ChocoSol Traders

Boutique on St. Clair
1131 St. Clair Ave., Toronto, ON
St. Lawrence Market Boutique
93 Front St. E., Unit 22B, Lower Level, Toronto
416-923-6675
onlinestore@chocosoltraders.com

Stone-Ground Chocolate Rooted in Cacao, Community and Ecology

For ChocoSol Traders, chocolate is as much about agriculture, culture and community as it is about flavour. The Toronto social enterprise produces small-batch, bean-to-bar dark chocolate using cacao sourced through direct relationships with farming communities and a distinctive stone-grinding process.

Its story, however, began thousands of kilometres from Toronto.

Founder Michael Sacco established ChocoSol in Oaxaca, Mexico, in 2004 while researching sustainable food systems. During that period, he learned traditional chocolate-making from a Zapotec grandmother and experimented with simple production methods, including solar roasting and stone grinding. The earliest ChocoSol chocolate was sold in markets in Oaxaca before Sacco brought the project to Toronto in 2006.

Making Chocolate Differently in Toronto

Today, ChocoSol makes its chocolate from raw cacao beans in its Toronto kitchen. The company roasts and winnows the beans before grinding them with volcanic stone wheels rather than conventional industrial steel rollers.

The technique creates a chocolate with a noticeably different texture and flavour profile from highly refined conventional chocolate. It also connects ChocoSol’s Canadian production with chocolate-making traditions that influenced the company’s beginnings in Mexico.

Its collection includes dark chocolate bars, drinking chocolate and cacao-based creations ranging from the popular Vanilla Sea Salt 65% and Darkness 75% to its single-ingredient Gratitude 100% cacao bar.

Direct Relationships with Cacao Communities

Cacao sourcing is central to ChocoSol’s identity.

The company currently sources cacao from farming communities in Oaxaca and Chiapas, Mexico, as well as ecological and social projects in the Dominican Republic, Ecuador and Guatemala. Rather than treating cacao solely as a commodity, ChocoSol emphasizes long-term relationships with growers and co-operatives.

One of its longest-running relationships is in the Lacandona Jungle of Chiapas, where ChocoSol directly purchases cacao from three villages. In Oaxaca’s Chinantla region, the company has also supported forest-garden projects involving Theobroma bicolor, sometimes known as white cacao or pataxtle.

These relationships connect chocolate production with a larger interest in biodiversity, ecological regeneration and resilient food systems.

Chocolate as Food, Not Candy

ChocoSol frequently describes its philosophy with a simple idea: chocolate is food, not candy.

That approach is reflected in short ingredient lists and cacao-forward recipes. Its chocolates are plant-based and its production kitchen is free from dairy, nuts, soy, gluten, eggs and sesame, although some products contain pumpkin seeds.

The company also experiments with ingredients that reflect its connections with Mexico and local food culture. Coffee, vanilla, pumpkin seeds and Theobroma bicolor appear across different bars and drinking chocolates.

Building Community Around Cacao

Education and community participation have remained part of ChocoSol as the business has grown.

Its Cacao Commons at 1131 St. Clair Avenue West hosts chocolate tastings and workshops where visitors can learn about cacao, tour the production kitchen and experience traditional drinking chocolate.

ChocoSol has also maintained a strong connection with farmers’ markets. During 2026, the company has participated in Toronto markets including Evergreen Brick Works, Wychwood Barns, Sorauren and Leslieville, alongside other markets and partner locations in Ontario.

The company now operates a second Toronto boutique in St. Lawrence Market, extending that community-focused approach into one of the city’s best-known food destinations.

Nearly two decades after arriving in Toronto, ChocoSol occupies a distinctive place in Canada’s bean-to-bar community. Its chocolate connects cacao-growing communities, traditional techniques and Canadian craft production while encouraging consumers to think more closely about where chocolate begins.

Visit: ChocoSol Traders