New Favorite Chocolate Chips
Dec. 6th, 2008 02:53 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
livingdebShort Version
Rapunzel extra dark organic chocolate chips.
Long Version
In the olden days, my idea of a good chocolate chip was a chocolate chip made with real chocolate. These are more expensive than fake chocolate, but so worth it! It's easy to find real chocolate chips for a good price by going generic.
For special occasions, I liked Ghirardelli 60% cocoa bittersweet chips. Dark and decadent.
Then I learned that nowadays most cocoa is grown by clearing part of a rain forest and growing cocoa for three years until the land is used up and then clearing another part of a rain forest.
Three years.
It's one thing to ruin the land for something important, but for something that's just a luxury for rich people like me, it's sickening. But also devastating because I am a spoiled rich person and I really would be very sad if I could never have chocolate again.
Fortunately, there's another way. You can plant the trees under the canopy of the rain forest. And the plants actually prefer shade. The land stays productive. But it's more trouble for the workers because the plants aren't all laid out conveniently in rows. What a huge relief! Thus began my quest for shade-grown chocolate.
Of course it costs more. You would think people who have to buy up new land every three years would have to charge a lot, but apparently not. And does it cost 5% more or 20% more? Of course not. It costs double or triple. Fine, fine. At least I still get to eat chocolate guilt free.
But it turns out that very few chocolates are specifically certified as shade grown. Normal people don't care whether the plant is shaded; they care whether potentially nasty pesticides are sprayed on it or whether the workers are treated and paid fairly, so those are the qualities that get publicized. I decided that anything that was certified both organic and fair trade would likely also be shade grown. These are possible to find.
A while back I was pretty excited to find Guittard Akoma Extra Semisweet Chocolate chips with 55% cacoa and which is fair trade certified. Although the packaging doesn't mention being organic, the Fair Trade Certification site explains that "Harmful agrochemicals and GMOs are strictly prohibited in favor of environmentally sustainable farming methods that protect farmers’ health and preserve valuable ecosystems for future generations." Hmm, future generations. That sounds like more than three years. So maybe that's okay. And the chocolate chips did taste better and more chocolaty than what I had been getting before.
Then a couple of weeks ago I found a package of Rapunzel extra dark organic chocolate chips sitting near the other bags of chocolate chips at Whole Foods but with no spot labeled for it on the shelf. It is certified organic and fair trade and it has 70% cocoa. I grabbed it. And saved it. Who knew if I'd ever see this again? I couldn't even find it online. Not even on Rapunzel's web site.
Today, I was back at Whole Foods and found that it now has its own place on the shelves. So I got two more packages. Of course it's the most expensive chocolate chip available there (but no worse than the other Rapunzel varieties).
And so today I opened a package and tasted the chocolate chips. Yum!
Robin also pronounced them delicious, and he is a lot pickier than I. (I mean he is a connoisseur, whereas I am the sort of person who likes Twinkies.)
After doing more research today, it now appears to me that you can't grow cocoa in the sun without lots of fertilizers, so my best guess is that all organic chocolate is also shade grown. So I may try Whole Food's 365 brand of organic chocolate chips when I want a lower-priced every day chocolate chip. But for special occasions (and, if the price difference isn't very high, all other occasions), I'm going with Rapunzel extra dark organic chocolate chips from now on.
Rapunzel extra dark organic chocolate chips.
Long Version
In the olden days, my idea of a good chocolate chip was a chocolate chip made with real chocolate. These are more expensive than fake chocolate, but so worth it! It's easy to find real chocolate chips for a good price by going generic.
For special occasions, I liked Ghirardelli 60% cocoa bittersweet chips. Dark and decadent.
Then I learned that nowadays most cocoa is grown by clearing part of a rain forest and growing cocoa for three years until the land is used up and then clearing another part of a rain forest.
Three years.
It's one thing to ruin the land for something important, but for something that's just a luxury for rich people like me, it's sickening. But also devastating because I am a spoiled rich person and I really would be very sad if I could never have chocolate again.
Fortunately, there's another way. You can plant the trees under the canopy of the rain forest. And the plants actually prefer shade. The land stays productive. But it's more trouble for the workers because the plants aren't all laid out conveniently in rows. What a huge relief! Thus began my quest for shade-grown chocolate.
Of course it costs more. You would think people who have to buy up new land every three years would have to charge a lot, but apparently not. And does it cost 5% more or 20% more? Of course not. It costs double or triple. Fine, fine. At least I still get to eat chocolate guilt free.
But it turns out that very few chocolates are specifically certified as shade grown. Normal people don't care whether the plant is shaded; they care whether potentially nasty pesticides are sprayed on it or whether the workers are treated and paid fairly, so those are the qualities that get publicized. I decided that anything that was certified both organic and fair trade would likely also be shade grown. These are possible to find.
A while back I was pretty excited to find Guittard Akoma Extra Semisweet Chocolate chips with 55% cacoa and which is fair trade certified. Although the packaging doesn't mention being organic, the Fair Trade Certification site explains that "Harmful agrochemicals and GMOs are strictly prohibited in favor of environmentally sustainable farming methods that protect farmers’ health and preserve valuable ecosystems for future generations." Hmm, future generations. That sounds like more than three years. So maybe that's okay. And the chocolate chips did taste better and more chocolaty than what I had been getting before.
Then a couple of weeks ago I found a package of Rapunzel extra dark organic chocolate chips sitting near the other bags of chocolate chips at Whole Foods but with no spot labeled for it on the shelf. It is certified organic and fair trade and it has 70% cocoa. I grabbed it. And saved it. Who knew if I'd ever see this again? I couldn't even find it online. Not even on Rapunzel's web site.
Today, I was back at Whole Foods and found that it now has its own place on the shelves. So I got two more packages. Of course it's the most expensive chocolate chip available there (but no worse than the other Rapunzel varieties).
And so today I opened a package and tasted the chocolate chips. Yum!
Robin also pronounced them delicious, and he is a lot pickier than I. (I mean he is a connoisseur, whereas I am the sort of person who likes Twinkies.)
After doing more research today, it now appears to me that you can't grow cocoa in the sun without lots of fertilizers, so my best guess is that all organic chocolate is also shade grown. So I may try Whole Food's 365 brand of organic chocolate chips when I want a lower-priced every day chocolate chip. But for special occasions (and, if the price difference isn't very high, all other occasions), I'm going with Rapunzel extra dark organic chocolate chips from now on.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
Yum... Chocolate...
on 2008-12-07 03:15 am (UTC)no subject
on 2008-12-08 07:56 pm (UTC)sally
no subject
on 2008-12-09 02:20 am (UTC)