Making real chocolate from bean to bar & changing the lives of our cacao Farmers
Our chocolate story begins in the beautiful Solomon Islands, where our team on the ground in Honiara work with over 90 village cacao farming communities who grow organic and premium grade single origin cacao. The best beans are then sent to our vegan certified
chocolate factory in Mount Maunganui, New Zealand, where we make our award winning chocolate from Bean to Bar.
We’re unique in the chocolate world because we work with and purchase directly from our growers, which means more profit goes to them. Traditional chocolate models have countless ‘middlemen’ that take profit away from the farmer. We’re proud to be one of the few chocolate companies in the world to manage the entire supply chain, from the cacao tree to the finished chocolate product. Therefore, we guarantee a truly ethical and premium chocolate every time.
Once the beans are harvested (hand picked) in the Solomon Islands, they are fermented, dried, hand selected and graded. They are then delivered to Glenn and the team at our Solomons Gold chocolate factory in Mount Maunganui, New Zealand. It takes a staggering 200 hours to turn a cacao bean into one of our hand crafted bars.
Clean – Sort - Roast – Winnow
Once we receive the beans, they are cleaned and sorted before we roast them in small batches using traditional artisan techniques. Each bean has a fibrous husk, so after the beans are roasted we winnow them to separate the husk from the nibs inside.
Grind - Conch
The cacao nibs are then ground down and the resulting friction and heat transforms them into cacao liquor, known also as cacao mass. The cacao mass is then placed in our conche machine where it is mixed with just the right amount of organic coconut sap sugar for our bold flavour. Our conche profile has taken many hours to get it perfect.
Age - Temper - Mold
Our Chocolate is then poured into blocks and aged for around one month to help the chocolate to mellow in flavour. After this ageing process the chocolate is then re-melted and put into our tempering machine. Tempering affects the way the cocoa butter crystals form, and it determines how hard, shiny and glossy the final chocolate will be. The tempered chocolate is then poured into molds and left to set.
Glenn and the team then mold and de-mold over 10,000 bars every month. It’s a labour of love but we take pride in having complete control over every step of our chocolate making process and we are constantly striving to make the most delicious and highest quality vegan chocolate possible!
