around the world. Our chocolate, made in Belleville, went to the Caribbean, throughout Canada and the United States, and we even sent a container to Australia.” The allure of Donini chocolate comes from the simplicity of the process and the complexity of its taste. “At most, we use only four ingredients in our chocolate,” revealed Vigilio. “There is cocoa butter, and cocoa liquor (a blend of the cocoa butter and cocoa solids after the bean is ground – not to be confused with chocolate liqueur, which
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and blending it isn’t feasible. We stick with one source, and we felt the West African region was most consistent with our goals and quality standards,” explained Vigilio. “Terroir isn’t just for grapes; what you grow With so few ingredients, their quality is will breathe the character of where it is grown.” paramount. Vigilio travelled the cocoa world, What Vigilio does with the raw materials one taste at a time, sampling in Brazil, Asia, Central American, and chose a mild cocoa adds to the magic. Currently Donini has 14 from West Africa, with cocoa butter from distinct chocolate formulations – the result the Ivory Coast and cocoa liquor from Ghana. of adjusting the percentages of each of the “We’re a small artisan chocolate maker and ingredients – resulting in three qualities of sourcing our cocoa from multiple regions chocolate – white, dark, and milk. The dairy has alcohol. Cocoa liquor is also known as unsweetened baking chocolate), sugar refined onsite, and sometimes we add vanilla and milk.”