are carefully hidden in sleeves, and it seems people don’t really want them to come out any time soon…

The marketing machin starts spinning and all of a sudden the term is dropped ‘a fourth kind of chocolate’ and in some texts even ‘a fourth taste of chocolate’ as if none of the hundreds of other tastes and aromas in chocolate exist.

And the story goes, as if this is totally logical, that ‘ruby chocolate’ is made from the ‘ruby cocoabean’ – what a nice find, the media copy it everywhere. Because what do they know about cocoa…

Some people (most don’t!) have heard about the existence of several kinds of cocoa. And that there isn’t just one cocoabean, and not one taste of chocolate. Some may have heard about the, now a bit outdated, classification of criollo, forastero and trinitario. A very select number of people knows even the newer, more complex, format of cocoa families based on dna research.

But everyone can tell you: Ruby cocoa does not exist.

You can call it a lie, or a ‘new term’ – whatever it is it is certainly misleading. Because even though Callebaut calls it that, as if everyone knows what it is…but there just isn’t any ruby cocoa.

The beans used are a mix of beans (forastero?) from different countries: Ecuador, Brazil and Ivory Coast. 

Ivory Coast

We would like to tell you this: more than 30% of the world production of cocoa is from Ivory coast. All the big companies get a huge part of their cocoa there. In the list of ingrediënts for Ruby chocolate Ivory coast was mentioned last, but we suspect most of the used cocoa will be from there again. And guess three times in which country a lot of exploitation and child labour is a reality. Where a lot of money is being made on the World Market in ‘cocoa futures’, where big companies kept telling everyone for years and years cocoa farmers just need to produce more cocoa to earn more money. And really like to help achieve this with help programs.

But..what is the reality…the harvest was fine last year and guess what, a lot of of cocoa on offer, the price of cocoa plummets. Farmers earn even less, and big companies help themselves – willingly or not – to more cheap cocoa.

Luckily the internet is a great place to bring people from all over the world together. To think about this, the story of cocoa is a complex story. Social scientists to philosophize, activists and even ‘everyday people’ who can really dive in, read reports, dig deeper, and think about how we réally can achieve a more sustainable, humanfriendly and real solution.

(hint: cocoa farmers need to earn more.)

Back to the beans for Ruby chocolate…

They are, as we have read, diverse in origin, but also composition..but they share certain characteristics through which, if you treat them in a certain way, the pink color gets expressed, instead of the normal brown color of chocolate, or white if it’s a chocolate without solids.

Regular existing cocoa, with a certain chemical makeup. Which mainly through the processing gets pink. How…we are not sure yet, they like to keep the fog in place for now – probably until the hype-storm has calmed. But the processing of the cocoa is essential to making ‘pink chocolate’. So yes, you need certain cocoa beans but this does not mean a new kind of cocoa was discovered, it’s all about procesing. Important to realize this.

And the taste of Ruby cocoa?

Well that’s the joke, or kinda sad really

A fruity taste is already in a lot of cocoa. We knew it for a long time. Search for example in our assortment for chocolates from Madagaskar and you will be overwelmed with the light to strong sour tastes of red fruit. From strawberry to red berry – you can taste a lof of fruit in it.

Ofcourse Callebaut knows this. Their researches are really busy with DNA resarch and fermentation, and what brings the flavor in the cocoa and chocolate. From coffee to strawberry, from banana to caramel, all the taste can be in cocoa. We knew. Callebaut knew. But a lot of people didn’t know yet. Why not? Because big companies like to use cheap cocoa, have a generic product that’s always the same, and don’t really care about fermentation. The cocoa can be bad, people will buy it a anyway if you mask the taste with a lot of sugar and vanilla aroma.

Fruity cocoa has been in existance for ever, and fruity chocolate was also already available.

And now, those chocolates aren’t pink. They look just like any other chocolate, so: brown.

Want to try some fruity chocolates? A good start is the chocolates from Madagscar. But there is a lot of chocolate with fruity tones. In the top right corner is our search function, try searching for ‘fruit’ or a specific fruit like ‘strawberry’. 

Why this kinda makes us sad is…this is one of the very few times there is worldwide attention to the special tastes in cocoa. In this case, fruitiness. But…it is directly coupled with the pink color or this ‘special’ chocolate. So…we have to think: fruity chocolate = pink.

And what will the future hold? If this is a success in a few years time another nice color will pop up, coupled with another taste. Purple chocolate tasting of blueberry? Yellow chocolate with banana taste? The tasts are already in, and ofcourse colors can be made by another process.

That ‘normal’ brown dark chocolate can have a lot of tastes, well you know it, if you are known with ‘our kind’ of chocolates.

But the masses are being fooled with this story

1. Dark chocolate tastes bitter
2. white chocolate tastes creamy
   
3. pink chocolate tastes fruity.

Will this story hold? We certainly don’t think so. We will do everythink we can to tell people about the many great flavours in chocolate. In normal brown chocolate. Not the weird fabrication of Callebaut. They do present is as 4th chocolate, a discovery next to the other chocolates, but meanwhile it is not about special cocoa but cocoa processed in a certain way. A world of difference.

