Chocolate Is Healthy » Fair Trade Chocolate

Fair Trade Chocolate Movement: Reverse Trick Or Treat

sarita — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 16:34:56 +0000

This interesting event has been held by Global Exchange, putting grassroots pressure on international companies that purchase cocoa. They distribute information on fair trade chocolate to parents and school groups across the United States and Canada. In addition, participants go “reverse trick or treating” on Halloween where instead of accepting candy, trick or treaters distribute fair trade chocolate to each home.

Why fair trade chocolate? Many people aren’t aware that despite international agreements, around 2 million children work on cocoa plantations, some in slavelike conditions with no pay. Better labor practices and sustainable agriculture are emphasized in the fair trade movement. It takes strict adherence to policies for chocolate to be certified as fair trade.

Global Exchange hopes to draw attention to the human rights issues in chocolate production by sharing delicious samples of fair trade chocolate with consumers. By raising awareness of fair trade chocolate, they encourage corporations to closely examine their business practices.

“Reverse Trick-or-Treaters” Deliver Fair Trade Chocolate | Worldwatch Institute.

Healthy Halloween Chocolate and Candy

sarita — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 16:32:30 +0000

There’s still time to offer healthy, organic Halloween chocolate treats, instead of the unnatural processed candy found in the supermarket.

We came across this great roundup of all natural Halloween treats. Options include fair trade certified chocolate coins from Ghana, Clif Spooky S’mores Energy Bars, organic gluten-free chocolates from Equal Exchange and vegan Bluestocking peanut butter cups. Any of these will deliver the delights of chocolate, without the additives and preservatives.

6 Healthier Halloween Eco-Treats for Kids (No Tricks, We Promise!) | Inhabitots.

DIY Organic Healthy Chocolate Kits From Navitas Naturals

sarita — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 14:09:07 +0000

Have you ever dreamed of being a chocolatier? Treehugger posted a great review of the Navitas Naturals Organic Chocolate Kit. This looks like a fantastic gift for the chocolate lover with delicious results. And, Navitas Naturals Chocolate Kits are 100% organic, kosher, vegan, gluten-free, and raw.

The DIY chocolate kit requires no special equipment. The process involves some simple slicing, melting, mixing and freezing, and your chocolates are done in minutes!

The kit contains all organic, raw superfoods including premium cacao, maca, lucuma and mesquite.

Here’s an excerpt from the review:

“All I needed was two smallish bowls, a spoon, a knife, and ice cube tray. Shave and stir, drop in the super berries, pour into ice tray molds, slide into the freezer to set. Within minutes (just like the box promised). Pop them out and there were a dozen perfect little dark chocolate candies. Move out of the way, Whitman’s. Forget, Frangos. So long, Sees. And bye-bye to pre-packaged natural equivalents.

For ten bucks and ten minutes, you, too, can be a chocolatier. No one will guess it’s so easy. As I said, I’m predisposed to chocolate, so when I taste tested one and liked it, and gobbled another, I recognized my bias. The chocolate tasting party would be the judges. “You made these!?” they exclaimed.”

DIY Superfood Chocolates: Good and Good for You, Too? : TreeHugger.

Cacao Farmers Embrace Fair Trade In Belize

sarita — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 19:39:26 +0000

We often hear about fair trade practices from chocolate companies’ perspective. While interesting, it’s even better to hear directly from the cacao farmers who are committed to fair trade practice and high-quality chocolate products. By forming fair trade cooperatives, farmers’ communities benefit from social, economic and environmental advancements.

“In 1992 the farmers got together and decided to see if we could get Fairtrade accreditation and also accreditation from the Soil Association, so farmers could receive a fair price for their crop,” explains Peck. “We achieved this, and now we are paid around $3,500 per metric tonne on the global market. Without Fairtrade this would probably be more like $2,000.”

For the local farmers the difference in income has allowed them to attend to other issues that would previously have been eclipsed by the necessity of financial survival. “Now the farmers have a little bit more which they can use to send their children to school, and make an improvement in their future,” he explains. “The association has also been able to put aside a little money for several projects. This year we have supported nine children through high school, and we also allocate funds to social, economic and environmental development.”

Fair from every point of view

From growers, to retailers, to consumers – discover how 15 years of the Fairtrade mark have affected those involved

guardian.co.uk

Toledo Cacao Growers Association’s Justino Peck Photograph: Zed Nelson/PR

Justino Peck is chairman of Toledo Cacao Growers Association, a farmers’ cooperative in southern Belize. For him, 15 years of Fairtrade has meant the chance to educate a community and improve conditions for cocoa growers and their children.

“Having Fairtrade has made things better for us cocoa growers” says Peck. “The impact has been to help us reach and trade with an international market and set a fair price for our products.”

Life for farmers in the region has been one of mixed blessings where cocoa production is concerned, and it is only relatively recently that commercial production has begun in earnest. “Before the 1970s, farmers might have had a few trees either on their farmland or in their gardens, which they grew only to supply the local market,” explains Peck. “Then Hershey came and offered to buy cocoa if farmers chose to grow it on a commercial scale. Before this the only cocoa that grew in the region was farmed by our ancestors.”

In ancient times, low-born Mayans and Aztecs had to carry their prized crop to appease the nation’s royalty and, until recently, some might argue little had changed between this dynamic and the one stipulated by global chocolate giants.

In 1991 the market crashed, and those who had just begun the five-year journey to grow the mature trees were left without enough income to survive. Several, however, chose to band together and formulate a way to make cocoa sale viable.

“In 1992 the farmers got together and decided to see if we could get Fairtrade accreditation and also accreditation from the Soil Association, so farmers could receive a fair price for their crop,” explains Peck. “We achieved this, and now we are paid around $3,500 per metric tonne on the global market. Without Fairtrade this would probably be more like $2,000.”

For the local farmers the difference in income has allowed them to attend to other issues that would previously have been eclipsed by the necessity of financial survival. “Now the farmers have a little bit more which they can use to send their children to school, and make an improvement in their future,” he explains. “The association has also been able to put aside a little money for several projects. This year we have supported nine children through high school, and we also allocate funds to social, economic and environmental development.”

Vegan Dark Chocolate Truffles Reviewed

sarita — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 13:37:43 +0000

We love finding new ideas for healthy chocolate gifts. Vegan and fair trade, Nicobella chocolates use organic ingredients such as sunflower seed butter, oat milk and fair trade dark chocolate, creating blissful chocolate assortments. Flavors include walnut flaxseed crunch, sunflower banana butter and ginger green tea. (The walnut flaxseed was a clear favorite in the review we found below).

“Created by dietitian, nutritionist and yoga instructor Nichole Dandrea, nicobella truffles are made with 70 percent dark chocolate — fair trade, of course — and slightly sweetened with agave nectar and brown rice syrup. Open the package and you’ll be able to identify the flavor of each truffle by the decorative garnish. The Ginger Green Tea truffle, for example, is sprinkled with a green tea powder; the Blueberry Almond truffle has a piece of almond pressed onto a corner.

How do the truffles taste? My favorite of the six is the most crunchy-sounding of the bunch: Walnut Flaxseed Crunch. This decadent truffle had a perfect nutty creaminess — full of Omega-3s, to boot. I also loved the Pumpkin Chia truffle, which tasted like a rich, flavorful pie covered in chocolate, and the Ginger Green Tea truffle, which had a fierce ginger kick that made it the most intense of the six.”

Chocolate truffles made vegan, organic, fair trade and tasty!