Cacao Prieto may be Red Hook’s sweetest secret. The chocolate factory has been quietly making bonbons for private parties and for the public, via a pop-up shop in DUMBO. While pop-up shop closed at the end of the spring, the Red Hook factory is poised to soon open its doors to the public.
The chocolate-making process starts with organic beans picked from proprietor Daniel Preston’s family-owned plantation in the Dominican Republic. The beans undergo a unique fermentation process after being harvested. Once in New York, the beans get shelled and winnowed down to a nib, before fats and sugars are added.
Damien Badalementi, Cacao Prieto’s head confectioner, says the painstaking process makes for quality chocolate. Badalementi clearly enjoys his work – but don’t mistake him for an Oompa-Loompa. Unlike Roald Dahl’s legendary chocolate factory workers, Badalementi believes chocolate making is serious business.
