What is "Bean to Bar" chocolate?

Chocolate made by processing cacao beans to a finished chocolate bar is referred to as "bean to bar" chocolate. This involves chocolate makers sourcing cacao beans from farmers and roasting, cracking, winnowing, refining & conching to make chocolate in their factories. This chocolate is then tempered (heating and cooling to form the beta crystal structure, that gives the bar a nice shine & snap) to make a finished product; weather it be a bar or bon bon.

Bean to Bar chocolate brands like Pascati, are referred to as chocolate makers, while chocolatiers on the other hand make their confections from melting "chocolate" itself, meaning the first step in a chocolatier's process starts with chocolate, not the cacao bean.

There are a handful of chocolate makers in India that skilfully turn the humble cacao bean into a crafted chocolate bar. Pascati is India's first certified organic & fairtrade chocolate (more on organic & fairtrade later), making bean to bar chocolate since 2015.