Solid Gold

Bay of Plenty, NZ

Solomons Gold Chocolate began 16 years ago when founder Clive Carroll travelled to the Solomon Islands to explore the idea of growing and processing cocoa.

“He came across a group of run-down cocoa plantations,” recalls Sarah Frydman, Carroll’s daughter and the company’s marketing guru, “and with agriculture firmly in his DNA, it ignited a passion in him to bring these plantations back to life.”

Carroll’s vision didn’t stop there. He helped set up programs to support the local community, plus built a chocolate factory in Mount Maunganui, New Zealand, to transform the single-origin beans into dairy, gluten, nut and soy-free rich dark chocolate and cacao.

“We control every step of the chocolate-making journey ourselves,” says Frydman, “from harvesting the cocoa pods, hand-grading the beans through to handcrafting our chocolate. This means we know where all our cacao beans come from and only the very best are selected.”

Click here to read more about Solomons Gold.