“The Best Chocolate in America”
– Food & Wine
Award-Winning Single Origin Flavor
Tom & Monica discoverd their chocolate passion in a vintage furniture shop in Los Angeles, sampling single-origin blends introducing them into the realm that is single-origin chocolate. They traveled throughout Latin America searching for the most flavorful beans, and have developed direct relationships with the farmers who grow and harvest them. By dealing directly with farmers, they’re able to ensure that they’re fairly compensated for their cacao, and also that the farming practices they’re using are sustainable.
All of their bars are made here at their 225-year-old farm in Sudbury, Massachusetts. They start with cacao beans and sugar, and perform every step of the chocolate making process in-house, including carefully hand wrapping each bar.
Goodnow Farms has set a record for receiving the most chocolate awards in North American.
Goodnow Farm’s Philosophy of Chocolate
“Like coffee beans and wine grapes, different cacao beans have different flavors. By using beans sourced from only one farm or region we’re able to highlight the distinct flavor characteristics of that particular bean. Discovering those flavors is one of the joys of making (and eating) single-origin craft chocolate!
To make excellent chocolate we need to start with excellent beans. We’ve traveled throughout Latin America searching for the most flavorful beans, and have direct relationships with the farmers who grow and harvest them. By dealing directly with farmers we’re able to ensure we always receive the very best beans, which in many cases are fermented and dried to our custom specifications. Our direct trade model also allows us to pay significantly more than commodity or Fair Trade prices, and ensure that farming practices are sustainable and labor practices are equitable.
All of our chocolate is made at our 225 year old farm in Sudbury, Massachusetts. We start with cacao beans and sugar, and perform every step of the chocolate making process in-house, including carefully hand wrapping each bar. We’re also one of the only chocolate makers to use our own freshly pressed, single origin cocoa butter in our chocolate. Doing this is time consuming and difficult, but the result is exceptionally smooth and intensely flavorful chocolate.
We believe that great craft chocolate is “true to the bean,” – that the flavors apparent in the bar reflect the flavors hidden in the bean. We invite you to explore our website to learn more about the many steps involved in truly realizing the full flavor potential of single-origin chocolate cacao, from personal sourcing to painstakingly roasting, pressing cocoa butter, conching and more. What you discover will change the way you think about chocolate!”
– Tom & Monica
How do Cacao Beans Become Award-Winning Craft Chocolate?
Goodnow Farms makes their premium craft chocolate using only directly-sourced single origin high quality cacao beans, organic sugar and fresh-pressed cocoa butter they make themselves from the same premium beans they use to make their chocolate. They never alkalize or use any additives. They search throughout Latin America to find the very best cacao beans; read more about fine flavor cacao and their sourcing methods. Every step of their crafting process is customized for each individual bean type in order to highlight the unique flavors of the specific beans.
STEP 1
SORTING
All their beans are sorted by hand. Imperfections in a bean can result in imperfections in the taste of the finished chocolate.
They carefully sort small batches to remove beans that are broken, flat, or just too small to roast properly. They also remove anything that doesn’t belong in chocolate, like rocks and other detritus. Once they’re sorted the beans are taken to their chocolate kitchen for roasting.
STEP 2
ROASTING
This is a critical step in developing flavor, because roasting transforms the many “flavor precursors” in cacao beans into actual flavor.
How a bean is roasted has a tremendous impact on the flavors of the finished chocolate, which is why they do dozens of test roasts before deciding on their preferred roasting profiles. Their profiles are very different for different beans, and creating these customized roast profiles is one of the most enjoyable and challenging aspects of making craft chocolate.
STEP 3
WINNOWING
Each bean is covered with a protective shell, which needs to be removed prior to refining because it adds a bitter taste to the finished chocolate.
The beans are cracked to separate the meat of the bean (called the nib) from the shell. Once cracked, the bits of nib and shell travel across a screen and pass under a vacuum. Since the shell is much lighter than the nib, the pieces of shell are sucked up into the vacuum while the nibs fall down into a container for later refining. (The shells are collected and used for compost.)
STEP 4
PRESSING COCOA BUTTER
They’re one of the only craft chocolate makers to press their own cocoa butter.
Why does this matter? Because when you see cocoa butter as an ingredient in a chocolate bar it’s almost always deodorized cocoa butter. Adding this “flavorless” butter to chocolate dilutes the cacao flavors at best, and can also add off-flavors. By pressing their own butter from the same beans they use to make their chocolate their butter retains the same flavors as the beans, which not only enhances the flavor but makes their chocolate incredibly rich and creamy as well. It’s a time consuming process, but one which ensures the flavors in each bar truly reflect the flavors in the cacao from which it’s made.
STEP 5
REFINING AND CONCHING
This is a complicated step because two things are happening simultaneously. Particle size is being reduced (refining) and volatile compounds, like acetic acid, are being released (conching).
Along with roasting, conching is one of the most important steps in developing chocolate flavors. In this step the cacao nibs from the winnower are placed in a stone grinder. The heavy granite wheels slowly crush the nibs into a paste, and eventually turn it into a liquid known as “cocoa liquor.” During this step, they also add sugar and cocoa butter. Once the particle size has been reduced to a certain level (but not too small!) and the flavors are just right, the liquor is poured out of the grinder and put in the tempering machine. They spend a lot of time developing just the right conche profile for each bean.
STEP 6
TEMPERING AND MOLDING
Tempering is the process of creating a certain type of crystals in cocoa butter to give the bar a harder consistency, higher melting point, and a nice appearance.
To create the right type of crystal the temperature is raised high enough to melt all of the cocoa butter crystals, and then lowered to a point that’s ideal for the correct type of crystal to be created. Once their chocolate is tempered properly they deposit it into molds, chill the molds to further stabilize the cocoa butter crystals, and then let the bars come back up to room temperature in preparation for wrapping.
STEP 7
WRAPPING
Each bar is painstakingly wrapped by hand, with an interior resealable compostable pouch and an outer recyclable paper wrapper which includes the batch number and a “best by” date.
The process is very time consuming but the incredible flavors make it all worthwhile!
Distinctive Flavor Profiles
Rich Dark Chocolate
Exotic Origins
Goodnow Farms brings out the unique flavor of each cocoa origin, all designed to celebrate the richness of cacao and offer a truly memorable tasting experience.
Exotic Infusions
What Our Customers Say
Goodnow Farms Ucayali Peru 70% Dark Chocolate Bar
“This was the first time I experienced Peruvian chocolate. I must say it does have a distinct taste I have never tasted in the past. This is the way real chocolate should taste. Treat yourself to this outstanding chocolate. And with the outstanding packaging, the chocolate bar(s) will arrive…”
-RH
Goodnow Farms Asochivite Guatemala 77% Dark Chocolate Bar
“I ordered a flight of Guatemalan chocolate bars, including this one, from a maker I hadn’t heard of before. This is an excellent bar with rich, complex flavors that evolve on the tongue. I will look forward to trying all of the Goodnow Farms line! My order arrived so fast, before the estimated date, and I was super happy with the entire process.”
-El
Goodnow Farms Boyacá Colombia 73% Dark Chocolate Bar
“The pure flavor of this chocolate is addicting, it’s so smooth and not too sweet. Just right!”
-PM
Indulge in Goodnow Farm’s Exquisite Chocolate Selection
Discover the rich flavors and unique profiles of Goodnow Farms Chocolate. Elevate your taste experience with their carefully crafted bars, each telling a story of tradition and quality. Treat yourself or find the perfect gift for a loved one.