FAQ

Is your chocolate vegan? Nut-free? Soy-free? Gluten-free? Dairy-free? Preservative-free?

Yes!

 Help! There's an almond in my chocolate!

Don't worry, what you're seeing is a whole roasted cacao bean. This is what chocolate is made from! We place a single whole cacao bean on the back of our 75% Darkness chocolate bar as an educational opportunity to share the origins of chocolate. Many people in the north have never heard of, let alone seen or tasted, a cacao bean.

 Be assured, all of our production and products are entirely free of nuts.

 Why did the bars change?

We are constantly striving to improve our chocolate. That's why in 2019 we launched our new, ChocoSol branded chocolate bars. The new, thinner shape enhances the flavour tasting experience of our stone-ground chocolate. The new packaging is fully omnidegradable and reduces the need for excess stickers and labels. Finally, we chose to simplify our offerings to have a single chocolate bar that can stand taller and prouder on the shelf. 

Each bar is 75g of our best, stone-ground dark chocolate.

Where is your chocolate from?

We are bean-to-bar chocolate makers, meaning all our chocolates are made fresh from the raw cacao beans. Our cacao is roasted, winnowed, stone-ground, and tempered in our kitchen in Toronto, Ontario.

Our cacao is sourced directly from communities in Oaxaca and Chiapas, Mexico. We also source from several ecological and social projects in the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, and Guatemala. Check out the "Our Community" page to learn more!

 Is your chocolate organic?

The cacao and other ingredients we use to make our chocolates are all grown and harvested organically, naturally, sustainably, and ethically. Many of our cacao origins are certified organic, including our Kallari beans, Zorzal beans, and Maquita cacao butter. However, organic certification is currently not feasible for many of our small-scale partner communities. This means that not all our ingredients are certified organic.

Is your coffee organic?

Our coffee is grown organically, though is not certified organic because of the small-scale nature of our partner communities. It is shade-grown, sustainable, ethical, and grown without the use of harmful chemicals.

Are your cacao and coffee Fair Trade?

No- we have instead taken the direct-trade route. This means we work directly with the producers in the countries we source from. We pay above Fair Trade pricing for our cacao, coffee, and other ingredients, and the money goes directly into the hands of the communities. For example, ChocoSol pays approximately US$2.50 more per kilogram of cacao than the FairTrade minimum price.

What is the date printed on my chocolate bar package?

We use the Julian (or ordinal) date system: yyddd. The 5-digit number you see printed directly on your package or on a white sticker refers to the production date of your chocolate or product. The first two digits refer to the year of production and the final three digits refer to the numerical day of the year (ex. 123rd day of the year).

What is the best-before time for your chocolate?

If stored at cool, consistent temperatures, our chocolates are very shelf-stable. We recommend enjoying your chocolate within 4 months of production. After this time, your chocolate may begin to bloom (become cloudy, streaky, and rougher in texture) as the cacao fats and solids naturally separate. The chocolate is still perfectly safe to eat- but may be best enjoyed by melting, cooking, baking, or blending into drinks.

What happened to Luscious Coconut?

After nearly 15 years of making this chocolate, we have made the difficult decision to discontinue the Luscious Coconut flavour due a variety of reasons, including a desire to better serve our allergen-conscious community. However, we are working on several low-sugar, coconut-sugar, or other alternative sugar dark chocolate options to replace this bar!

What does "omnidegradable" mean and where should I dispose of the bag?

Omnidegradable is the term developed by our packaging manufacturers, and means the bags will biodegrade when they come into contact with microbes – microbes that are present in landfills, fresh and salt water (the Ocean) and regular soil. This means our chocolate bar packaging would biodegrade in the organic waste system, but best to throw the bag in the garbage where it will biodegrade in the landfill (unlike most biodegradable products that require direct sunlight or oxygen to biodegrade). If you are interested in this, here is bit more information from the packaging manufacturers themselves.
 

Can I still buy the 10-bar case of chocolate bars?

Yes you can! We did a little remodeling of our website, and now you can select either a single bar or the 10-bar case on each flavour of chocolate bar.