Everybody loves chocolate! We eat it with nuts, as fondue, with ice cream, stuffed with caramel, we even use it in beauty products. No wonder the chocolate industry is a billion dollars industry. Chocolate makes any joyous occasion more blissful and any sad situation, like a nasty breakup, better! And with Valentine’s Day being right around the corner, let’s think about what this tasty treat truly represents on a global scale.
I saw an eye-opening documentary called The Dark Side Of Chocolate, a few years ago. The film investigated whether African children were being enslaved and trafficked in the chocolate industry. What they uncovered is heartbreaking. Just like the diamond industry, there is a dark side to the trade of chocolate. I’ve included the entire movie at the end of this post for you.
The next time you plan on giving chocolate as a gift or indulging yourself, let your dollars speak up and opt for a slavery-free and guilt-free goodie.
Good Housekeeping featured several fair-trade chocolates on their website. Here are my favorites.
FROM GOOD HOUSEKEEPING
1. Green and Black’s Organic Chocolate
A bar of organic chocolate and espresso for two. Sounds pretty romantic to us! Green & Black’s controls every step of the chocolate-making process from “the bean to the bar,” paying Belize cocoa farmers fair trade prices and supporting their cooperative. And earlier this year, they announced their commitment to move their entire line to Fair Trade Certified in the U.S. Shop at amazon.com.
2. Madecasse Chocolate
Fair trade-grown and made in Madagascar, Madecasse chocolates are “one of the only fine chocolates made in Africa,” according to its owners, who fell in love with Madagascar while on a Peace Corps assignment. They claim that making the chocolate in-country multiplies the good of the enterprise for local people. Try the 70% cocoa dark bar, or the pink pepper and citrus for something different. ($6 per 75-gram bar at store.madecasse.com or $30 for a four-bar gift pack at chocolate.com.
3. Theo Chocolate
Seattle’s Theo Chocolate uses fire-roasted, organic and fair trade certified cocoa beans. Try their delicious salted caramels, in rose, lavender and chili flavors for your spicy sweetheart! $8.80 for box of four. Shop at amazon.com.
4. Divine Chocolate
What we really love about Divine Chocolate is that it’s the world’s first farmer-owned, certified fair trade chocolate brand, dedicated to improving the livelihood of small-scale cocoa farmers in Ghana. That and the fact that it tastes decadent, a word we love around here. Shop at amazon.com.
5. Sjaak’s Organic Chocolates
Sjaak’s Organic Chocolates is a company devoted to upholding fair-trade practices using only organic, non-GMO ingredients. They are also friendly to those with allergies being a gluten-free facility, using organic soy in all their products and keeping their factory free of eggs and gelatin. Indulge the one you love in one of their tubs of Organic Fair Trade Vegan Chocolate Hearts or the Cherry Truffle Hearts (both $65). They also offer limited edition boxes of chocolates like The Valentine Truffle Birdie Box handmade by a women’s cooperative using tree free fibers and filled with creamy truffles ($17.50). Shop at amazon.com.
6. CocoaVino
Get drunk with love for CocoaVino‘s tempting assortment of organic and fair trade artisanal chocolate bonbons. The company uses a mix of certified organic and fair trade ingredients for its “Bacchanal” and “Roman Holiday” flavored treats. New for this year are “drunken figs,” which are smothered in chocolate ($35). All ingredients are regionally grown and sustainably harvested, and each delectable candy is filled with a splash of liqueur or wine. Yum!
7. Taza Chocolates
Boston-based Taza Chocolate makes incredible chocolates with subtle but bright flavors using a stone-ground process based on traditional techniques used in Oaxaca, Mexico, where the cacao beans are grown. Not only organic, this chocolate is Direct Trade-certified, which means farmers are paid a premium wage for a premium commodity, even more than a fair-trade price, according to the chocolate-makers. From $5.50 at amazon.com.
READ MORE: Best Organic and Fair Trade Chocolate – Fair Trade and Organic Chocolates – Good Housekeeping
MUST SEE: The Dark Side Of Chocolate
DISCUSSION: What’s your favorite brand of chocolate? If you knew they used slave-labor would you be willing to give it up?
Stay Conscious & Chic!
