Craft chocolate makers in the U.S. are sort of where the craft beer industry was 25 years ago. There were only about 200 craft chocolatiers in the U.S. when Jonas (German pronunciation: "Yonas") Ketterle launched Firefly Chocolate in 2014. Now these small businesses number in the thousands.

Firefly's product is 100% cacao and is marketed as Ceremonial Cacao. The cacao is processed in small batches at their small operation in Windsor, California. Much of the machinery was designed, built, and/or hacked by Jonas, a mechanical engineer..

The cacao is roasted, winnowed, ground, and conched to Jonas' exacting standards -- we're talking micron-level precision -- for utterly smooth, delicious discs that melt into a transformative drinking experience.

What makes Firefly Chocolate truly disruptive is their wholistic approach to the mesh of a capitalist enterprise with deep-seated values of respect for nature and our human connection -- physical and spiritual -- with the ecosystems that feed us. As Jonas puts it, business to him is like his training as an engineer -- it provides a toolset to create thriving relationships.

Firefly cacao is sourced from small farmers who practice permaculture to raise cacao plants in Belize, Guatemala, and Tanzania. One of the challenges presented by Firefly's business model is maintaining connection with hundreds of these farmers, and working with them to sustainably produce and ferment superior cacao beans. Firefly producers earn far better returns even than those provided by Fair Trade contracts.

It is this cycle of respect for the ecosystems in which cacao naturally grows, connection with the humans whose lives revolve around cacao cultivation, and respect for the cacao plant itself that makes Firefly a disruptive entrant into the chocolate sector of American food ways. Firefly's 100% cacao is a product utterly different from the commodified, plantation-grown, adulterated, highly processed sugary candy that most Americans think of as chocolate.

The cycle of connectedness represented by Firefly's sourcing and processing (they are pushing the sustainability envelope on packaging and distribution, too) extends to and through consumers of their cacao. Jonas regards his product as much more than a delicious, enjoyable food. Firefly cacao epitomizes the concept of food-as-medicine. In this episode of The Food Disruptors, Jonas and I talk about some of the bio-evolutionary possibilities that make cacao such a good food for humans. We talk about the anthropological role of cacao in Central American civilizations. And Jonas speaks knowledgeably about the chemical properties of cacao that profoundly affect our neurochemistry and gut biome.

Check out Firefly's informative website.

For more info, check out this article from Chocolate Connoisseur magazine.