Artisan chocolate maker NearyNogs has developed a gluten free bean to bar product.

The small business, which is based in Northern Ireland, has recently added the new stone ground chocolate bar to an existing portfolio of over 30 handmade soft chocolates with unusual flavours such as lemon and green tea, toasted walnut, mojito macha, almond nut buttercup and cardamom and clove.
A chocolate filled with Armagh bramley apple, which has EU protected name status, has also been developed.

The new bar has been created by the company, which is based at Newry in county Down, to offer "something quite different from other handmade chocolates currently on the market," according to Shane Neary, one of the company founders.

"We are certainly the first bean to bar chocolate producer in Northern Ireland and, we believe, only the second in Ireland. It gives us a distinct marketing edge," he adds.

The company imports small batches of beans from Ecuador for roasting, shelling, cracking and winnowing to produce cocoa nibs. "We then grind the nibs by hand to create a paste for use in producing the 100g bars with a cocoa content around 70 per cent," he adds.

Shane and his wife Dorothy originally began making chocolate to raise funds to enable a daughter to undertake charity work in India in 2010. The recipe for the soft chocolate came from Mrs Nearys American grandmother.

"The chocolates proved so popular that we decided to start producing on a part time basis and have since moved on to full time. People kept coming back asking if they could buy more and before we knew it we were being asked to develop wedding favours and to take craft fairs and markets," he adds.
The unusual company name cane from Mr Nearys father, Jonnie, a writer of childrens stories about the NearyNogs. A key aim for the couple is to use the unique bean to bar chocolate to increase business with high-end retailers in particular in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.

“We’d also like to break into Great Britain in the short-term,” he says. “We believe that we have very different products that would appeal to chocolate lovers everywher. We’ve also taken steps to increase volumes while still maintaining their essential artisan handcrafted nature and ethos of the business.”