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12 Best Chocolates To Buy Online On World Chocolate Day 2021
If you want to taste unique chocolate flavors and support a good cause, check out Beyond Good's products. By directly working with farmers in Madagascar and Uganda, Beyond Good is able to support communities and get access to the best cocoa varieties.
Founder Tim McCollum on the Northstar Unplugged Podcast
Tim speaks with Northstar Sleep School’s Kristen Rainey about his time in the Peace Corps, founding Madécasse (now Beyond Good), and where we are today.
Put Down That Big-Name Chocolate Bar - Grab One Of These Instead!
Beyond Good has a radically different supply chain when compared to big name chocolate companies - they cut out the middlemen so Beyond Good has a direct relationship with cocoa farmers.
Better Bites
This subtly fruity dark chocolate comes in 70, 80 and 92 percent cocoa and is sourced from Madagascar.
Good Company: How Beyond Good Built Transparency in African Chocolate Production
Considering all of this, it makes the work Beyond Good is doing in Madagascar quite exceptional among artisan chocolate brands. The company is the only U.S.-sold chocolate brand producing its final product in Africa (whereas most companies ship raw materials to Europe or North America) and are doing so with a high level of transparency.
Stuff a Stocking Right This Season
“Your giftees will be blown away by this set’s six different bars showcasing the singular flavors of Madagascar heirloom cocoa (which tastes nothing like most store-bought chocolate), not to mention its premium vanilla extract and bourbon vanilla beans.”
Inc. Magazine Best in Business 2020
“Beyond Good produces chocolate in Africa, which removes supply-chain intermediaries, saves on operating costs, and increases farmers' wages.”
New on the Market for winter 2020
“Let sustainable, high-quality staples make a difference in your holiday baking this year. Elevate traditional recipes with Beyond Good’s rare and renowned dark chocolates and a bottle of their bourbon vanilla extract; the Madagascar Baking Kit is also a perfect gift for the avid bakers on your list.”
20 chocolate bars perfect for gifting
“Beyond Good Orange Zest Dark Chocolate Bar. Made with organic cacao from a region of Western Uganda noted for its rich dark chocolate, this 73% bar is also vegan, gluten free, and soy free. Did we mention it's also delicious?”
BEST GIFT FOR FOODIES
“Beyond Good crafts chocolates from Madagascar cocoa, considered among the most flavorful in the world.”
SAVEUR 100: #86 RAISING THE BAR
“Beyond Good is the only American company producing chocolate—from bean to bar, plus packaging—at origin, in Madagascar…This direct trade not only preserves profit, but also creates transparency that prevents child labor and other exploitations.”
can one company provide a model for a more just and sustainable cocoa industry?
“The problem in the chocolate industry is poverty. Which is a direct result of the supply chain. A new supply chain needs to be built, a supply chain that looks nothing like the industrial supply chain. Until that happens, most efforts are a waste of time and money.”
WHAT DOES IT MEAN FOR INGREDIENTS TO BE TRACEABLE?
“We wanted to manufacture at origin because that changes the game for the local communities producing cocoa… we didn’t realize how the rest of the industry did it, but for us, transparency is unavoidable as we’re buying directly from the farmers. ”
BEYOND GOOD: 3 INSIGHTS FROM THE LEADER REVOLUTIONIZING THE CHOCOLATE INDUSTRY
“In the global chocolate industry, supply chain fragmentation results in permanent farmer poverty. It also means zero traceability. Farmer poverty and zero traceability create a tinder box for other shady things to happen. Think deforestation and forced labor. These issues run deep.”
THE FARM REPORT: YES, EVEN CHOCOLATE STARTS ON A FARM
“The only way to build a supply chain that we knew we’d be proud of was to build it from scratch.”
CHOCOLATE AND CONSERVATION
“Direct trade allows us to make socioeconomic change needed to address poverty with traceability across the entire supply chain.”
HOW BEYOND GOOD, FORMERLY MADéCASSE, CHANGED ITS NAME
“By choosing Beyond Good, we’re showcasing all the help we’ve been able to do with farmer income and reforestation through cocoa agroforestry, and the unique, delicious taste of our chocolate.”
HELPING LOCAL FARMERS IN MADAGASCAR CREATE SUSTAINABLe BUSINESSES
“Again, it gets back to poverty. If a kid sees that their parents aren’t making any money and struggling on a cocoa farm, they’re not going to be excited to inherit that cocoa farm.”
THIS CHOCOLATE COMPANY HELPS SAVE ENDANGERED LEMURS IN MADAGASCAR
“90% of Madagascar’s plants and animals are indigenous, but so many of the trees have been cut down and many species are dying out… What we’re finding is that by working with farmers to plant more trees and replenish areas that are deforested, we’re also creating a natural habitat for endangered species.”
CAN A BROOKLYN CHOCOLATE MAKER WITH A SOCIAL MISSION STAND OUT FROM THE CROWD?
“Madécasse is trying to increase the income of Madagascar's cocoa farmers by teaching them how to process the wet beans from the giant cocoa pods, each the size of a football. They've simplified a long and often murky supply chain by buying the dried and fermented beans directly from the farmers and cutting out the many intermediaries.”
A PEACE CORPS STINT IN MADAGASCAR GAVE HIM A VISION OF VANILLA
“I lived in a vanilla-growing region of the country. The landscape was beautiful. Every farmer had a vanilla farm. I knew it was the vanilla capital of the world. The children of the farmers were my students.”
HOW A CHOCOLATE COMPANY IN MADAGASCAR OVERCAME THE ODDS
“Although 70% of the world’s cocoa comes from West Africa, less than 1% of the world’s chocolate is made there. Madécasse sought to change this by using chocolate’s raw material, cocoa, to keep economic benefit within the island nation.”