A piece of chocolate a day keeps the doctor away, or if you're chocolate connoisseur Glenn Yeatman – make that a cheeky three pieces!

With the Flavours of Plenty Festival ready to be devoured by Bay of Plenty taste buds from Friday March 24 through to April 2, Mount Maunganui's Solomons Gold Chocolate Factory has jumped on board to add some cocoa goodness into the mix.

This is the second year Tourism Bay of Plenty is hosting the festival, which aims to promote and connect the food community of Te Moananui ā Toi - the coastal Bay of Plenty - stretching from Waihī Beach to Ōhope.

Almost 200 growers, cafes, manufacturers, food trucks, tour companies and other food-related businesses are involved.

The festival features 35 events, ranging from degustation dinners and desserts to a beekeeping experience, hands-on classes to a cook-off .

Chocolate maker Glenn Yeatman with Solomons Gold organic cacao beans. Photo: John Borren.

Originally from South Africa, Glenn is a fourth-generation coffee farmer, who switched from the coffee bean to the cacao bean when coming to NZ.

Glenn says his chocolate making journey began in 2012 in Solomon Island's capital city Honiara.

'I brought some raw beans home from the plantation – popped it in the oven and when it smelled like it was ready, I took the roasted cacao beans out and let them cool overnight. Then I removed the husk and blended the cacao with sugar and made the first Solomons Gold chocolate.”

Admittedly, as a kid Glenn didn't eat much of the cacao-fuelled delicacy.

'Chocolate in Zimbabwe wasn't great.”

But he's making it up for it as an adult now though.

'I have at least three pieces of our chocolate a day. Good job it's healthy and not full of sugar and nasties! My favourite is the Dark Mint, which is also my granddaughter's favourite.”

Solomons Gold's Sophie Dawson filling moulds with silky smooth chocolate. Photo: John Borren.

So what makes the perfect block of chocolate?

'The origin of the raw cacao bean is very important," says Glenn.

The factory's cacao beans come all the way from the Solomon Islands, where they are organically grown before arriving in Mount Maunganui. Then it comes down to roasting time and 'conching” which involves breaking down the cocoa bits until you have silky smooth choccy.

'We spend 200 hours in the ‘bean to bar process' – that is what it takes to make the perfect bar of chocolate,” says Glenn.

As part of the Flavours of Plenty Festival, a tour of The Solomon's Gold Chocolate Factory is happening next Saturday, March 28, from 2pm-2.30pm at Solomon's Gold, 1 Macrae Avenue, Mount Maunganui.

For more information and to check out the jam-packed Flavours of Plenty Festival events offerings, visit: https://www.bayofplentynz.com/flavours-of-plenty/