French Broad Chocolate

Discover the remarkable taste of French Broad Chocolate, where each bar embodies a dedication to exceptional quality and artisanal skill.
French Broad Chocolate Bar Display Lifestyle
French Broad Asheville Lifestyle
French Broad Bean-to-Bar Lifestyle

French Broad's Story and Philosophy

In 2003, Dan Rattigan and Jael Skeffington met at a wedding which changed their lives forever. After a trip to Costa Rica, they left graduate school, converted a 40-foot school bus to run on vegetable oil, and drove south to buy an abandoned cacao plantation. In Puerto Viejo de Limon, they opened Bread & Chocolate, where their first son, Sam, was born and their passion for cacao flourished. They eventually sold the café to focus on their journey as chocolate missionaries, landing in Asheville, North Carolina, where French Broad Chocolate was established. What began in their home kitchen quickly grew, leading to the opening of the French Broad Chocolate Lounge in 2008 and its expansion in 2009 due to popularity. In 2012, they realized their dream of becoming bean-to-bar chocolate makers with the opening of the French Broad Chocolate Factory and Tasting Room. The factory sources cacao from trusted farmers to create fine chocolates and an array of confections served to patrons near and far. Expanding their operations, the factory moved to the Ramp Studios in 2018, where they can produce nearly 50 tons of chocolate annually.

French Broad's Bean-to-Bar Chocolate

Crafting Excellence

In French Broad’s Asheville Chocolate Factory, they roast, winnow, refine, grind, conche, and temper direct-sourced cacao. Here’s a peek into how they create delicious small batch chocolate.

French Broad Clean Lifestyle
French Broad Roast Lifestyle
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French Broad Pre-Refine Lifestyle

1. Clean

Although their cacao partners provide consistent, clean beans, French Broad passes all cacao though a cleaning step before roasting. This process removes dust and debris using vibration and air filtration, ensuring pure raw material.

2. Roast

With gentle heat, they can develop and enhance the unique flavor potential in every bean. Roasting removes residual moisture, sterilizes, and creates new aromas. They carefully monitor temperature and taste test for optimal production.

3. Winnow

First the roasted seed is cracked, then the cacao “nibs” are separated from the seed’s papery husk in a process called winnowing. Husks can be used for tisanes, brewery infusions, and as a soil amendment. The nibs are the raw materials used for making chocolate.

4. Pre-Refine

Nibs are first passed through a two-roll granite mill, to reduce their particle size, express some of the nib’s fat (cocoa butter), and facilitate fast liquefaction in the ball mill.

French Broad Grind Lifestyle
French Broad Conche Lifestyle
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French Broad Press Lifestyle

5. Grind

Thousands of pea-sized stainless steel balls are stirred in a water-jacketed drum, grinding and reducing the cacao particles to desired fineness. Here, they mix in other ingredients like sugar, milk powder, and additional cocoa butter.

6. Conche

Through exposure to heat and air, they can subdue, alter and even create new flavors from the cacao. The agitation also has the effect of rounding particles which improves texture and workability.

7. Sieve

Liquid chocolate is pumped onto a vibrating mesh screen to remove under-refined particles, ensuring a smooth finished chocolate.

8. Press

Pure chocolate liquor is placed in a filter bag then pressed in a cylindrical chamber to extract the cocoa butter (about 50-55% of a cacao bean is fat). They use this single origin cacao butter in their origin chocolates.

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French Broad Taste Lifestyle

9. Temper

The chocolate is taken through a series of temperature changes in order to coax the cocoa butter into its most stable crystalline form, resulting in chocolate with a shiny appearance, pleasing melt, and good “snap”.

10. Deposit

The tempered chocolate is pumped to a hopper, where chocolate is dosed into bar molds or directly onto the belt for chips and drops. It enters a cooling tunnel and exits ready for a quality check and packaging.

 

11. Enrobing

Ganache centers and caramels are fed through a small conveyer under a curtain of dark, milk, or white chocolate, resulting in a thin outer shell. Once enrobed in chocolate, they’re garnished by hand.

12. Taste

Each bar, bonbon, or confection is carefully wrapped and boxed; marking the end of its journey.

French Broad Open Bar Aesthetic

Distinctive Flavor Profiles

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High Quality Cocoa

French Broad invests in premium cacao to guarantee its organic cultivation while safeguarding biodiversity and genetic diversity, all while ensuring that cacao growers receive fair compensation. Through their sustainable farming practices, these growers contribute to the preservation of ecosystems, fostering a vibrant habitat where a diverse array of plants and animals can flourish.
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Exotic Origins

French Broad brings out the unique flavor of each cocoa origin, all designed to celebrate the richness of cacao and offer a truly memorable tasting experience.

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Unique Flavors

French Broad draws inspiration from the diverse landscapes around the globe to create a one-of-a-kind flavor experience in their chocolate.

Explore French Broad's Chocolate Creations

Chocolate Delights Gallery

French Broad Chocolate 53% Dark Milk Chocolate Bar with Sea Salt
French Broad Hazelnut Milk Chocolate Bar
Clandestine Belize 73% Dark Chocolate Bar with Rum-Infused Cocoa Nibs Lifestyle
French Broad Dominican Republic 70% Dark Chocolate Bar

Indulge in French Broad's Exquisite Selection

Experience the exquisite flavors and distinctive characteristics of French Broad Chocolate. Enhance your palate with their meticulously crafted bars, each one a narrative of heritage and excellence. Indulge yourself or discover an ideal gift for someone special.
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