The Nib

Child Labor In The Cocoa Industry

Chances are, the cheap candy bar we've all enjoyed from time to time was produced, in part, by children. And it needs to stop. This is an important issue that we should all care about, not just tho...

Introducing Chocolate Covered S'more Bites

Meet Chocolate Covered S’more Bites, the sweet & salty snackiest snack there ever was. Longtime Askinosie fans will recall our S’more Bark-- well, consider this its makeover. We coat bits of gr...

Fourteen Years of Direct Trade And Counting

This month marks our fourteenth & most challenging year of practicing direct trade and sharing profits to source premium cocoa beans from smallholder cocoa farmers across the globe.  

A Product of Change: Tastes Good, Does Good Too.

In our relationships with our origin communities, we believe we can do more beyond paying above-Fair-Trade-market prices for cocoa beans. Most of the communities surrounding the cocoa farms are bri...

Origin Trip #44: Mababu, Tanzania- 2019

This years’ profit share was one of our biggest ever because it was a great year for sales of chocolate made with their beans. We always couple the profit share with tasting chocolate, which Lawren...

Origin Trip #43: Zamora, Amazonia- 2019

Monica, our lead farmer partner in Zamora, Amazonia, holds the single origin chocolate bar (now featuring a 2019 Good Food Award emblem!!) made with her co-op’s beans.

Origin Trip #42: Del Tambo, Ecuador- 2019

This was Shawn’s fourteenth visit with Vitaliano; we’ve been buying outstanding Arriba Nacional cocoa beans to make our Ecuador chocolate bars from his small family farm since 2006!! The morning ...

Origin Trip #41: Davao, Philippines- 2019

This year marks our eleventh anniversary of being the first chocolate makers in the world to export cocoa from the Philippines, and of collaboration with our lead farmer partner, Peter Cruz.  Toge...

ORIGIN TRIP #40: MABABU, TANZANIA- 2018

After 60+ hours of travel, the 2018 Chocolate University Class arrived in Tanzania!! The final leg of the trip included a long bus ride to the remote village to meet our farmer partners and over th...

ORIGIN TRIP #39: ZAMORA, AMAZONIA- 2018

After meeting with Vitaliano, our lead farmer partner in Ecuador, I made the short trip to see our newest farmer partner group in Zamora, Amazonia. Bringing chocolate for two origin trips is a chal...