Mike Orlando, founder of Twenty-Four Blackbirds in Santa Barbara, CA, talks about the brand’s bean-to-bar chocolates with Candy Industry Senior Editor Liz Parker.
Twenty-Four Blackbirds Chocolates is inspired by traditional chocolate-making techniques, and it endeavors to make artisanal confections that are handcrafted. The brand sources raw, unroasted cocoa beans from single origin estates, growing co-ops, and plantations, and then hand-sorts to remove any beans that are flawed or otherwise do not meet its strict standards of quality.