Standout Chocolate from Sweden at the Candy Manufactory
Bean-to-bar chocolate that does good and tastes good
Earlier this year, Tasting Table declared that “Swedish candies are all the rage.” If you’re ready to pick up what they’re putting down, the Candy Manufactory has a great selection of Swedish gummies!
Still, Sweden might not be the first place to come to mind if I were trying to imagine an excellent new chocolate offering at the Candy Store. And yet that’s exactly where these terrific new arrivals hail from. The name of the company is appropriate—the chocolate bars from Standout are indeed outstanding. As they describe their work,
We always look for growers who share our passion for fine cacao and take pride in their work. We buy cacao beans of high quality, since we wish to preserve every origin’s individual taste profile as much as possible when making the chocolate. Therefore, we slow-roast at low temperatures to develop each origin in its own unique way. A good roast will develop the complexity of flavors while keeping them in balance, giving a long and clean aftertaste.
Standout is located in the midsize Swedish town of Mölndal, over on the western side of the country. Möln is a shortened version of möllor, an old Swedish word for “mill,” which is especially appropriate for the work that Standout does to grind cacao beans. Dal means “valley,” so the town would be “Mill Valley” in English. The area has a strong concentration of high-tech and biotech companies, which I would imagine has given Standout a nice, steady clientele for its high-quality chocolates. They offer tours, too, so if you happen to find yourself in the vicinity, you can write to them through their website.
The values of the company—like those of, say, Shawn Askinosie of Askinosie Chocolate or our friends at French Broad Chocolate (which we use in those delicious Chocolate Croissants), et cetera—are very aligned with our own. The folks at Standout want to make a positive difference ecologically and in the lives of growers. All their cacao and cane sugar are organic—those are the only two ingredients they use—and their packaging is designed with environmental benefits in mind. As they say,
We believe in making chocolate that is as true to its origin as possible. The variety, growth environment, and post-harvest process each play an important role in developing the unique taste profile of each origin.
Right now, we have three Standout offerings. The back label on each bar offers a wealth of detail on the growing of the beans and how they were roasted and dried. All three are—yes—standouts!
Maya Mountain Belize 85%. Award-winning cacao beans from Maya Mountain in Belize. The chocolate has lovely notes of cranberry, wild strawberry, and citrus. It’s fruity, with some really fine tannins and a lovely dry finish, and pairs beautifully with a bit of the Bakehouse’s French Baguette.
Semuliki Forest Uganda 70%. The cacao used in this bar is produced by approximately 2,500 farmers in the lush forests of Western Uganda. The chocolate has a gently fruity flavor, with notes of orange, ripe peach, apricot, and butter-browned banana.
Dark Milk Sambirano Madagascar 60%. The cacao used here is grown in the Sambirano Valley on the central-western side of the island. (For what it’s worth, David Graeber—anarchist, anthropologist, and author of an array of great books, including the co-authored The Dawn of Everything—did his graduate fieldwork in the valley, writing extensively about the nonhierarchical traditions of its Indigenous people and the prominent role that ghosts and ancestors play in their world.) The cacao comes from the family estate of Bertil Åkesson—a very famous figure in the chocolate world—and the finished chocolate is fruity, creamy, and compellingly caramelly.
