How sweet it is

Wherever Courtney Pigford travels, her question is always the same: “Where’s the good chocolate?”

Pigford, who is in the process of getting certified as a master chocolate taster, is the mastermind behind Honeycreeper Chocolate, Birmingham’s only craft chocolate pop-up shop. Honeycreeper Chocolate purchases a variety of high-quality bars and truffles, all made from sustainable cacao bean farmers and small-batch craft chocolate makers, and then brings them to the Birmingham area. 

For a while now, she’s been “that lady that has three bars of chocolate in her purse” — which gets to be a real problem in the summer, she added.

“On travels, I’d have to find the good chocolate, the real chocolate — not the candy,” she said.  “People used to just expect gas station chocolate, or a Lindt bar from the grocery store. Now, there is so much more available in terms of flavor and variety.”

A couple of years back, Pigford asked herself if she could do anything, what would she do? The answer came instantly: sell chocolate.

“Birmingham needed some fine chocolate,” she said, deciding it was time to transport the craft chocolate scene to Birmingham.

The weekend before Valentine’s Day, Pigford hosted her first Honeycreeper pop-up shop at Circa Interiors & Antiques, selling chocolate ordered from all over the world. Since then, she’s successfully hosted several pop-up shops at locations including Winslet & Rhys, Elle Birmingham, dinner. and Woodlawn Cycle Café.

“It’s fun to bring in something and introduce something new,” she said.  “At the same time, there’s a challenge in that people don’t know what they are getting and eating. There’s a large educational component.”

Pigford began years ago by researching chocolate and how it’s made, as well as training her palate in craft chocolate tasting. She traveled to Seattle for the past two years to attend The Northwest Chocolate Festival, which is among the top shows in the world for artisan chocolate.

“[Craft chocolate] is not a huge industry, so when you meet people, you have these amazing discussions,” she said. “It’s seriously about relationships; I know many of those makers now.”

When she started ordering chocolate for Honeycreeper, she called up several of the small-batch makers she met and ordered their chocolate. In order to ship the chocolate, they usually wrap it in ice packs and send it overnight so that it doesn’t melt. 

Bean-to-bar, which is a movement Honeycreeper Chocolate supports and represents, refers to using limited ingredients, just cacao and sugar — “no weird added ingredients” — and sourcing the beans from a local farmer and processing them cleanly all the way to the finished product. With this, Pigford said farmers and makers are paid fairly for their high-quality beans and specialized equipment needed to make the chocolate.

“This is where the sustainability of the product comes in,” she said.

Though this generally leads to a pricier product, Pigford said the variety and sweet intensity of the taste is worth it. The origin of the bean, the way the beans themselves were grown and the maker’s process all greatly affect the flavor and make the tasting a visceral and delicious experience.

For her, opening this business is about bringing the chocolate to locals while at the same time explaining the process and educating people how bean-to-bar chocolate works. Craft chocolate taste is wholly unlike the “industrial chocolate and candy,” she said, that’s commonly commercially sold. As a bonus, the packaging is just as carefully made and visually compelling.

Pigford said she’s been chocolate-obsessed her whole life, so the prospect of what Honeycreeper will become in the future excites her. She plans to let Honeycreeper grow organically over time, with an end goal of a brick-and-mortar storefront — but not anytime soon. For now, the pop-up shop fits her needs, and she will continue testing out stores and finding opportunities to host her pop-up shop. 

“Chocolate has a way of making friends,” she said. 

After attending chocolate tastings over the years and hosting some for her friends, she hopes to host tastings for Birmingham groups and locals as part of Honeycreeper. She also is looking at pairing her chocolate with beer since Birmingham has no shortage of breweries.

On eating craft chocolate, she advises people not to bite it, just to let it melt in the mouth. This way, she said it lasts longer, and you feel more satisfied. 

When it comes to whether to buy a craft bar or a truffle, though, she said it’s “a toss-up.” 

“Truffles are great when you just want a treat and moment of indulgence, but the great thing about a bar is that you can keep it in your purse, break off a small piece and let it melt in your mouth any time of the day,” she said.

To learn more about where the Honeycreeper Chocolate pop-up shop is headed or about placing a pre-order for chocolate, go to honeycreeperchocolate.com or visit its Facebook page, Honeycreeper Chocolate.