From Mexico to Tribeca, Bean-To-Bar Chocolate with a Sense of History
The Deligram is an ode to the artisanal food makers of New York. The last issue featured Carla Finley of Apt. 2 Bread, who bakes bread and sweet rolls out of her Clinton Hill apartment. This week, we spoke with Casa Bosques Chocolate founder Rafael Prieto, who makes remarkable bean-to-bar chocolate both in Tribeca and Mexico City. Prieto is a true multi-hyphenate–he owns Savvy Studio, a branding and design agency; Casa Bosques, an art bookshop in Mexico City; and Casa Bosques Pension, an inn–and he applies his sense of artistry to his chocolate, re-thinking traditional flavor combinations, shapes, and packaging to turn chocolate making into a creative practice and collaboration.
The Product: Inventive, bean-to-bar chocolate that masterfully combines unexpected flavors and artful designs with a sense of history.
The Deli Pick: The Tahini & Preserved Lemon bar (back in stock next week) and the CB x Harold Ancart Malt collection.
How To Buy: Order online at casabosques.co or in person at select stockists.
Price: $13-$25 per bar.
As a child, chocolate was literally my best pleasure. So I just became more and more curious about it until I learned more about cacao, its history in Mexico, how it evolved in Europe, and about single origin. I think I started Casa Bosques in 2011. At the time I was working with a chocolatier, but after 2016 I said, I think we should do our own thing, we'll build it up here in Mexico City first. And then Casa Bosques opened.
In 2018, I was looking for these very specific heirloom beans that I tasted in the past that I got into when I was working with chef Elena Reygadas in Mexico. We were making a collaboration together, and she found these guys, this ranch in Chiapas, Mexico. They have a very small farm and production so they basically had to give us the contract for all of the beans. At the beginning they were scared that they would have to sell every bean to one person, but after I spent a weekend with them, we came to a great agreement. They were excited about Casa Bosques, and I was interested in being able to control everything from the very beginning, especially fermentation, to get the right flavors and notes early in the process.
After 2020, I decided to create this special collection that I called Casa Bosques Laboratorio that I started to do from my studio here [in NYC], when I started to play with different molds and different things because I'm a designer as well. I started to mold different pieces that were like parts of stories that I was telling, and from there I started to create different flavors, get more experimental. I tried to keep the packaging as democratic as I can, because I don't want [the chocolate] to be boxed like a luxurious element that people think is not [to be enjoyed]. So, I'm saving costs, and the packaging makes is more approachable.
At the studio I usually host people that are curious, like friends or artists and I'm just like "Tell me your dream, what do you do, and how can we do it?" With Megumi Arai who is a textile artist, we bounced [ideas] back and forth. And then with [chef DeVonn Francis], we met once and he told me he was curious [about collaborating]. There was a foundation looking for someone to create a project for fundraising, so we decided to do it together. So [collaborators] come to the studio, then they go and get the ingredients. It could be a week or it could be after three months of traveling, but they show back up, and we just make chocolates together with their ingredients. We see what works, and then also translate that into the packaging or the mold.
I want this conversation to evolve and grow. Now being in New York, I would love eventually to have a space in the future, a little shop where people can enjoy it face-to-face. Not only for people that follow the account on Instagram, but people beyond social media, and be in a space where an open dialogue can happen with me or with people that I'm working with. Where they can understand a little bit more about how the chocolate is being made, where they can in a way feel closer to it.
I would also like to explore [distribution] outside of New York. We are in a couple of places in Europe, but I would like to expand further into that market as well. I just want to keep being able to work with the flavors, have a closer dialogue with people, and then expand these creative collaborations with artists, different elements. But it's still small. So, of course growth is something that I am looking for, but things take time. And we still need time to master what we do in this area of the Laboratorio.
Greatest hit: Sea salt is always selling, and pink peppercorn.
Most underrated product: A chocolate made with neri goma, a Japanese gold sesame seed paste. I'd compare the taste sort of between tahini and peanut butter. It also has some Japanese sesame oil, so it has some smokiness. It's amazing, and people don't really know what this ingredient is, so they don't really order it as much but I wouldn't remove it from my collection.
How to best enjoy your products: Chocolate is always in great company with other elements. I love it with wine, depending on which one it is. Some are better with wine, but the sea salt is great with beer, especially with lager. Sea salt also tastes really good with mezcal. The cardamom one pairs well with whiskey, it just creates this great aroma. Cardamom and coffee together is amazing!
Favorite restaurants to eat in NY: Lately I really like Gem Wine, [Gem’s] new wine bar. I also like Lodi by my friend Ignacio [Mattos]; it's new so before it opened I was going to his cafe Altro Paradiso. I really like Russ & Daughters – we actually just made a chocolate together, which should be released next Monday. I love Le French Diner on Orchard St. There's also this place uptown called Café Sabarsky at the Neue Galerie. It's an Austrian restaurant that I like, very beautiful. And American Bar!
