What Is Bean-to-Bar Chocolate?
Bean-to-bar chocolate is chocolate made by a producer who sources raw cacao beans and controls every stage of production in-house, from roasting through tempering to the finished bar, rather than buying pre-made chocolate mass or outsourcing any part of the process. It is a production credential that can occur at any scale, including industrial. It describes who made the chocolate, not the values behind how it was made.
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Is bean-to-bar the same as craft chocolate?
The two terms are often used as if they mean the same thing, and in everyday use, “bean-to-bar” has become something close to shorthand for the wider craft sector. But that usage is looser than the term’s actual meaning. Bean-to-bar names a production credential, available to any maker at any scale, including industrial. It says nothing on its own about the priorities behind that production, which is what “craft” actually names. See: What Does Bean-to-Bar Mean? and What Is Craft Chocolate?