Ontario Boasts its Eleventh Bean-to-Bar Chocolate Maker - just launched in Kingston!

CóCó Chocolate Company is Ontario's newest start-up chocolate maker, hand-crafting chocolate from bean-to-bar, and selling it at local farmer's markets in Kingston.  Owner, and chocolate maker, Brendan McAleer is using a fine flavour cocoa bean from the Dominican Republic to make tasty organic chocolate.

Over the last few week's, I've been tasting a few of Cócó's chocolate bars, including a delicious 'Fleur de Sel' dark chocolate bar, an almond, a coconut, and a Pistachio chocolate bar.  The inclusions were gently sprinkled on the back of each chocolate bar, and each nut and coconut piece was large, so I could break the bar up and enjoy a piece of just the chocolate on its own, or a piece of chocolate with an inclusion, like a whole almond or coconut flake.

My favourite was the coconut, because the flakes were large and toasted, adding a lovely crispy/crunchy texture with a perfect toasted coconut flavour.
 

Overall, the chocolate was smooth and very flavourful in that Hispaniola Dominican cacao sort of way. Albeit still a little rustic in style, the overall experience was quite enjoyable and an awesome find at the farmer's market!  This is a great start for Cócó, and so I am excited to see how this little chocolate company flourishes.

According to McAleer's posts on Facebook, Cócó is also now making maple-sweetened chocolate, white chocolate and 45% dark-milk chocolate!


Learn more about the chocolate and the business here: https://www.facebook.com/cocochocolateco/info/?tab=page_info

You can find Cócó Chocolate Company at the Memorial Centre Farmer's Market in Kingston on Sunday's from 9 a.m. until 2 p.m. Learn more about the market and location here:
www.memorialcentrefarmersmarket.com .

I loved the taste of the Dominican-origin chocolate in this Pistachio chocolate bar. Bright, beautiful chocolate flavour with a perfect balance of sweet and bitter.