If you’ve ever unwrapped a bar of bean-to-bar chocolate and breathed in that heady, rich aroma -deep, roasted, a little fruity, almost floral at the edges - then you’ve already met the cacao husk. You just didn’t know it.

When the husk appears

To make proper chocolate, the beans are roasted, cracked, and then “winnowed.” That’s the delightfully whimsical word for separating the nib (the dense heart of the bean) from the husk. The nib goes on to become chocolate - ground, refined, conched, and tempered into glossy bars. The husks, meanwhile, drift off to the side, the forgotten by-product of the whole affair.

And there are a lot of them. For every kilo of cacao nibs, you get roughly the same weight in husk. That means tonnes upon tonnes of husks quietly accumulate around the world every year, often destined for compost heaps or, less glamorously, landfill. A shame, considering how much story and scent they still hold.

What do they taste like?

Much more chocolatey than you’d think. Cacao husks aren’t pale echoes of the bean - they’re still packed with flavour, carrying that unmistakable cocoa depth, but in a lighter, more aromatic way. Think roasted nibs, hot cocoa on the stove. There’s a gentle bitterness- the kind you actually want in a grown-up drink. Balanced with hints of malt, toast, and dried fruit. Infuse them into rum, and… well, you’ll see why we couldn’t resist.

Why we love using them

We’re a little obsessed with giving overlooked ingredients their moment in the glass. Cacao husk is a perfect example: full of aroma and nuance, yet usually tossed aside. Re-using them feels good - good for flavour, good for the planet, good for the story.

And because our husks come from our Falmouth friends at Chocolarder (one of the UK’s only bean-to-bar chocolate makers), we know exactly where they were grown, roasted, and cracked. They travel just a short hop from their workshop to our distillery, where we let their roasted, papery magic unfold into rum.

In other words: husks might usually get tossed aside, but we think they deserve a seat at the table (or at least a pour in your glass).