Artisan chocolate maker NearyNogs has developed a gluten-free stone ground chocolate bar to add to its collection of soft chocolate products.
The new bean-to-bar chocolate has been created to offer “something quite different from other handmade chocolate currently on the market”, according to the Northern Irish producer. Its introduction extends NearyNogs’ existing range of chocolate flavours, which including lemon and green tea, toasted walnut, mojito macha, almond nut buttercup, and cardamom and clove.
The County Down-based company has also developed a chocolate filled with Armagh bramley apple.
NearyNogs co-founder Shane Neary said: “We are certainly the first bean-to-bar chocolate producer in Northern Ireland and, we believe, only the second in Ireland. It gives us a distinct marketing edge.”
The company imports small batch beans from Ecuador, which its roasts, shells, cracks and winnows to produce cocoa nibs. The artisan producer then grinds the nibs by hand to create a paste for use in producing the 100g bars, which feature a cocoa content of around 70%. All of this happens at the firm’s small production unit close to the country’s border with the Republic of Ireland.
“The chocolates proved so popular that we decided to start producing on a part time basis and have since moved onto full time. People kept coming back asking if they could buy more and before we knew it we were being asked to develop wedding favours and to take craft fairs and markets,” Neary said.
He also revealed that, following investment in increasing its production capacity, NearyNogs had set its sights on the UK market: “We’d also like to break into Great Britain in the short term,” he said.
“We believe that we have very different products that would appeal to chocolate lovers everywhere. We’ve also taken steps to increase volumes while still maintaining their essential artisan handcrafted nature and ethos of the business.”
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