BOHO Chocolate is a local bean-to-bar chocolate producer in Florence, MA, with a devotion to quality, a flair for innovation, and a commitment to sustainable practices.
The company, helmed by Charles Burke, boasts over a decade of experience and has received more than 25 international awards in the last five years alone. The quality starts with sourcing organic cacao directly from farms and grower co-ops, and follows all the way through to the final hand wrapped product. Every step of this process adds to its sum.
Charles started making chocolate as a hobby, right at his kitchen table. Despite being busy with other projects and occupations, he saw he had something to offer with his farm to table approach. So he got licensed in 2011, opened a 500 square foot shop, and began this endeavor to provide an alternative to the common candy bar.
At the time there were a few trail blazers like Taza Chocolate, also in MA, and Dandelion Chocolate, out in CA.
But the overall bean to bar community was very small, just around 50 producers, and communication between folks was free flowing. The hardest part in these early stages was finding stores willing to carry it, having folks understand what this product was.
The vast majority of commercial chocolate is made from a cocoa bean variety named CCN-51, industry selected for its resistant qualities and high fat yield; the trade-off is a distinct lack of flavor.
What BOHO does is look for heirloom cocoa strains certified by the Heirloom Preservation Project, often working with single sources for specific bars. After harvest, beans are fermented at the farms over six days utilizing stepped tiers. Each day they are turned down onto the next step, before finally being sun dried. These beans take on the qualities of their regions. It matters where each variety is grown and harvested, as different farms have techniques for how they ferment and dry their harvest. These develop palpable qualities in the flavor profile, and that is exactly the sort of lightning worth chasing. The rest of the magic happens back in MA, at the factory.
Once the beans have been packed, shipped from their respective countries, and received in Florence they are stored safely before use in roasting. At roughly 250 degrees, the cook is even and slow. Next it’s into the winnower to have their husks removed and the beans cracked into nibs. A custom cacao winnower was designed to accommodate the needs of the growing business. That design is now one that Diamond Custom Machines creates and sells worldwide. The husks are taken away to be used in gardens and landscaping around the valley, but the nibs are staged for the next process.
Akin to alchemy, these toasty cocoa nibs are transmuted into chocolate through a four to seven day long grinding process. The chocolate is produced as the nibs are ground by granite stones in a device called a melanger. BOHO has run these machines non-stop since starting, and favors longer grind times to preserve the flavors.
Utilizing shearing forces in the grinding process the friction releases the cocoa butter and grinds down the chocolate and sugar particles until everything is below 20 microns, resulting in a smooth texture and silky mouthfeel.
The chocolate is then poured into twenty pound blocks, and left to cure for a number of months.
This mellows and evens out the flavors. Then, on production day, the chocolate is proofed up to temp, and tempered perfectly. Each bar is then poured precisely, within a few grams, by a customized machine. Some of the bars require hand pouring because of their inclusions, such as the chips in their popular potato chip bar, which also boasts their gold-medal winning organic milk chocolate. The bars are then cooled, hand wrapped in foil and labeled. Their “First in, first out” storage ensures freshness of each box and bar as they’re shipped to stores and happy customers.
Before BOHO was fully conceptualized, Charles went on a personal trip to South America. He was captivated by the world of small-scale cacao farming. Upon his return home, he entered the small community of bean to bar chocolate makers.
Through his connections he was able to call upon the resources of TAZA to further assist him with realizing his dream. With their help he was able to explore the “heart of cultivation” as he joined in the process of growing and harvesting this complex crop. Getting his hands dirty, while learning from folks who have done this for generations, is the sort of experience that builds an appreciation for every element that goes into this work. This experience brought him to explore cacao from various regions across the world. In 2020 he participated as a producer in a single source tasting, having multiple different chocolate producers use the same harvest and explore the variables for comparison. Using all beans from Belize, from a specific year, every bar was unique. Proving just how many factors can be brought out.
As Bean to Bar became more well known, word of mouth spread, and things took off quickly. Within a year of opening, BOHO already needed a new home and moved into their 2200 square foot facility on the river in Florence.
His creations have made their way to trade shows and competitions across the world, and many of his chocolates have received medals and awards over the years. The scope of the chocolate industry has brought him through the Netherlands, South America, as the French Embassy in Washington D.C., he also participates annually at the North West Chocolate Festival, which is the largest chocolate festival focusing on artisan and bean-to-bar vendors.
If you’d like to try their array of flavors and offerings we will be having a sale, from Feb 2nd through Feb 16th. We’ll even be hosting a Wine and Chocolate Tasting on Valentine’s Day!
