Askinosie, Bixby, and Fruition Among Chocolate Award Winners at 2026 Good Food Awards

Welcome to our three-part series covering the 2026 Good Food Awards for chocolate. We’ll be getting to all fourteen winners between now and the awards ceremony on June 28th in New York City, with the first 5 bars, the second 5 bars, and then the final 4 bars each getting their own separate coverage. With one technical exception, we’re covering these bars in the same alphabetical order that the Good Food Awards announced them in, just in case you’re curious about the three different segments.

I’m particularly excited about this first round of winners because we get to show some love to Chocolate Connoisseur favorites Askinosie Chocolate, Bixby Chocolate, and Fruition Chocolate Works all together. It’s one incredible lineup here, so without further ado let’s dive in, bar by bar!

BAR #1: Askinosie | 70% Barrel Aged Dark Chocolate Bar

This bar sounds absolutely incredible and brings with it both good news and bad news. First, the good news: this chocolate bar is a work of art. As Askinosie (Springfield, MO) tells it:

“We aged robust Trinitario cocoa nibs (the inside of the bean) for two years (!!) in heavy-char rye whiskey barrels from Blackland Distillery. This process imparts subtle notes of singed oak and malty smoke with underlying tones of balanced whiskey-vanilla-sweetness.”

With my chocolate palate, that initiates Pavlovian mouth-watering just from reading those two sentences, and I’m sure plenty of you agree. Askinosie calls it their “most quietly complex bar yet,” and that, unfortunately, brings with it the bad news…

Because the bar requires the aged nibs we mentioned, and those exist in finite quantity, the bar itself of course also exists in finite quantity. How finite? It’s already sold out… for now at least. All may not be lost, however, as you may still get a chance to order one. Click here to view the bar and then click on the Notify Me When Available link near the top of the bar’s description to jump on the wait list.

If any of you were the lucky ones to have tried this bar before, let us know what you thought of it in the comments.

Askinosie 70% Barrel Aged Dark Chocolate Bar Ingredients
Barrel-Aged Roasted Cocoa Beans (Mababu, Tanzania), Organic Cane Sugar, Cocoa Butter, Organic Sucanat Cane Sugar, Organic Vanilla Bean.

BAR #2: Askinosie | The Zeke Bar 65% Dark Chocolate + Tart Cherry

I’m glad you were prepared with the good news/bad news situation for Askinosie’s first winner, because you’re about to get a double dose here. For the good, read this delectable description –

“Featuring tangy, tart cherries and a delicate balance of Trinitario cocoa beans directly sourced from our farmer partners in Mababu, Tanzania and Davao, Philippines. You might taste a friendly balance of fudge sauce, a hint of caramel, and bright, crisp cherry.”

If your mouth didn’t water from reading that first bar’s brief summary, then it most definitely did for this one. This bar is actually a fourth edition and is a partnership series “with Zeke Emanuel, chocolate aficionado and healthcare policy expert.” Hmm, I sense a story in the making here.

Now of course, you know the bad news. It’s another limited edition bar and it is indeed sold out. Click here to view it and request to be notified when it’s available again, just like with Askinosie’s first award-winning gem.

For more on Askinosie, check out part of our Askinosie interviews from Victoria Cooksey’s “Chocolate One-on-One” series.

Askinosie 65% Dark Chocolate + Tart Cherry Ingredients
Not Listed.

BAR #3: Bixby Chocolate | Belize Organic Dark Chocolate Bar

I’m not surprised by this bar picking up a big win this year in the least, and here’s why. First, Bixby (Rockland, ME) knows their craft. They were a finalist with this bar before at the GOOD FOOD AWARDS, back in 2023.

Second, Belize won Gold at SFA Sofi in 2024 and Silver at the International Chocolate Awards in 2023. This bar brings it.

Last but not least, Belize provides some of the best cacao flavor profiles on the planet, and it’s not subtle. I don’t think I’ve ever tasted a Belize origin bar I didn’t love, so I’m not surprised that, in expert hands like at Bixby, an organic dark chocolate Belize bar shines to an award-winning level.

“Bright, fruity notes with layers of complexity” bring this bar to the forefront, and Bixby’s commitment to a healthy ecosystem keeps it there as they “source directly from farming partners in Belize who cultivate cacao with respect for both the land and their communities.”

Click here to view the bar on Bixby’s site and place an order. Also, special shout out to Kate McAleer, who I had the pleasure of interviewing for our Bixby Chocolate In Focus article a while back. We are very, very happy for Bixby!

Bixby Belize Organic Dark Chocolate Bar Ingredients
Organic Cacao Beans and Organic Cane Sugar.

BAR #4: Kosha Chocolate | Piura White 70% Dark Bar

Here’s the first bar on this list from a “new kid on the block”, at least new to us here at the mag. Kosha Chocolate (Travelers Rest, SC) appears to be about two years into their own chocolate journey, and I have a feeling they are extremely excited to already pick up a Good Food Award.

A brief perusal of their website, however, gives the impression that the honor is very much deserved – Kosha takes their craft seriously, paying cacao the utmost reverence every step of the way. Case in point, the Piura White beans they source for this chocolate bar.

The Piura region sits in the north desert coast of Peru. It’s unusual as a cacao-producing region because Piura is actually a desert, not the typical cacao-friendly jungle climate.

According to Kosha, the cacao here is “typically ~30% white beans.”  This bar, featuring only three ingredients, is “medium acidity, fruity, with notes of nuts, panela, malt.” Panela is an unrefined whole cane sugar popular to the region (Kosha keeps it real).

Congratulations to Kosha on the award, and I look forward to learning much more about their chocolate endeavors in the near future. You can order the Chocolate Piura White 70% Dark Bar right here.

Kosha Piura White 70% Dark Bar Ingredients
Cacao nibs, Cacao Butter, Raw Palm Crystal Sugar.

BAR #5: Fruition Chocolate Works | Puerto Rico JeanMarie Dark 70%

Fruition (Shokan, NY) sits in the unique position of winning with a bar that’s actually not even available for sale right now on their website. It’s still listed for sale here and there on other sites, but much like Askinosie’s winners, it’s sold out.

The bar is named with intention, as Fruition crafts the Puerto Rico Jeanmarie 70% Dark from cacao grown at Hacienda Jeanmarie. As they describe, “With tasting notes of coffee, raspberry, and cherry, it’s a beautifully delicate dark chocolate that honors the land it comes from.”

Beyond the origin story and outstanding flavor profile, Fruition feels a heartwarming connection to their own team here as well:

“We’re proud to have team members with Puerto Rican heritage here at Fruition — including our GM Joel, our Head Chocolatier Laura and one of our Chocolate Makers/Artist Felix, who not only shares those roots but is also the local artist behind the stunning hand-drawn wrapper. His creativity and connection to this origin make this bar a true labor of love.”

I know Good Food Awards aren’t given based on this sort of criteria (considering they’re conducted via blind tastings), but for us, Fruition scores a next level win with this story behind the Puerto Rico JeanMarie Dark 70% Bar.

Click here to visit Fruition Chocolate Works to see if the bar is back in stock, and for a closer look at the story behind Bryan and Dahlia at Fruition, head over to our Fruition Chocolate Works In Focus interview.

Fruition Puerto Rico JeanMarie Dark 70% Ingredients
Cocoa Beans, Organic Cane Sugar, Organic Cocoa Butter.

Check back early next week for part two of our coverage, as we work through the next five chocolate bars to win a 2026 Good Food Award.