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OmNom Chocolate has become semi-famous over the last year, thanks to a Zac Efron show (https://www.netflix.com/title/80230601) on Netflix. But even before that overnight explosion, OmNom had been quite famous within the craft chocolate (https://damecacao.com/what-is-craft-chocolate-bean-to-bar/) industry in its own right. From their rainbow-hued wolf icon to their bold Icelandic flavors— like sea salt and licorice or burnt barley— they’re memorable, to say the least. And as co-founder,...

Julia & Roger Rodriguez opened the doors to their shop in February 2020, less than a month after their wedding ceremony. Nearly a year in the making, and their official grand opening was waylaid by covid. And then waylaid again. And eventually it was cancelled altogether, plans were scrapped, and big changes had to be made to keep Vesta alive— they went full bare bones. Working just outside of New York City, at the height of the pandemic, the couple hustled to drum up interest through...

Gillian Goddard puts her money where her intention is, carefully choosing how her business spends its resources in order to have the greatest positive impact. She’s a self-proclaimed “disruptor” in the chocolate industry, and I’ve seen no evidence to dispute that; her systems bring to life the concept of entrepreneurship as activism. Over the last few decades, Gillian has built up a number of businesses in Trinidad & Tobago, each rippling into and often overlapping with or absorbing the...

Even over the phone, Erin Andrews is someone you just feel drawn to continue chatting and laughing along with. Having founded her first chocolate company in Belize in 2008, over the last thirteen years Erin has used this extroverted superpower to build up a subsequent chocolate company in her home of Seattle. That company is indi Chocolate, named after her oldest daughter, who actually inspired the brand’s oldest product line: cocoa butter-based lotions. indi has since grown into a large...

Very few chocolate makers are truly going down a new and unusual path these days, and honestly, at first glance, neither is Will Marx. He’s making (mostly) plain dark chocolates from ethically sourced single origin cacao. But simplicity can be a good thing— it takes away the complicated window dressing and opens up the world of artisan food to a larger group of consumers. In it’s own way, that’s sort of revolutionary. Over the last year in particular, Will’s been restructuring his business in...

In the chocolate world, there are very few in-betweens. Most of us either buy or sell chocolate, whether we make it ourselves or curate it for customers. Megan Giller’s case is a bit different; she’s more of a go-between than an in-between, connecting readers to remarkable treats from around the world. Since even before her book— Bean To Bar Chocolate: America’s Craft Chocolate Revolution— came out in 2017, she’s been bringing the good word of great chocolate to thousands of readers on sites...

Pashmina kinda started Bar & Cocoa “by accident,” with co-founder and former co-owner Chris Lacey, back when they were offering craft chocolate subscription boxes under the name “ChocoRush.” Fast forward half a decade and a few big moves, and Pashmina is now running one of the world’s largest online craft chocolate retailers, offering nearly 80 makers & 800+ products. Each brand was carefully chose by Pashmina herself; she’s even helped many of them get FDA certification for their...

Fiji is the land of beach getaways, incredibly strong traditions, and a whole lot of agriculture. In fact, I'd say that despite doubling in size each year due to tourism, most Fijians don't interact at all with tourists, and continue on their lives in the largely rural nation. This is how Tomo came to learn about cacao in the first place, well over a decade ago, while living in the small town of SavuSavu. Over the next several years, Tomo & his family built that small interaction into one...

It’s a huge undertaking to write a book, but it’s a monumental project to write the book on your chosen subject. Yet that’s exactly what you’ll find in The Secret Life of Chocolate, a definitive book on cacao written by medical herbalist Marcos Patchett. The book’s many chapters read like individual deep dives into the many facets of cacao, as explored through the lens of its medicinal role in cultures through the ages. It’s been such a pleasure to have this book in my chocolate library...

Not only is India one of the world’s largest economies, but the country has a huge range of micro-climates, even within each of its 36 states & territories. Of these, four are the most hospitable for growing cacao, and Tamil Nadu is one of them. This is where you’ll find the farms of Regal Plantations and the tiny chocolate factory of Soklet Chocolate, both of which are operated by brothers-in-law Harish Manoj Kumar & Karthi Palaniswamy. Over the last five years, Karthi & Harish...

Since 1995, Zotter Chocolate (https://www.zotterusa.com/) has been creating confections in southeastern Austria. In 2006, the family-owned and -run company began dabbling in bean to bar chocolates (https://damecacao.com/what-is-craft-chocolate-bean-to-bar/), and since then, they’ve become one of the largest craft chocolate makers in the world. Julia Zotter was raised as a part of the company, and is now its director of creativity after spending several years building up their Shanghai...

