Utah’s chocolate boom came as a surprise to, well, just about everyone. But it shouldn’t have. While plants that produce cacao beans thrive in the humidity of the tropics, the chocolate making process requires the arid climate of Utah’s high desert. Bean-to-bar is the name of the game when it comes to chocolate in the Beehive state, featuring an array of makers that personally craft every stage of their process to produce unique, artisan chocolates. When Utahns are craving a sweet treat, they can take their pick of internationally renowned chocolates throughout the state. 

 

Ritual Chocolate

Heber City

For many chocolate makers, the process of crafting cocoa beans into bars is more than a science. To some, it is more than even an art. To this chocolate shop in the valley between the Wasatch and the Uintas, making chocolate is a ritual. Co-founders Anna Seear and Robert Stout bring symbolism into every part of their process, from sourcing the beans to enjoying the chocolate.

The trial and error of creating Ritual’s unique process included something most chocolate makers can’t boast: making their own equipment. Though the self-described “mess of PVC pipes” is something they’ve now left behind, the equipment the factory now uses was chosen because of trying many, many different ways of winnowing cocoa shells to find the one they liked best. For mixing and refining the chocolate, the factory uses a longitudinal conch built in 1915, leaning into old world methods that are still possible in Utah due to its ideal climate. Chocolate lovers can book a tour and tasting of their Heber factory to see their process up close and meet the makers in person. 

Ritual’s customers offer similar reviews: to try their chocolate is to love their chocolate. And to support their ever-growing army of chocoholics, Ritual offers a chocolate club with monthly delivery chocolate boxes featuring new and limited-edition items, in addition to their tried-and-true favorites. Club members might be lucky and receive a collaborative bar, such as Juniper Lavender, made with Alpine distilling.

 

Millcreek Cacao

Salt Lake City

The chocolate makers at Millcreek Cacao aren’t afraid to take things slow. Every step of their process is meticulously curated, and they’re willing to wait for the perfect result. It all starts with their sourcing. They establish direct trade partnerships with the farmers in Ecuador and Nicaragua to acquire their beans, which allows them to study the growing process and labor practices of the farms they work with. As a result, they call their products “farm-to-bar” chocolate, as opposed to the more prevalent “bean-to-bar” moniker. 

And that’s not the only part of the process they allow to take its time. Millcreek often uses local herbs and local fruit to flavor their bars and have even partnered with High West to create a rye whiskey flavored bar. While they do feature more traditional bars that contain fruit and other ingredients, they also have a line of aroma-infused chocolate. Rather than diluting the cacao content by mixing it with other ingredients, the bars are stored in climate-controlled rooms along with aromatic ingredients to allow the chocolate to absorb the flavor slowly over several weeks. Millcreek is the only chocolate maker in the world to employ this technique.

And it works! Their customers swear by the results. According to Saveur magazine, Millcreek’s blackberry infused bar is “deceptively potent” considering the chocolate is not mixed with any fruit. As the first of their kind, Millcreek stands among the number of Utah craft chocolate shops putting the state on an international map of chocolate destinations.

 

The Chocolate Conspiracy

Salt Lake City

When it comes to chocolate, “local” can mean different things to different people. For AJ Wentworth, founder of the Chocolate Conspiracy, local and organic are tenants to live by. His chocolate stands out among other Utah craft chocolate factories because he doesn’t roast his beans. The result? A raw, organic chocolate, sweetened only with local raw unfiltered honey, flavored with local ingredients. This nontraditional approach tends to create coarser textures and unique flavors that can be tough on the palate.

This is where The Chocolate Conspiracy gets everything right: Wentworth’s chocolates are delicate and smooth, providing texture that is just as enticing as their taste.

The Chocolate Conspiracy sources all their beans from one farm: a farmer’s coop named Atalaya in Peru, and they work closely with the farmer-owned establishment. He also works with a wide range of local businesses to create collaborative products, including a charcuterie board that sources their meat and cheese from markets including Caputo’s on Broadway Street and Harmons Grocery. 