And it may be ‘natural’, without additions or genetic modification and such – in the end people will want to know where the pink color comes from. And what the cocoa farmer gets paid for his ‘pink cocoa’. After that, we’ll talk some more.

We are convinced we can get a lot of people to skip the chocolates in the supermarket and choose for better, tastier, more intersting, more expensive, more honest, more fair and more special chocolate. We don’t think pink chocolate will change that one bit.

Last considerations

• Media copy each other. Most of the articles are the same words in a different order -totally or almost totally without own input or research.
• Take a look at this patent from 2009 – there are a few others – and learn something about pink chocolate
• Chocolate expert Clay Gordon van TheChocolateLife was at the presentation, and strikinly positive. His article writes about the taste of Ruby, and why he thinks Ruby chocolate is an important innovation.
• In the sequel ‘Peering through a Ruby Colored Fog’by Clay Gordon some more room for objections and protest. Again an interesting read for those interested.
• The Chocolate Journalist also has a really intersting article with some doubts etc.
• Supermarkets did already do some ‘origin chocolate’ experiments. Specifically the brand ‘Delikata’ now has a line with the origin mentioned explicitly. An interesting development, not that the chocolates are any good in our opinion (well, the Tanzania is ok) – but we will talk some more about that in a later article!

(ps. we do hope you think our thoughts are interesting. We do like to keep a close watch on the chocolate market as a whole, dive in to the researsch sometimes, follow the development of hypes, and share our own views as chocolatesellers sometimes. Please note that this article, as any here, was written from personal experience and contains our personal opinions. We don’t want to convince you to copy our opinions, we do hope we can convince you do think a bit more about chocolate & cocoa, and do your own research. And while you are here…do take a look at our assortment. Most people will be surprised by the many special chocolates in existance. And if we may, we would like to ask you to look outside of supermarkets for your chocolate. Doesn’t have to be with us, can also be in a store like Chocolatl in Amsterdam or elsewhere. No idea where to look? Mail us! And taste! or read a bit more about bean to bar chocolades…. Any questions? We’d love to hear from you. )

(written 12 september 2017 – originally in dutch)

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]]> https://craftchocolate.store/news-en-2/winners-international-chocolate-awards-americas/ Fri, 07 Jul 2017 18:48:31 +0000 https://chocoladeverkopers.nl/news-en-2/winners-international-chocolate-awards-americas/ Always a nice moment: the outcome of one of the chocolate competitions. Time for lists! There are two larger judged events featuring the best chocolates in the world: the International Chocolate Awards and the Academy of Chocolate. For the International Chocolate Awards, there is a whole system of preliminary, national, regional and finally world-wide rounds. For […]

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]]> Always a nice moment: the outcome of one of the chocolate competitions. Time for lists!

There are two larger judged events featuring the best chocolates in the world: the International Chocolate Awards and the Academy of Chocolate.

For the International Chocolate Awards, there is a whole system of preliminary, national, regional and finally world-wide rounds. For the European semifinal, chocolateseller Paul has recently attended the jury – later on more about that. The outcome of the Americas competion is now known.

Because some of the bars from our assortment are honored here, we would like to give a brief overview.

Please note: the judging is done professionally but such a result does not really tell you all.Do not always follow it blindly. The jury is very extensive and exhausting, there are people who have been doing chocolate tasting for twenty years & there are over 50 different chocolates a day, each tasted with a lot of attention. But tasting always remains (partly) subjective, and thus such a result remains the opinion of a group of people. It’s a nice and interesting list for us and not really that much more.

Also read about the finals last years in Amsterdam in which we also both judged.

Winning Chocolates

Here is the whole list of winners.

A couple winners from our assortment (clickable):

 

 

 

 

 

 

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]]> https://craftchocolate.store/news-en-2/bean-to-bar-chocolate-what-is-it-really/ Wed, 08 Feb 2017 20:25:02 +0000 https://chocoladeverkopers.nl/news-en-2/bean-to-bar-chocolate-what-is-it-really/ Most of our visitors will have heard of the term bean to bar. But what does it really mean? The term in itself isn’t that hard ‘from bean to bar’ – so if we look at those words, we can imagine it means…chocolate made, from cocoa beans, into chocolate bars…quite simple really. But that includes […]

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Most of our visitors will have heard of the term bean to bar. But what does it really mean?

The term in itself isn’t that hard ‘from bean to bar’ – so if we look at those words, we can imagine it means…chocolate made, from cocoa beans, into chocolate bars…quite simple really. But that includes every single chocolate there is, right? Yes indeed!

The first difference: who makes the chocolate.

Take the chocolatier at your local shopping centre, where you get those wonderful pralines, and sometimes some chocolate bars as well. The chocolatier will most of the time work with ready-to-use couverture chocolate from the big chocolate companies like Callebaut or Valrhona. These huge companies buy the cocoa, roast it, grind it. They make the cocoa into chocolate.

