This Family Is Decolonizing Chocolate in The Bronx, From Bean to Bar

The Deli is an ode to the artisanal food makers of New York. Two weeks ago, we introduced Cochonneries’ artisanal meats by Marcelo Argueta. This week, we spoke to chocolate maker Daniel Maloney, who, along with his brothers Dominic and Nicholas, founded Sol Cacao, a specialty chocolate brand in the Bronx.

The Product: Bean-to-bar, single origin dark chocolate.
The Deli Pick: Colombia 70% Chocolate.
How To Buy: Online orders ship domestically. Email info@solcacao.com to coordinate international shipping. $7 per bar.

Our great grandparents were cacao farmers in the Caribbean. Our family left Trinidad for Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn, when my brothers and I were little. Having grown up around animals, nature, and Caribbean culture, we knew we wanted to own a family farm. We planned to go to college for four years, graduate, save up money, buy a farm, grow the crops, and then make chocolate. That plan got spun around. We decided to learn how to make chocolate first, and ultimately work backwards to kind of finish something that our great grandparents started. 

We discovered that Trinidad actually produces the highest quality cacao in the world, but the average age of cacao farmers in the Caribbean is 60 years old. There's a chance we'll never be able to taste some of the incredible flavors that are unique to Caribbean cacao beans. So we realized we had an opportunity and mission to tell a story that wasn't being told. And I'll say it like it is: we are pretty much the only Black people making chocolate in America. I think it's only five of us in the world.

In the future, we hope to get more exposure, develop our wholesale arm, and collaborate with pastry chefs around the country. We also hope to rewrite the narrative that the Bronx is burning by redefining a Bronx experience. We used to produce in Harlem but wanted to put down our roots here because it is a place where the people look like us. Many share similar stories to us, immigrants trying to make something out of themselves. It is extremely diverse and the majority of the people who live here are from Latin America, Africa, or the Caribbean, which are home to growing cacao. Aiming to show how much craft this borough got, we want to create a market and dessert bar where people can drink some wine and have some chocolate, while allowing ourselves the opportunity to create more products like cookies and truffles.

Finally, the five-year plan is to get a cacao estate in Trinidad. We want to be experiential and offer a cacao tour if you visit the island, to be known as the reference for Caribbean cacao, and to be a part of preserving that small industry. I think that will complete the story of going back to our roots and making chocolate from the place that was once farmed by our great grandparents, who weren’t able to make chocolate themselves.

Greatest hit: 70% Ecuador Chocolate.

Most underrated product: 72% Madagascar Chocolate.

Tip to best enjoy your products: Store the chocolate at room temperature (never in the refrigerator). And try making Caribbean cocoa tea with grated chocolate, bay leaf, and cinnamon in hot water or milk.

Favorite place to eat in NY: Mottley Kitchen in the Bronx and Miss Ada in Fort Greene. A&A Bake Doubles and Roti in Bed-Stuy is a Trinidadian spots around that we grew up eating as a kid. 

Food makers to follow: My college friend’s Graziella Coffee, our neighbors at the Bronx Brewery, which is such a cool spot on weekends, and the Harlem Chocolate Factory, a chocolatier who started shortly after us. It has been fun following each other throughout the process of growing our businesses.