Salt Lake craft beer enthusiasts can find common ground with chocolate lovers in the Chocolate Conspiracy’s line of brewery-inspired chocolate bars. Wentworth worked with several local breweries, including Uinta, Level Crossing and Kiitos to incorporate their beer into the flavor of his chocolate.  

 

Taste 117

Provo

Mount Timpanogos looms on the horizon, visible from historic downtown Provo where Taste 117 is nestled. Visitors enter the cozy shop to taste the factory’s bean-to-bar chocolate, but Taste didn’t stop at the chocolate bar. Along with chocolate tasting, the shop offers fondue, pastries and a full cafe menu. For a more curated experience, chocolate lovers can experience a full chocolate tasting led by one of the factory’s chocolate experts and attend an afternoon tea session.

As Utah as it gets, Taste 117 showcases all the state has to offer with their Taste Utah Collection. These chocolate bars feature ingredients from Utah flora and fauna from iconic natural locations throughout the state and are aptly named after the vista that inspired the flavors, including Bridal Veil Falls, Alpine Loop and Rowley’s Red Barn. While sampling this collection, customers can gaze up at Mt. Timpanogos and taste the wildflowers that grow in the mountain’s valleys in the crunch of honeycomb hidden in the chocolate. 

Taste’s chocolate had a particularly, er, sweet origin, when founders Morgan and Char Coleman met on a blind date. Led by a mutual passion for chocolate, but with little experience in the industry, the energetic and entrepreneurial Utah natives launched into the world of chocolate making at full steam ahead, and they haven’t stopped since. The two hired their first shop employee, Grant Fry, and worked alongside him for seven years as they honed their craft, eventually making Fry a partner in the company as he became head chocolate maker of the Taste team.

 

Amano

Orem

Art Pollard has always had a sweet tooth. And he also has a knack for science. Planning to design nuclear reactors since he was a child, Pollard was studying physics at Brigham Young University when he snacked on a German chocolate bar that changed the trajectory of his life. He abandoned his pursuit of a career in nuclear energy and, instead, employed his beakers and scales for chocolate making. Pollard began manufacturing chocolate from a scientific approach with determination to create the best possible bar that became the foundation of his business.

Pollard’s customers know exactly what they’re getting when they taste one of Amano’s bars. And that’s because, when choosing cacao beans, Pollard heads right to the source, personally visiting many of the farms he buys from in Venezuela, the Dominican Republic and Ecuador. He’s even returned to hand deliver Amano chocolate bars to the farmers. 

When it comes to taste, Amano’s flavors are built off the simplicity of their “unflavored” bars – but don’t confuse simple with bland. Fine-tuned techniques bring out the natural flavors of the bean that made them the first American company to win a Gold Award at the Academy of Chocolate Awards. In addition to the unflavored bars, Amano rose to the demand of Utah chocolate lovers by creating an array of flavored bars, including their two most popular taste profiles: Raspberry Rose and Black Pepper Cardamom.  

At its core, Amano is a family business, and they just may be the first Utah chocolate dynasty. Art Pollard’s passion for the craft is something he shared with his son, Aaron, who he is training to take over the business.

 

The Chocolate Geographer

St. George

To Ashley Shelton, chocolate is all about location. With a degree in geography and a passion for chocolate, she became interested in how the region where a cocoa bean is from, and where it is processed into chocolate, can influence its taste. So, in March of 2023 she began curating tastings in downtown St. George that featured chocolate from all over the world. 

Like a wine or cheese tasting, or even a flight of beer, Shelton’s tastings feature eight courses of chocolate. When booking, she advises her guests to come hungry enough to eat a whole chocolate bar and to avoid wearing scented perfumes so that they can more fully experience the aroma of the chocolate. At the tastings, The Chocolate Geographer first guides her guests through a brief background on what it takes to make craft chocolate. For Utah connoisseurs, it’s a intimate way to learn about bean-to-bar techniques. And then it’s all about the chocolate – for an hour, enthusiasts taste eight craft chocolates from eight countries. 

Shelton hopes her tasting guests will take what they’ve learned to further their relationship with the craft. But with her constantly rotating inventory, she’s also hoping they’ll be back for more.