How to Consume a Square of a 'Ridgewood Chocolate Bar'
Step by step to Stomach troubles and regularity.
We suggest that you consume one square, which is 1 gram 1/4" rectangle before or after each meal.
1. Break the top row of four pieces horizontally, then break off one of the squares vertically.
2. Sit in a quiet place without distractions. Place the square on the roof of your mouth, hold your tongue on it, do not introduce saliva, and let the chocolate melt. Within 20 seconds your stomach will have a new feeling of fullness from the cocoa butter,
The bitterness receptors in your stomach receive the bitters from the theobromine (the brown stuff) of the chocolate.
The bitterness causes the stomach to create serotonin, then motility happens (moves out the last meal) in preparation for a new meal. Your stomach then sends a signal to the brain telling it: "I'm feeling good."
3. Your brain creates serotonin and releases dopamine, which cascades through your body, thus reinforcing to you consciously: the stomach-brain Nexus.
At Ridgewood, we do something no other chocolate maker does:
We remove the shell from every cocoa bean by hand.
Not because it’s nostalgic.
Not because it’s artisanal.
But because it’s the only way to create chocolate in its purest form.
Mechanical winnowing--the industry standard--cracks the bean and blows away the shell. Even the best machines leave behind shell fragments that carry bitterness, ash, and heavy metals.
They also fracture the nib, releasing aromatics before the chocolate‑making process even begins.
Hand‑shelling preserves the nib whole and intact. Nothing is lost. Nothing is compromised. The result is a chocolate that is:
- chemically cleaner
- aromatically richer
- texturally smoother
- and truer to the cocoa bean’s natural profile
This is process‑pure chocolate--a new category defined not by origin or percentage, but by the integrity of the process itself.
We don’t do this because it’s easy.
We do it because it’s true.