What's Wholesome?
Forest Confections' founding principle is that good tasting sweets can be wholesome! We emphasize simplicity in our recipes and offer products of exceptional flavor, thoroughly researched provenance and well-considered nutritional value.
To us, wholesome means:
Confections aren't necessary for life, but an occasional confection can add a depth and richness to the living experience. We hope our confections can provide that depth and richness without the artificiality, cholesterol and nutrient emptiness of most commercial confections.
Our Chocolate
We use a variety of chocolate couvertures (the chocolate basic material) in our products. Each confection is produced with a chocolate carefully selected to complement the other flavors. We look for chocolate that offers a unique flavor, is produced ecologically and offers the cacao farmer a fair price. We prefer chocolate that is certified organic and fair trade. However, as the flavor of available (and affordable) organic and fair trade products improves, we do use chocolate that is cooperative grown, chocolate that is sourced from a single region or group of farmers, or chocolate from manufacturers that control the entire bean to bar process. We always know where the beans come from.
Our dark milk chocolate is at least 38% cacao, semisweet chocolate is at least 60% cacao, bittersweet chocolate is at least 70% cacao and bitter chocolate is at least 80% cacao. More cacao means more antioxidants and less sugar!
To us, wholesome means:
- Starting with great tasting chocolate that has a high cacao percentage (see below for details).
- Using minimally processed ingredients and using minimal processing ourselves. For example, we use raw nuts almost exclusively because they are much better for you.
- Using the whole ingredient when possible. For example, our bonbons are filled with the whole fruit (minus the pits, of course), peel and all.
- Knowing who grew our ingredients, and getting ingredients from close by when we can. We know just about everyone who grew the fruit we use.
- Using organic and fairly traded ingredients.
- Considering the nutritional value of every ingredient.
- Having as few ingredients as possible.
- Offering a variety of products that are dairy-free.
Confections aren't necessary for life, but an occasional confection can add a depth and richness to the living experience. We hope our confections can provide that depth and richness without the artificiality, cholesterol and nutrient emptiness of most commercial confections.
Our Chocolate
We use a variety of chocolate couvertures (the chocolate basic material) in our products. Each confection is produced with a chocolate carefully selected to complement the other flavors. We look for chocolate that offers a unique flavor, is produced ecologically and offers the cacao farmer a fair price. We prefer chocolate that is certified organic and fair trade. However, as the flavor of available (and affordable) organic and fair trade products improves, we do use chocolate that is cooperative grown, chocolate that is sourced from a single region or group of farmers, or chocolate from manufacturers that control the entire bean to bar process. We always know where the beans come from.
Our dark milk chocolate is at least 38% cacao, semisweet chocolate is at least 60% cacao, bittersweet chocolate is at least 70% cacao and bitter chocolate is at least 80% cacao. More cacao means more antioxidants and less sugar!
