The coolest thing about Mast Brother's is their basic approach to chocolate making. Unlike chocolate giants like Hershey's, Mast Brothers is committed to using ONLY natural cocao beans and sugar in their recipes. The reason? Many of the artificial additives that other manufacturers use tend to "mask" the true flavors of chocolate in the end product. Thus, Mast Brother's has cacao bean sources from all over the world which each feature a distinct taste. We tried chocolates from Madagascar, the Dominican Republic, and Papua New Guinea. Some were citrus-y, others were smokey, and still others had a floral flavor. It was truly amazing to taste how different chocolate can be based on its source!
Prior to the tasting session (obviously the best part of the tour), we were able to see every aspect of the chocolate making process: from bean selection, to bean "husking," to grinding and melting, to adding sugar, to pouring liquid chocolate into molds ready for chilling, and finally to packaging and labeling.
In a word, the tour was sweet. The Lab Stream highly recommends this place to anyone looking for a fun and delicious way to spend a weekend afternoon.
Thanks to Broomie Rob Huebner for the amazing photos below:
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