SPRINGFIELD – If you love chocolate, hazelnuts, and want to buy local, check out this entrepreneur selling his products at farmer’s markets and local stores. Kay Farms, a family business, specializes in hazelnut spread under the brand name Hazelmaus (chocolate, white chocolate, or plain and creamy or crunchy), hazelnut chocolates, as well as other chocolate bars such as versions with oat milk or dark chocolate.
“It’s a bit like if the hazelnuts have fallen from the tree and directly into the chocolate,” says Joe Randazzo, the Specialty Foods Director at Provisions Marche in Eugene, who sells Hazelmaus in his store. “It doesn’t taste saccharin-sweet.”
If you have tried Hazelmaus, you will know this is an accurate testimonial for the product and why Provisions carries it. Randazzo loves to carry delicious products and has an affinity for local producers, which is why he decided to carry it.
Says Noah Kieserman, the owner of Kay Farms, “I love filberts, and I work at a chocolate supply company. So it’s an opportunity to combine elements close at hand and hopefully offer something that raises the bar for local hazelnut products.”
You heard that correctly—not only is there a mini bean-to-bar chocolate maker in Springfield, there is a chocolate supplier right in Eugene! Says Kieserman, “My day job is roasting cocoa beans at Chocolate Alchemy, an internet business in West Eugene that has been serving smaller chocolate businesses and home chocolatiers for 20+ years. My boss, John Nanci, is incredibly supportive of us learning to make chocolate and experimenting.”
It takes effort
If you are now considering buying 100 pounds of chocolate from Chocolate Alchemy to make your own chocolate bars, be aware, there is more to the process than just mixing ingredients together.
The Chocolate Alchemy website has articles about the importance of temperature, roasting, equipment, and provides recipes.
There actually are quite a few steps. Kieserman explains, “One [step] is conching, where the chocolate is aerated and off-gases acetic acid, among other things. Another is grinding. Initially the cocoa nibs are being crushed, expressing cocoa butter. But it’s actually the sugar that requires the most time, to get down to a particle size where the chocolate is smooth to the tongue.
There are different ways to refine. What I use is a stone grinder.” That might sound simple, but there is even more to it than the average chocolate lover realizes.
“Refining chocolate requires machinery running continuously for days, and I failed to find a commercial kitchen that was open to that.” It was a huge boon that Springfield Lutheran Church welcomed Kay Farms to their kitchen. Kieserman was able to their kitchen certified by ODA.” Kieserman has found the church and ODA to be great to work with.
One of Kieserman’s experiments that has turned out successful is his gianduiotto, hazelnut chocolates. The tradition of hazelnut chocolate comes from Italy. “The word gianduiotto refers to a particular Italian bonbon made with gianduja [Italian hazelnut spread], solid but softer than regular chocolate. I use that name for any soft chocolate bars I make with gianduja, as a heads-up that it’s not your average chocolate.”
This style of chocolate started in the Piedmont region of Italy in the early 1800s because of a chocolate shortage caused by Napoleon. This cocoa crisis began a legacy of chocolate bonbons enjoyed worldwide today.
In 2024, Noah Kieserman started selling his products at the Whiteaker Community Market and in 2025 at the Lane County Farmer’s market. The Hazelmaus spreads are available at big chains in Springfield and Eugene like Market of Choice, Zupan’s, Provisions, and New Seasons. Soon they will have an online store up and running.
“I want to express particular gratitude to the Whiteaker Community Market as a wonderful place to learn and try things out.” In Spring of 2026, Kay Farms will be testing out new products at the LC Farmer’s Market. Who knows, perhaps he will even attend the new farmer’s market coming to Springfield in 2026!
If you have the pleasure of sampling the chocolates at the Kay Farms booth at the farmer’s market, you will be in for a treat. Kieserman will be returning to the Farmer’s Market on February 7 and February 14, in time to get your sweetheart a gift.
