The chocolate is taking a break. In 2023, sales are anticipated to reach record highs.
based on industry reports. Consumers are looking for and prepared to spend money.
More on small-batch, high-quality products. While the large, industrial businesses
The majority of the market is also controlled by companies like Hershey’s and Nestle, artisan
Over the past five years, chocolate production has increased. There are currently about 700.
These are three chocolate makers in the United States who adore chocolate.
The primary component is the cacao bean.
Scottsdale, Arizona’s ZAK’S CHOCOLATE
Jim and Maureen Elitzak’s hobby, which they began as a home-based business almost 20 years ago, has evolved into an award-winning chocolate shop. Self-taught chocolatier Maureen would make wonderful treats at home using chocolate from the store. Finding healthy chocolate was challenging, so the couple started taking classes to learn how to make their own.
also buying their individual tabletop processing tools.
Jim claims that during that time, we discovered more about chocolate than we ever imagined possible, including its origins, its history, and all the factors that contributed to the development of professional chocolate. We can do this, that’s what got us thinking. We think it’s very good stuff and we like it.
The couple opened Zak’s Chocolate in the Agua Caliente Shopping Mall in Scottsdale in 2015. They provide a variety of small-batch bars, bonbons, bark, and other delights that are morally sourced and made from beans that smallholder farmers all over the world have grown naturally.
According to Maureen,” supporting the farmers” entails making sure they receive a living wage and that their children attend school. Additionally, we do n’t purchase from anyone who engages in cut-and-burn farming, which results in deforestation.
Cocoa bean, house-pressed cocoa butter, and natural cane sugar are the three basic ingredients used to make all of Zak’s 70 % dark chocolates. White chocolate contains house-pressed cocoa butter, natural full milk powder, and natural cane sugar, while milk chocolate is supplemented with organic entire milk. To emphasize each origin’s terroir, the bars are generally simple. A couple snack bars now include formed ginger, pepitas, cacao nib, and cactus seeds. However, the bonbons feature a wide variety of local flavors, including ganache made with provincial craft beers and prickly pear and Arizona honey.
Since its debut, Zak’s Chocolate has received praise from all over the world, winning numerous International Chocolate Awards and being named one of the top chocolate shops in America by Food &, Wine magazine.
Albuquerque, New Mexico: ELDORA CRAFT CHOCOLATE
Steve Prickett started making chocolate as a hobby, just like the Elitzaks. He claims,” I’ve been a black chocolate addict my entire life.” Finally, about eight years ago, my wife arranged for us to visit a facility in Hawaii. That sparked my desire to make chocolate on a journey.
Prickett was employed by Merrill Lynch at the time as a personal wealth advisor. He made the decision to turn his hobby into a business when he retired in 2016. He founded Eldora Craft Chocolate, the state’s second bean-to-bar chocolate shop, in the Northeast Valley of Albuquerque in 2018.
Eldora’s truffles and 70 % black bars have grown in popularity among chocoholics all over the nation, and the little shop is now a well-liked tourist attraction.
The cozy storefront was created by interior designer Andrea Prickett’s wife. Glass cases are filled with exquisite truffles that have vintage flavors like caramel, peanut butter, and cookie dough and are wrapped in vividly coloured foil. Blood orange and green chile biscochito ( New Mexico’s state cookie ) are two regionally inspired foods. A variety of single-origin bars highlight the unique terroirs of places like Madagascar, Belize, and Uganda.
Guests can view every stage of the production process, from roasting and grinding the beans to pouring the melted chocolate into molds, during a one-hour tour that costs$ 12 per person. They can then sit down to sample three single-original chocolates.
Aricebo, Puerto Rico: SEMILA FARM &, CACA CHOCOLATEBISTRO
Things did n’t go exactly as planned when Abel Vélez and his wife Decenia Vega started growing cacao plants at their house in their small coastal town about an hour east of San Juan. According to Vélez,” We started with 3, 000 cacao plants, and all of them died.”
The couple developed an agriculture company that raises cacao trees after learning from their unsuccessful experiment. Under the Cacao 360 brand, they produce their own chocolates and combine them into Puerto Rican cuisine.
They currently manage Semila Farm, a 43-acre farm and nature preserve. In a sizable greenhouse, Vega transplants disease-resistant stock root to extremely effective, high-yield cacao plants, creating trees that can produce cacao in just one year. Plants like banana and papaya give saplings shade and deter pests. After that, the cacao plants are sold to additional farms on the island.
According to Vélez,” the entire concept is that by producing, we maximize the chance to take part in a specialized niche called Cacao Fino de Aroma.” This premium cocoa, which contains a lot of cacao, is well known for its fruity, floral, and nuts malt notes. Vega continues,” Experts have selected the genetics of the product from the 50 best cacaos in the world.” The sole places in America that produce it are Puerto Rico and Hawaii.
The couple also owns and runs Caca Chocolate Bistro in addition to the farm. The smaller eatery in the heart of Aricebo serves a chocolate-forward menu. The confection is present in virtually every dish. The chef is Velez.
According to him, “using chocolate in food has been customary for a very long time.” ” I consider chocolate to be a substance with the capacity to produce an entirely new experience.”
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