Summary: In a prior post, we discussed what we mean by “bean to bar.”  When we and other chocolate makers refer to our chocolate products as “bean to bar” and “craft” we are making two claims. One is about the process. The other is about the quality and traceability of cacao being used.  Simply put, we are stating that we transformed raw/unroasted high quality cacao seeds/beans into a finished chocolate product. 

What does “craft” chocolate mean?  There are number of words used interchangeably in the industry to refer to the same thing: craft, fine, or speciality.  Often these words are used interchangeably and largely parallel the use of the words in the speciality coffee industry.  When chocolate makers refer to themselves as craft chocolate makers, they are ultimately claiming that their chocolate is made from high quality, ethically sourced, traceable lots of cacao.  In many ways, it is an extension of the farm to table movement.     

Craft chocolate celebrates uniqueness and differences in chocolate flavors.  This is one of the major distinctives between industrial chocolate and craft chocolate.  The goal of industrial chocolate is consistency of flavor.  They understandably want their chocolate products to taste the same year after year.  This is understandable.  The problem is that cacao is an extremely variable agricultural product that inherently doesn’t taste the same.  Not only does cacao grown in various parts of the world taste wildly different, cacao grown from the same farm tastes very different.  To compound this issue, the flavors change seasonally.  One of the reasons that industrial chocolate is able to purchase and blend low quality, bad tasting, cheap cacao from around the world, is that they subject it to manufacturing processes that strip it of undesirable flavors and homogenize the flavor profile.  In other words, it is a highly processed food product.  

Craft chocolate is antithesis to this.  Craft chocolate celebrates how differently cacao can taste.  Craft chocolate celebrates the uniqueness that can be found from cacao grown in India versus the Philippines versus other origins.  Because of this, craft chocolate is known for emphasis on “single origin” chocolate offerings.  That is not to say, craft chocolate doesn’t offer blends and inclusions (i.e., added ingredients for flavor and texture).  The point is when you purchase craft chocolate expect variability because the main raw ingredient is a variable product.  Even the same sack of raw cacao will have a minor level of variability.  The flavor of the chocolate made from it will not be 100% uniform.  This is a really important point.  The flavor will have a general consistency but there will be slight nuances from roast to roast.    

Craft chocolate celebrates the traceability of the cacao.  Sometimes cacao is traceable to individual farmers on single estates.  The majority of cacao, however, is just like coffee in that it is grown by multiple small farmers on small plots of land who work with local “cooperatives” to produce regional blends that is marketed under the cooperative business name.  The cacao from the various farms is blended, fermented, and dried at regional processing stations called “fermentaries.”  Whether the cacao is traceable to a single farm, a single community, or a region, the point is that there is a higher level of traceability than commodity cacao.  

Why is traceability important?  While there are lots of reasons traceability is important such as knowing where ones food comes from, one of the main reasons traceability is important is to ensure that the cacao is ethically sourced.  There are places in the world such as parts of Africa where cacao is grown and harvested under slave labor type conditions.  Unfortunately, this often entails the use of young children separated from their parents.  By ethically sourced, we mean at a minimum that the producers are paid a living wage for their community.  This is important on the human level for what I hope are obvious reasons.  On the selfish level, if you and I wish to continue eating high quality chocolate, there has to be current and future generation of cacao producers who see their effort as financially worth it.