Portland, MEChocolatiers and Candy Shops

The Fore Street shop of a Portland chocolate company that Dean and Kristin Bingham run from two locations, the other on Cove Street. Dean makes artisan chocolates, among them Maine sea salt caramels, cherry bourbon bonbons and bacon buttercrunch, and vegan truffles have been in the line since shortly after the company's 2004 founding, now an assortment in chai, coconut, orange and stout. Order the Maine sea salt caramels and a box of the truffles.

A West End chocolaterie founded by Catherine Wiersema, who grew up in France, and run with co-owner Sarah Burns and a small team that produces its artisan chocolates from Guittard chocolate. Alongside them are chocolate bars, a hazelnut chocolate spread and the French caramels Wiersema loved as a child. Order a box of the chocolates and the hazelnut spread.

A Westbrook chocolate maker where Kate Shaffer makes the chocolates, selling from a small retail boutique beside a mostly online business and working in direct-trade, single-origin chocolate from Latin America. Its Farm Market chocolates take their flavors from local farm produce, vegan chocolates have been in the line since the 2007 founding, from dark bars in ancho chili-pecan and almond-sea salt to peanut butter and tahini cups, and the frog-shaped Frogletiers are a year-round item. Order the peanut butter cups.

A candy maker founded in 1915 by Herbert Haven, who started out with his wife making candies in their kitchen and selling them from the parlor of their Forest Avenue house. The candies are still handcrafted by traditional methods at its Westbrook factory store, where the case runs from fudge to bear paws, Haven's version of turtles. Order the bear paws.

A Freeport chocolate company that Tom and Catherine Wilbur founded in 1983 and that their son Andy and his wife bought in 2018, run from a chocolate factory on Lower Main Street after years in the Tontine Mall basement. It buys its chocolate directly on the commodities market rather than through a distributor, and its chocolate-covered blueberries are the company's popular item. Order the chocolate-covered blueberries.