Number Of Craft Chocolate Maker By Country & Popular Chocolate Bar Origins
The following is a summary of the stated research mentioned above. The content summarized here, including the figures and tables, all belong to the researchers (unless otherwise indicated). The summary attempts to stay as close to the original paper as much as possible with some adjustments in regards to jargon, length, or to focus on bean to bar aspects.
Image by @geojango_maps
Chocolate bars by cacao origin Frequency
This research article published in 2021 gives us a rough overview of a couple of interesting facts. One is the percentage of bar origins represented on many craft bean-to-bar chocolate makers from around the world. Not surprisingly, Ecuador, Venezuela, and Peru rank in the top 3 along with other South American countries. South America is the heartland of cacao, so this makes sense. Madagascar is in the top 5 due to established fair traded relationships earlier on in the craft chocolate movement.
Figure taken from research article listed above (Cadby et al., 2021).
I will say this, that unfortunately due to trends and pressure from marketing, many chocolate makers opt-in for more of the popular origins. This is not because Ecuador grows the finest cacao in the world. Keep in mind they grow the notorious CCN51 variety (not the only poor quality cacao). This isn’t to say Ecuador doesn’t grow wonderful cacao, it surely does, such as the bars made from the beautiful Costa Esmeraldas cacao. The point is that many of the origins at the bottom of the list including Haiti, Samoa, Philippines, Uganda, and Solomon Islands to name just a few also grow some beautiful cacao.
Many people believe this idea of “terroir”, where origin of where the cacao is grown dictates a great deal of the flavour (especially in fine cacao). This is simply not the case. The idea of terroir itself is very misunderstood by the general public, and in often has more ties to marketing than anything scientific to back it up. If you dedicate a month of your life to searching for evidence of the connection between the flavour of cacao beans and the soil/weather, you will come up empty handed. And this is an idea that has floated around since Bonnat began using this to market their chocolate in the 19th Century.
The truth is, genetics plays one of the most important roles in flavour of cacao, and therefore chocolate made from that cacao. This is why most bulk cacao in the world (85-90% roughly) which has a simplistic flavour and not grown for it’s flavour primarily comes from a very narrow genetic spectrum of cacao. This is a big part of the craft/fine chocolate industry, which is to preserve the very limited amount of varietals/cultivars of cacao which do in fact produce incredibly flavoured cacao. These have often been replaced by lower quality more profitable cacao due to lack of systems in place to sustain their grown and their entry into the market.
A word of advice, never be hesitant about trying new origins and lesser known origins. Flavour of cacao is influenced by how it is grown, fermentation (even species of yeasts and bacteria in the fermentation), roasting, and refining. However, without good genes, a chocolate maker will never achieve the same flavour from a bulk commercial cocoa bean than it could from a high quality fine cocoa bean.
Figure taken from research article listed above (Cadby et al., 2021).
The point here is that any origin is capable of growing incredible cacao beans to create incredible chocolate. You may have a subjective preference for certain flavours, but the truth is that any country can grow both low quality cacao and very high quality cacao. Never turn your nose up to an origin without tasting the bar first. And be sure to try the same origins from various regions and made by various makers. Chocolate flavour is more complex than wine, tea, and coffee, so you never know what you may get your hands on next!
Craft chocolate maker distribution by country
Some say the United states started the craft chocolate movement. When I started in fine chocolate back in 2008, for me “craft chocolate” wasn’t really used. Fine chocolate was the term used by myself and many others. Personally I’m not too fond of the new introduction of craft chocolate, on top of an already confusing list of “fine”, “bean-to-bar”, and “artisan”, but I digress.
This idea of “craft chocolate” likely was started in the USA, but it is definitely where this movement exploded and spread to other parts of the world. For me, this idea of fine chocolate has long been preserved in Europe, but this much smaller scale I would say could be attributed to the USA.
That said, it’s no surprise that the United states is listed as the country with the most craft chocolate makers at the moment. I don’t feel this map is quite as accurate, as there are indeed many small-scale makers in Latin America who are much less known and not found on the resources listed for this article. For a more “live” updated version of makers especially in this part of the world, you can download the free Bean To Bar World Map App I created or use the desktop version here on this site. Chocolate bars are an expensive product to manufacture, especially when the maker is based in more tropical climates such as Latin America, Africa, and Southeast Asia. In these parts, not only is refrigeration necessary, air conditioning throughout the year in order to properly temper and store their chocolate bars is also very important. All this is very costly, especially in these regions of the world as opposed to North America, Australia and Western Europe and other wealthier demographics where, although still expensive, is more within reach for many makers from these regions.
Nonetheless, there has been a huge increase in small-scale fine and craft chocolate makers around the world. It’s so exciting to see craft chocolate makers pop up in regions not known for making chocolate. These makers bring to the table new ideas in regards to how chocolate should be made (texture, methods), unique cultural cuisine ingredient ideas (Hungarian paprika in Hungary, Oolong tea in Singapore, Cupuacu in Brazil, etc.), and begin to open our minds to appreciate chocolate in new and satisfying ways. The chocolate bar itself was invented in England in the 19th Century and fanned out from there to other European countries. Prior to that it was mostly consumed as a drink or an ingredient in food. Therefore, the chocolate bar or “eating chocolate” has always had a very European in regards to ingredients and flavour/texture expectations. It’s very exciting to see some origins such as in Central or South America rediscover older traditions and recipes, and other countries where chocolate wasn’t quite relevant to discover new ones.
The craft chocolate movement didn’t really take off until the early 21st Century, so we are only just starting to see major changes in chocolate come forth. It’s been growing and changing steadily, and there is no knowing where it will lead or which regions will thrive and flourish. Think of it this way. Bread has been a part of human existence for millenia, and every region has developed their own recipes and traditions which is why we have such a wide range of bread products depending on if you are in Italy, England, USA, Middle East, India, Philippines, and so forth. Imagine in today’s world where various industries change so quickly, how chocolate will change and develop from region to region. Due to globalization, in some ways many regions more easily and quickly imitate one another, where in the past regions were more isolated and developed more unique ideas in regards to food. Spend a few moments on social media and you will already see a great deal of repetition of makers from various countries. As I said, it is very new, and individual makers as well as makers in various regions are beginning to find themselves and experiment with the direction they will head. The anticipation for me is quite exciting!
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