This means the chocolatier doesn’t work with cocoa beans. Which doesn’t mean the work of a chocolatier can’t be beautiful. Melting the chocolate and tempering it, make all kind of wonderful shapes, combine with great ingredients – very much a craft. But…not bean to bar, because this chocolatier won’t have any cocoa beans in his workplace. He uses chocolate, to make things made out of chocolate.

The bean to bar chocolatemaker

So a bean to bar chocolatemaker is someone responsible for buying the cocoa beans, roasting them, grinding them, adding some sugar, putting the chocolate in a form. All in all: he (the company) makes the chocolate, all by themsleves.

The term is mainly used for smaller makers. Yes, the big factories like Callebaut also buy the beans, and make some of the chocolate (even though they also cooperate with other companies). But that’s something different. A billion dollar company, making chocolate in all kinds of shapes, which you can find in the supermarket under all kind of brand names. That’s not really what ‘bean to bar’ is about.

The bean to bar movement

De rise of ‘bean to bar’ chocoalte is for many people about smaller makers doing things themselves, and doing things differently. They go, sometimes even from their garage, to start to make cocoa into chocolate. They find out how to roast, at which temperate, how to grind, for how long, and all that with all the different kinds and origins of cocoa.

There are some pretty generally shared values involved:

• The origin of the cocoa. The origin (terroir) has a huge amount of influence on the taste. Almost all makers will tell you where the cocoa is from, and often also which cocoa farmer or cooperation they got it from. Many will also be able to tell you transparently about the price they paid for it.
• The quality of the cocoa. On the world market the biggest share of cocoa is known as ‘bulk cocoa. It is seen as a commodity. A product paid for per ton, with quality only a minor influence – you can mask that with addition to the chocolate anyway… For bean to bar chocolatemakers the quality of the cocoa is pretty essential. How the cocoa grows, how it is fermented and dried. It is a big influence on taste, so they care, and so should any chocolate lover.
• The list of ingrediënts is short. Lots of bean to bar chocolatebars only contain cocoa and sugar. Often cocoa butter is added, but that’s it – most of the times. Ofcourse there are exceptions – Zotter likes to add a pinch of salt, (real) vanille is an addition that can interact nicely with cocoa flavor. But it’s different from the supermarkets where fake vanilline and other ingredients are added. Also: you will see that ‘bean to bar’ makers on average generally use way less sugar from what you might be used to in supermarkets.
• Direct trade. The chocolatemakers like to get the cocoa directly (or more directly) from the farm or cooperation. And visits the farmers as well. Or, like for example Amma, Marou or Madécasse – make chocolate in the country the cocoa comes from – in direct contact with cocoa farmers. In the bean to bar world direct & transparant trade is a great goal a lot of people really focus on. Short chains, more money to the cocoa, it’s a simple idea and it can actually work.

Do we only sell bean to bar chocolate?

Almost all the chocolates we sell are made by the maker mentioned on the package. From bean to bar. There are a few exceptions. Brands who do great great work, have great great chocolate – but the chocolate is made not in their own factory but elsewhere. It’s not ‘bean to bar’ in the most strict sense but anyone who blames them for it doesn’t really know what ‘bean to bar’ is (or should be) about.

Original Beans for example, a great company, they mean a lot to the cocoa

farmers and nature. And really, they do a lot – check their website. With that they also buy the beans, and develop recipes for the chocolate. They do this in the factory of and in cooperation with Felchlin, a company in Switserland. That’s why, while Original Beans is located in Amsterdam, on the bar is mentioned it’s made somewhere else. Not ‘bean to bar’ in that they do all the steps themselves but the important things: sourcing the cocoa, paying a fair prices, doing a lot of great work for the environment and making the chocolate recipes they do themselves. We really don’t care if the chocolate is made on the machines of Felchlin or wherever.

Another example is Akesson’s. Bertil Akesson has his own cocoa estates, amongst others in Madagaskar. He also has his own brand of chocolate, and with great chocolates too. Ofcourse the cocoa of his own plantations is used, and he helps create the recipes. But making the cocoa into (wonderful) chocolate isn’t done by him, but in France – at several of the best makers France has to offer, including Francois Pralus. And that’s how the chocolate won a lot of prices, the 100% is even one of the most popular in our webstore.

Friis Holm started a

bit liek that. He made the recipes with the french master Bonnat and his bars – world famous – where also made at the Bonnat factory. Nowadays he has his own chocolate factory in his home country Denmark. And his bars still win a lot of competitions. And yes, now it totally ‘bean to bar’ by Friis Holm.

We just like to emphasize: where the chocolate is made isn’t really the decisive factor in if the chocolate is great or not. Even if it’s not bean to bar in the strictest sense. We do think it’s important people are open about it. So you can always easily find out where the chocolate has been made.

And ofcourse, the most important: that the principles of the bean to bar movement are followed. Great cocoa, a good price, direct trade, thinking about the environment as well, tranparency and finally.. excellent taste.

Want to try bean to bar chocolate? See our nice packages (with discount) or look around in our assortment.  

Questions? Do contact us! we respond to every email.

Want to read on? Find an interesting article about Bean to Bar ‘ at37chocolates.

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