Goodio Chocolate from Finland

Really good chocolate made from raw cacao in the world’s happiest place

One place that we don’t—yet—take you on a Zingerman’s Food Tour is Finland. I forecast that down the road, there may well be one. About a year ago, BBC Radio reported that “for seven consecutive years, Finland has been named the happiest country in the world, followed closely by its Nordic neighbours Denmark and Iceland.”

While we’re thinking about making our way to Helsinki to try out the terrific local food scene, here’s an easy opportunity to try a really tasty artisan offering. Made in the city of Sisu (the almost mystical Finnish term that is something akin to “inner strength”), Goodio is a craft bean-to-bar chocolate with a really good brand name. Goodio was founded a decade ago by designer Jukka Peltola, who also developed games at Rovio, the company responsible for Angry Birds. After a creative career in technology and entertainment, Peltola came to food through a personal journey for better health. He started by thoughtfully challenging himself to answer the question: “What if there was a food brand you could trust?” Goodio was his answer.

The chocolate line was designed around the principles of sustainability, well-being, and supply chain transparency, with the idea of incorporating Nordic-inspired ingredients and flavors into artisan chocolate bars. All the bars are made with organic raw cacao, which means they’re especially high in antioxidants. They sweeten the bars with raw coconut sugar, which also gives a subtle difference in the flavor profile from the majority of chocolates made with cane sugar.

The Dark Chocolate 71% is my top pick. It’s made with hard-to-find Nacional heirloom cacao from Peru. Highly prized for many years, the already rare Nacional beans suffered tremendously in a blight back in 1916. They were thought to have essentially disappeared until some trees were found growing wild in the jungle. From that small source, the bean has been brought back. It has a creamy, non-astringent flavor.

We also have a Finnish Wild Blueberry Chocolate—in a great way, the blueberries are present in the flavor, but chocolate remains what you taste first. We also have their lovely, lighter caramelized Finnish Rosemary Chocolate, very creamy Coconut Milk Chocolate, and Dark Chocolate with Sea Salt. All are vegan, gluten-free, and very good. Each, in its own Finnish way, is wonderful! Eat some and see if, indeed, a small bit of happiness doesn’t follow.

Available at the Candy Store, inside Zingerman’s Coffee Company, on Plaza Drive!