Photo courtesy of Tabal Chocolate
Tabal Chocolate
Simply wrapped chocolate bars stamped “Tabal Chocolate” have been on the shelves of food vendors all over Milwaukee for years now. The company has recently added cannabidiol (CBD) chocolate to its product line.
Operating from his brick-and-mortar store in the historic Wauwatosa Village, Tabal Chocolate’s founder, Dan Bieser, is well known by aficionados as one of the few bean-to-bar chocolate makers in the state. He has direct cacao beans suppliers in Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Colombia, Dominican Republic and Bolivia who harvest the pods, ferment the beans, then dry and ship them to Wisconsin. Tabal Chocolate work directly with the cacao beans to craft their products in-house.
“For us, it all starts with these high-quality beans,” Bieser explains. We sort through them, take out any of the things we don't like, then we roast the beans. The next step is called cracking and winnowing, that means we crack the beans and separate the skins, and what is inside are the cacao nibs. We take the nibs and stone-grind them in our stone grinders for three days continuously. The sugar then gets added to the beans, and that's when it becomes chocolate. We then take it downstairs and temper the chocolate, which means heating and cooling the chocolate to get the sugar and fat crystals to get together. We then put the chocolate into molds and cool it, before finally hand-wrapping every bar. It's ready to eat and put smiles on people's faces.”
The resulting product, a dark chocolate with a unique taste, has been popular enough to keep the Tabal adventure going for eight years. Bieser, a former high school principal, learned how to make chocolate in 2012 and developed is brand in his garage before renting his first commercial kitchen at Amaranth Bakery & Café, where we built up his wholesale business. “Dave and Stephanie [of Amaranth] are so supportive, they are totally about the healthy aspect of what we're doing,” says Bieser, for whom Tabal Chocolate is first and foremost synonymous with healthy eating. “
“We do not consider our chocolate candy, we consider it food,” he continues. “It is packed with nutrients, it is one of the highest-antioxidant food in the world. Our primary focus is healthy chocolate, which is why we're only making dark chocolate ranging from 58% all the way up to 100% dark.”
Health Benefits
Adding CBD to Tabal’s offerings is another step in the trendy, healthy food direction. “The CBD only adds to the health benefits: healthy sleep, healthy relaxation, etc.,” Bieser states. His CBD chocolate bars exist in two forms: 1.2 oz bars and 3 oz bars, with flavors including regular dark chocolate, sea salt and huckleberry chocolate. They are vegan, soy and gluten free. Bieser is thinking of expanding the CBD options with products like CBD-infused chocolate honey. Additionally, Tabal Chocolate hosts “CBD 101” classes, during which their suppliers come to talk about the benefits of cannabidiol.
The CBD extract, which Tabal pours during the tempering phase, is provided by a farmer in Lake Geneva, Wis., and is lab-tested to certify customers of its quality and potency. “The reception of our CBD products was awesome,” Bieser says, “in particular the Huckleberry CBD bar, which is really fun and tastes great on its own and balances out the earthiness flavor of CBD. Not only does the bar taste great, but it's good for you!”
This last point is what sets Tabal Chocolate apart from most CBD foods. Usually, edibles, even non-psychoactive ones such as CBD-infused food, are sold for their effects first; the food item itself because little more than a vehicle for the extract inside, merely an afterthought. Tabal shows that the food surrounding the CBD can be delicious and a draw for customers in its own right.
For more information, visit tabalchocolate.com.
