A new chocolate company in Vernon is making the sweet treat from bean to bar.

Kristy Obando and Shane McDougall are the owners of SilverStar Chocolate Company, which offers a variety of options for chocolate lovers.

The company sells cacao beans, bulk chocolate without the sugar mixed in, nibs (inside part of the cacao bean), chocolate liqueur, as well as the finished product.

All of its cacao beans are imported from Ecuador.

“Ecuadorian chocolate is the best chocolate in the world. It’s very hard to grow ... a lot of people from Europe make their chocolate using our cacao,” says Obando.

The chocolate-making process includes roasting the beans, separating the husk from the nibs, turning the nibs into chocolate liqueur, mixing the liqueur with sugar, and then turning it into bars.

The bean-to-bar process is a therapeutic one, she says.

“We find that it makes you forget about everything else, because you are so concentrated on doing what you’re doing. We found that it’s really helpful for us, and I'm sure for other people, to make chocolate because it puts you in a happy state of mind.”

SilverStar Chocolate Company bars are available at Sweet Hoopla, Ratio Coffee and Pastry, the Boarding House, and through Valley Direct Foods.

To make an order, visit their website or send them a message on their Facebook or Instagram page.