Valentine’s Day preparedness, Part 2: chocolate without a dark backstory

I was going to try to include in this post a summary of the recent history of efforts to clean up the cocoa industry, but that will have to wait till later—it’s too complex.

Also, I just had a baby! Which means my pace of posts is going to slow down for a while.

But in the meantime, get your ethically made chocolate at Divine Chocolate and Sweet Earth Chocolates.

Addendum: Following are more sources of ethical chocolate (thanks, Co-op America!).

Fair Trade Certified chocolate can be found  at health food stores and specialty markets across the country. To find a fair trade retailer near you, visit the TransfairUSA website. If you can't find the brand you want locally, an excellent one-stop online source is the Global Exchange Store.                   

The following companies all sell fair trade chocolate products.  Most (though not all) are also organic:

Dagoba Organic Chocolate - Chocolate bars, baking chips, chocolate syrup, hot chocolate, and baking cocoa (non-alkali).

Dean's Beans - Organic hot cocoa and baking cocoa, also kosher.

Equal Exchange - Organic hot cocoa, baking cocoa (with alkali) and fair trade, gourmet chocolate bars.

Ithaca Fine Chocolates - Organic chocolate "Art Bars."

La Siembra Co-Operative - A Canadian worker-owned co-op. Dark chocolate bars are available in the USA.

Sjaak's Organic Chocolates - All organic and fair trade chocolate bars, gift boxes, holiday items, vegan selections

Theo Chocolate - Organic, fair trade premium chocolate.

Yachana Gourmet - Chocolate, tropical fruit spreads and other food products made from organically grown raw materials from the Amazon rainforest region in Ecuador.

Comments

[cassie]

Hi Bronwyn! Congratulations on your newest addition!! You are now my new hero - blogging just days after giving birth! Thanks for all the research you put into this project. I for one value your information.
Love, Cassie

[MhD]

The issue of Fair Trade Chocolate is an important one and I think its great that Wallet Mouth is "bringing it on." But we have to be careful because as many firms start to sense a tide of consumer consciousness their initial response is to "greenwash" with marketing without any substantial changes to their practices. The Fair Trade certification (as Organic) is no different. In fact, very few chocolate bars on today's market are Fair Trade. The fact is Dagoba, at last count, has one Fair Trade bar (sku). I believe its the Maya Gold (?). The rest are not. Their chocolate is organic and they claim to have an "ethical supply chain," but only one bar is Fair Trade certified. The question is, does this make them a Fair Trade certified chocolate? While Equal Exchange and Ithaca Fine Chocolates and the others pay licesing fees on ALL their chocolate, Dagoba pays a fraction of the fees and yet gets the benefit of having all their bars lumped into the Fair Trade catagory. So, I'll get off my soap box, but in the end the best thing a consumer can do is LOOK for the Fair Trade LABEL. If you don't see it, you just don't know where and how that cocoa was produced and sold. Thansk

[Bronwyn Ximm]

You're right that Dagoba offers only one Fair Trade-certified bar. It's the Conacado (Maya Gold is made by Cadbury, under its Green & Black's brand). But Dagoba does sell a variety of other Fair Trade-certified items: chocolate syrup, baking chocolate, two kinds of hot chocolate, cocoa powder, chocolate-covered coffee beans, etc.

However, your point is well taken (and in hindsight, I'm a little surprised that Co-op America included Dagoba on its list, for that reason).

It's important for consumers to be discerning. Though there is often overlap between the two designations, organic does not equal fair trade.