While the vast majority of travelers will associate Fiji only with resorts, pristine beaches, and tribal dances, some visitors will manage to glimpse another side of the islands. For over 100 years, Fijians have been growing cacao, sometimes sporadically, to be sold into the international market. But in recent years, the Pacific Island nation has seen a local chocolate industry appear and slowly develop, similar to what’s happened in Hawaii...

While Covid-19 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coronavirus) has ravaged populations around the world, it’s also nearly halted the global economy. Almost every industry around the world is heavily affected, most often in the negative, and craft chocolate is no exception. Not only are chocolate sales (https://damecacao.com/where-buy-craft-chocolate-online/) directly affected, but the supply chain has been interrupted, potentially for many years to come. So who are the supply chain players who’ve...

For over a decade, Ning has been working in the chocolate industry on peninsular Malaysia. Under his brands Culture Cacao (https://www.facebook.com/culturecacao/) and Chocolate Concierge, he’s now growing, fermenting, and processing his own cacao beans into chocolate. Much of this work has been done alongside re-forestation projects done in the indigenous communities near his home in Kuala Lumpur (https://damecacao.com/malaysia-chocolate-kuala-lumpur/). So after a decade of work, why...

Singapore is much better known for its financial institutions than its fine food selection, and this is for good reason. The options for chocolate lovers in Singapore have increased dramatically over the last several years, but relatively few consumers have become interested. Locals are still more interested in fine cakes and foreign cookies than they are in chocolate. It will take big steps for the Little Red Dot to put itself on the world’s chocolate map. But how about Singaporean...

Coconut milk chocolate has become a pretty standard part of any craft chocolate (https://damecacao.com/what-is-craft-chocolate-bean-to-bar/) maker’s lineup of offerings. Yet the list of plant-based milks seems to grow every day. From nuts & legumes to fruits & grains, there’s an option for every dietary requirement, none of which ever touch a cow. This wave of milk alternatives has finally hit the chocolate industry in a big way, with some large-scale chocolate manufacturers even...

Indian food is famous, but Indian desserts, and certainly Indian chocolates, haven’t yet found their way onto the world’s radar. But they’re out there. India has grown cacao for centuries, in fact, and now has around a half dozen established chocolate brands, with another several dozen in the works. Yet you probably couldn’t name any— so why is that? One huge reason is that domestic demand for cocoa is on the rise, and the country continues to need to import cacao to meet the demand. But in...

Malaysian origin chocolates are about as common as Cambodian (https://damecacao.com/chocolate-on-the-road-cambodia/) or Hawaiian (https://damecacao.com/chocolate-on-the-road-hawaii/) chocolates. That is, they exist— but you can’t really find them unless you go to the source. But it wasn’t always this way. Malaysia used to be one of the world’s top ten cocoa producers, and remains a top processor of cocoa. So what’s happened over the last thirty years? The flux throughout Southeast Asia tells...

With 15 years of cocoa research in West Africa under her belt, Dr. Kristy Leissle is well-poised to speak on the topic of its future. African farmers grow over two-thirds of the world’s cocoa supply, making the African continent the deciding factor in chocolate’s future. With all the hype and questions around the potential extinction of chocolate, it makes sense to get as close to the source as possible: cocoa farmers (or at least someone who’s talked to thousands of them). So what do farmers...

Jan Schubert works in the cocoa industry in Latin America, largely in Ecuador, Peru, and Colombia. Focusing on conservation in cocoa-growing areas, his efforts & the efforts of his team have led to the planting of over 2.4 million trees in some of the world’s most vulnerable areas. ‘One bar, one tree’ is the motto of Original Beans Chocolate. So what is happening on the ground, in the world’s oldest cocoa-growing regions? After well over a decade working with cacao in South America, Jan...

Samuel Maruta is the co-founder of Marou Chocolate, a craft chocolate company based in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Since its founding in 2011, Marou has worked directly with Vietnamese cocoa farmers to source the seven cacao origins they work with. Two shops and nearly nine years later, the company is still going strong, and serving as an inspiration for other up-and-coming chocolate brands based at-origin. So what inspired Sam & his business partner to start Vietnam’s first craft...

Sunita De Tourreil has spend the last decade-and-a-half advocating on behalf of chocolate makers. In her craft chocolate retail venture, The Chocolate Garage, she experimented with various ways of funding new chocolate projects, in addition to conducting hundreds of tastings a year. Over the Garage’s 8-year run, Sunita watched small-batch chocolate makers from all over the world come into their own as craftspeople. Until its closing in 2018, having a bar for sale in the Garage was one of the...

Matt Caputo is a well-known name in the world of chocolate, having started the specialty chocolate portion of his family’s shop back in 2002. Since then, their offerings have continued to expand, and oftentimes they’re the ones turning down new chocolates. Between nearly two decades of craft chocolate sales, and an impressive repertoire of related marketing experience, Matt has become the go-to guy for anyone looking to start a craft chocolate...