This year, millions more people turned to the sweet and silky comforts of chocolate. Consumption of chocolate rose by at least 12 percent since March 2020, according to the National Confectioners Association. So pinning down the country’s 50 best chocolatiers was likely a difficult — though delicious — challenge for Food & Wine magazine.
Four Massachusetts spots made the list: Chequesset Chocolate in North Truro, EHChocolatier in Cambridge, Goodnow Farms Chocolate in Sudbury, and Taza Chocolate in Somerville. (No confectioners in Rhode Island, Vermont, New Hampshire, or Maine made the cut.)
Here’s why the chosen chocolatiers are special.
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Chequesset Chocolate (North Truro)
Turns out, Cape Cod offers much more than pretty beaches and scenic views. The peninsula also sells unbeatable single origin bars, candies, and white chocolate, infused with lemon and thyme. Owners Josiah Mayo and Katherine Reed started the business in 2014, joining just a few dozen other American chocolatiers crafting handcrafted bean-to-bar chocolate. Their bars are minimally processed, 70 percent cacao sweetened with organic evaporated cane juice. Flavors on sale include Twenty Boat Buttered Rum, Wellfleet Sea Salt, Frosted Coconut, and a Sconset Brown Butter Sage Bar.
8 Highland Rd, North Truro, www.chequessettchocolate.com/
EHChocolatier (Cambridge)
This women-led spot has “near perfect vegan truffles,” according to Food & Wine. Other EH offerings, like tart cherry bites, raspberry bliss batons, and dipped ginger and apricot, are also safe for dairy-free chocolate lovers. But if veganism is not really your thing, the artisan candy bars, chocolate bonbons, and brown butter toffee will make your mouths water as well. A fun fact: owner Elaine Hsieh started life as a physician, but she prefers talking sweets to diagnosing patients.
145 Huron Ave, Cambridge, www.ehchocolatier.com/
Goodnow Farms Chocolate (Sudbury)
The family-run farm started six years ago, by Emerson College graduate and former TV producer Tom Rogan. Made with freshly pressed cocoa butter, the outfit’s single craft chocolate has collected a number of awards in that short time. (That includes 15 trophies at the 2021 International Chocolate Awards and 12 at the 2020 Academy of Chocolate Awards.) Rogan’s personally sourced beans come from countries as far as Guatemala, Peru, Colombia, Ecuador, and Nicaragua. Food & Wine lauded Goodnow for the “subtle notes of apple cider, maple syrup, and rye whiskey” in its chocolate.
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80 Goodnow Rd, Sudbury, www.goodnowfarms.com/
Taza Chocolate (Somerville)
After apprenticing at a Oaxaca mill more than a decade ago, owner Alex Whitmore brought 100 percent organic, Mexican-style chocolate to Somerville. The chocolatier sells stone-ground dark bars, barks, and discs that are some of the “finest around,” according to Food & Wine. It comes in scrumptious flavors like toffee, almond and sea salt, raspberry crunch, and coconut. There’s even a line of smooth almond milk chocolate bars.
561 Windsor St, Somerville ,www.tazachocolate.com/
Diti Kohli can be reached at diti.kohli@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter at @ditikohli_.
Diti Kohli can be reached at diti.kohli@globe.com.Follow her @ditikohli_.