A Guide to Buying Ethical Chocolates
Chocolate has always been something of a guilty pleasure but the devil has always been in the calorie count. Now however we understand the origins of our chocolate and there’s a new guilt based on the ethics behind its manufacturer and transportation. Can there be a ‘green’ way to buy chocolate? Well, fairtrade organic chocolates are your best bet (and a great gift) so here’s a quick guide on how to choose your treats.
How ‘green’ is chocolate?
For most of the world’s population chocolate can never be truly local because cacao beans can only be grown in tropical and equatorial climates. Ultimately this means that chocolate manufacture is going to involve shipping at some point and that increases carbon emissions. That’s the downside, the upside is that cacao beans, like coffee beans, are produced within infrastructures that allow fair trade bodies to oversee the agricultural process and so ensure that communities receive a fair price.
What to look for when purchasing ethical chocolate
Is the chocolate fair trade?
As with coffee, cacao plantations have been exploited for many years with child labour or forced labour used as a way to produce cheap cacao. To prevent this, look for the fairtrade logo which is your indicator that farmers are being paid a fair wage and the workforce is afforded basic human rights.
Chocolate made from beans that come from small co-operative plantations in countries such as the Dominican Republic and Peru have strong social structures that re-invest in local society and ensure the agricultural process is sustainable.
Is the chocolate organic?
If your chocolate is certified organic it’s a guarantee that cacao production did not involve the use of pesticides or chemicals. This is an important factor for chocolate. High-yield plantations have to resort to fertilisers, insecticides and fungicides to make sure the harvest is bountiful. The smaller fairtrade certified plantations grow organically. In the UK and across the world, the Soil Association mark is one guarantee of high organic standards.
Where was the chocolate made?
While cacao beans have to be shipped, the manufacturing process can be carried out in the UK so look for a local company who ensure their production is carried out in an environmentally friendly way such as reducing packaging, minimising landfill waste and buying electricity from ‘green’ energy suppliers.
Buy your ethical chocolate online
Using an ethical website to buy your chocolate treats is a great way to simplify the process. Why? Well, they’ve done the hard work for you. Sites such as www.greentulip.co.uk source all their chocolate products and gifts from suppliers who have displayed the ‘green’ credentials we’ve explained in this article.
Companies such as Montezuma and Cocoa Loco who are based in West Sussex produce delicious chocolates that are certified organic and have ensured the price paid for the cocoa is high. Montezuma even give their advertising budget to charity each year rather that spend it on ads.
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| Dark Chocolate, Hazelnut & Cocoa Nibs Bites | Montezuma’s Mini Bar – Butterscotch in ‘Dark’ Milk Choc |
So, what are you waiting for? Ease your guilt and buy ethical chocolate. Your waistline is your own problem though!
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