Bean-to-Bar Chocolate Made in North Carolina
At Longleaf Pine Chocolate we believe chocolate should be experienced and savored. We treat each batch of chocolate as its own artistic creation, whether it is bold dark, classic milk, or a botanical, fruit or spiced chocolate infusion.
We are a small batch, craft chocolate company that is focused on quality over quantity. Follow our Instagram so that we can notify you when we release new batches of chocolate, and inquire below at our email to purchase.
We also produce custom orders for company events, galas, receptions, weddings, and other functions. Email us at hello@longleafpinechocolate.com if you are interested in a custom order.
Site Under Construction
Our Chocolate
Our bean-to-bar chocolate is crafted with great attention to detail and care in the North Carolina sandhills. Below are samples of our chocolate bars. We are always exploring new formulations and inclusions so please check back with us to see what new options we have been crafting. All of our chocolate is made with a focus on simplicity, purity and quality.
Blood Orange Dark Chocolate
All of the flavor of our 70% Peruvian Nacional dark chocolate with just the right added hint of blood oranges. A match made in heaven! The snap of the blood orange hits not all at once but in small waves as the chocolate melts in your mouth. It is the first fruit inclusion chocolate we made because it is such an enticing combination. Enjoy!
Fruity
Balanced
Nutty
White Chocolate
Our white chocolate is made with only cacao butter, organic sugar and dry whole milk powder. If you like the gentle sweetness of a white chocolate this bar delivers for you! We melange the ingredients for an extended time to obtain an exceptionally smooth profile that melts away in your mouth. We are currently refining a new white chocolate with fruit inclusions - so be on the lookout for that flavor shortly!
Smooth
Sweet
Creamy
70% Dark Peruvian Nacional
Our 70% PeruvianNacional dark chocolate is a customer favorite. This chocolate is made with only three ingredients (the cacao bean, cacao butter, and organic sugar), so you can experience the cacao bean in its fullest. The chocolate is delightfully aromatic with a rich and smooth flavor. In our blind taste tests it is consistently rated high for its balance and long, clean finish. Its nuanced tones delivers nuttiness with a balanced bitterness present in premier dark chocolates.
Nutty
Balanced
Rich
Peruvian Milk Chocolate
We utilize a Peruvian Nacional cacao bean as the base for this milk chocolate. To keep it pure and simple, we add whole milk powder to only three other ingredients (cacao beans, cacao butter, and organic sugar). It is considered a traditional milk chocolate with 30% milk powder. The result is a chocolate that you will want to eat slowly and savor, appreciating the simplicity and pureness of the milk chocolate blend.
Smooth
Creamy
Rich
60% Ecuadorian Dark
Our 60% Ecuadorian Arriba dark chocolate is one of our personal favorite chocolates. The cacao bean has slightly less edge to it than other cacao beans and the 60% blend makes it a touch sweeter than our 70% chocolates. Like our other dark chocolates, this chocolate is made with only three ingredients (the cacao bean, cacao butter, and organic sugar), so you can experience the cacao bean in its fullest. Our customers consistently rank this as one of their favorite Longleaf Pine Chocolate blends.
Smooth
Slightly Bitter
Balanced
How to Order
Thank you for your interest in Longleaf Pine Chocolate! We currently have two ways for you to purchase our chocolate. We will be automating our on-line ordering in the near-future but are currently only doing manual ordering. As a small-batch chocolate company we want to make sure we have the inventory to fulfill your order.
Personal Orders
Email us at hello@longleafpinechocolate.com and let us know about your order interests. Please include any information you have about the order including chocolate bar selection, quantity, bar size, and timeline. We will reply to your inquiry as soon as possible. If you would like to discuss specifics of your order include your telephone number so that we can contact you.
Subscription
Peruse the "Our Chocolate" section and send us your desired selections and quantity at hello@longleafpinechocolate.com and we will contact you for your shipping address and payment information. Our chocolate is sent out monthly. Monthly subscriptions receive a 15% discount. You can cancel your subscription at any time after the first three months by emailing us.
How We Craft Our Chocolate
Our chocolate ingredient philosophy is “less is more”. We want you to experience the nuance of the cacao beans and other natural ingredients and not fillers or additives. In our dark chocolate we limit our ingredients to fair-trade cacao beans, cacao butter and organic sugar. No emulsifiers, no fillers, no additives, no unnatural ingredients. So what you taste is the unique, natural essence of the cacao bean. For our milk chocolate we add dry whole milk powder. In our specialty and seasonal bars we blend in “inclusions” such as natural nuts and fruits.
Ingredients
Roasting
The composition and flavor profile of a cacao bean can change from year to year based on variations in each year’s crop conditions. We roast small batches of cacao beans to determine the optimal roast profile of a particular cacao bean before we roast larger batches to produce our chocolate. It is an iterative process, and takes time, but it is the best way to determine the roast profile that will produce the most stimulating, flavorful and rewarding chocolate.
Cracking
& Winnowing
After the cacao beans have been meticulously roasted we "crack" the beans to separate the cacao bean from the cacao bean shell. We then winnow the resulting cacao nibs from the cacao bean shell to prepare the cacao nibs to be refined into chocolate liquor. It is important to ensure the shells have been successfully winnowed or the viscosity and taste profile of the resulting chocolate will be impacted.
Refining
& Conching
Refining and conching are about achieving optimal texture and taste. We transform the cacao nibs into chocolate liquor through a time intensive refining and conching process that grinds the cacao nibs into chocolate liquor. We utilize granite stone grinders to complete the refining with the process typically taking between 24 to 48 hours. We monitor the process to ensure the chocolate liquor has been refined down to the desired micron level, which is anywhere from <20 microns for our smoothest chocolate to a >20 microns for our “rustic” chocolate. We then conch, or agitate and aerate, the chocolate liquor to optimize cocoa butter distribution consistency and adjust its acidic profile.
Tempering
Tempering chocolate is art and science. When you limit your chocolate ingredients, like we do, it becomes more difficult to obtain the level five crystal structure that results in chocolate with that perfect “snap”. We adjust our tempering process to account for the specific cacoa beans we are utilizing, the composition of the specific chocolate we are crafting, as well as humidity levels and ambient temperature.
About Us
