FOOD + DRINK

SLAH: Craft Chocolate Comes to Ballston Spa

Confluence Chocolate celebrates its ribbon-cutting—but the 518's only bean-to-bar chocolate maker has already captured the taste buds of local cocoa connoisseurs.

By Natalie Moore

August 17, 2026

All chocolate comes from a bean—or, more accurately, the seed of a cacao tree. But not all chocolate companies oversee the laborious process that takes the bean from a bitter, crunchy seed to the chocolate bar you buy in the store. The difference lies in the name. There are lots of chocolatiers. There are very few chocolate-makers. And Chris Tomchik of Ballston Spa’s Confluence Chocolate is one of them.

Read more on Saratoga Living After Hours.

Natalie Moore

Natalie Moore is the editor of Saratoga Living and Capital Region Living magazines. A native of Ballston Lake, she began her career as an editorial intern at Saratoga Living, and, essentially, never left. In addition to overseeing the creation of the print magazines, she is the main contributor to Saratoga Living After Hours, a Substack newsletter that covers the Spa City’s social scene. In an alternate reality, she is a professional pickleball player.