FROM THE SEED THAT GROWS THE CACAO TREE TO THE BAR IN YOUR HAND
We are happy to offer seed-to-bar chocolate! Carters’ Chocolate is not just Bean to Bar, but Seed to Bar. Pretty much all other chocolate companies buy cacao beans and turn the beans into chocolate. For us, the unique story is that the chocolate bars are with us all the way back to the seed planted to grow the cacao tree in the first place. Therefore, we follow it the journey from the first germination of the seed, to the little seedling, the growth of the tree, the growth of the cacao pods, then what is usually called cacao beans is taken and made into smooth, delicious chocolate!
Our chocolate is organically raised and part of a regenerative system of tropical hardwoods in Guatemala. Other locally-sourced cacao is raised by the Mayan Q’ekchi communities as part of an effort to improve the soil and productivity of steeply sloping hillsides, working with the contour lines of the landscape. Those who buy Carters’ Chocolate are helping the health of indigenous communities and their land. Carters’ offers chocolate you can trust, from seed to bar.
Find 60% dark chocolate bars now at the Red Barn in Park Rapids, MN!
WE ARE NOW ACCEPTING ORDERS ON CARTERS’ CHOCOLATE: 60% and 70% cacao bars available! 
Only three ingredients – cacao, cocoa butter, and cane sugar. $7/bar with shipping and handling. To order Carters’ Chocolate to your home (10-bar minimum), please email us @ cartersfarmpr@gmail.com to inquire 
(Note: even though we insulate the packaging, chocolate is liable to melting when handled and shipped over various climates and seasons, so we highly suggest choosing expedited shipping).
What is ‘Seed to Bar?’
The Process:
Frutas del Mundo, owned by Dwight Carter of Park Rapids, has devoted a good share to nursery production of many tropical fruit tree species. One of the more important of these, both for the volume and for the social impact in the communities that plant the trees, is cacao. Since it is a plant nursery, they start with seeds selected from the heartiest of cacao plants, and seed them in sand germination boxes, and then transplant them into bags to be grown out to become rootstock for grafting. To procure the budwood that is needed for grafting, a clonal garden is maintained of the best varieties of cacao. It is from this garden that a good share of the cacao pods are used to make the chocolate. Once the pods are ripe, they are gathered and cracked open to take out the ‘baba’, the juicy fruit and seeds. The baba is placed in wooden vats that are lined with banana leaves and a 5-7 day fermentation process takes place. This requires great care and experience to be done properly. When the cacao has been properly fermented it can be carefully dried in the sun. This requires special wooden drying racks and coverings. At 5-7% moisture we finally have what is traditionally referred to as “cacao beans”. It is from these that what has been called ‘bean to bar’ chocolate is made.
It is especially satisfying to be able to watch cacao from before it has sprouted to the
time it becomes a tasty chocolate.
At Carters’, we’ve always known how important it is to know where food comes from and how it comes to us, and we cherish every opportunity we can to cultivate that closeness between the soil where the seed is sown, the farmer that harvests the fruit, and the friends who enjoy the harvest together.
Watch for opportunities to taste this chocolate, and to learn more about how it is grown and made. Currently, we offer chocolate at the Walker and Park Rapids Farmers’ Market in the summer. If you’re business is interested in offering Carters’ Chocolate, please contact us @cartersfarmpr@gmail.com.
Dwight Carter, who also stewards the Carter farm in Park Rapids, Minnesota, has owned a fruit farm and nursery in Guatemala for over thirty years.
A Family Farm in Minnesota's Heartland 