After yesterdays article about slavery in the worldwide chocolate market I did a little more research and found a couple of websites that sell "Humane Dark Chocolate"!
Two of these brands jumped out at me. The first is a reasonably well known brand and I know how good their chocolate is so I was pleased to see they comply with Fair Trading!
Green & Blacks Organic Chocolate! mmmm!
"… Craig Sams, founder of Whole Earth - the pioneering organic food company, and his wife, environment columnist for The Times and confirmed chocoholic, Josephine Fairley, made the world’s first organic chocolate. It was a high-quality, bittersweet dark chocolate bar, packed with 70% cocoa solids – enough to make chocolate fans sit up and take notice.
Craig and Jo visited Belize on holiday and drank a local drink flavoured with cocoa beans and spices made by Mayan farmers whose ancestors had originally domesticated the cocoa bean. Inspired by the taste and aroma of the rainforests, they decided to recapture them in Green & Black's Maya Gold chocolate - a blend of intense dark chocolate with a refreshing twist of orange, perfectly balanced by the warmth of cinnamon, nutmeg and vanilla. Maya Gold was the first product to be awarded the Fair Trade mark."
To read more about Green & Blacks and find out where you can get it click here
Yachana Jungle Chocolate
"This is not processed chocolate with added ingredients! Unlike processed chocolate that contains milk, butter, sugar, vanilla and other ingredients, this is truly natural. Yachana Jungle Chocolate will not melt and has a long shelf-life.
A chocolate bar might be eaten in one sitting, but a 2 oz. package of Jungle Chocolate contains lots of servings. Just a few morsels in the palm of your hand are enough to satisfy the cravings of most chocolate lovers. Use them as a trail mix when hiking or camping. Sprinkle them as an ice cream or frozen yogurt topping, add them to baked goods for a nutty and crunchy chocolate taste, and ….well, just let your chocolate imagination go wild!
We've had customers who are on the Atkins or South Beach diets tell us that Yachana Jungle Chocolates are quite a find, because this natural chocolate is low in sugar and carbohydrates.
Not only will you and your chocolate-loving friends love this new Jungle Chocolate's great taste, but you'll be making a positive difference in Ecuador!
Yachana Gourmet pays farmers 200% to 300% above the local market price for their cacao and adds value by producing this delicious chocolate product. Additionally, Yachana Jungle Chocolate carries the certification of the Fair Trade Federation and all aspects of its production adhere to fair trade principles helping people of the Ecuadorian rainforest live better lives.
The Ecuadorian Government says that this project is a truly viable alternative in Ecuador to industries involved in the growing and trafficking of cocaine."
Well that is certainly food for thought! So what they are saying is we should eat as much Dark Chocolate (as long as it is Fair Trade Ecuadorian) as we can because it might help diminish the illegal drug industry (from the mind of a different sort of addict, chocoholic!). Sounds like a good enough excuse to me, where can I order
Yachana Gourmet Chocolate
I found this article today from the Vegetarian Times about Fair Trade Chocolate and found it shocking! I'll certainly be looking to buy Fair Trade from now on! Here is a section of the article, if you want to read more I will include a link to the full article at the bottom of this post! Certainly interesting reading.
Sweet Revenge: Fair trade chocolate: gourmet-quality chocolate is bringing health and hope to cocoa farmers and their families
Vegetarian Times, Feb 2005 by Alan Pell Crawford!
The truth about how cocoa beans are grown, harvested and sold can make a box of Valentine's Day chocolates a guilty pleasure–regardless of calories:
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90 percent of the world's cocoa–the main ingredient in our favorite indulgence–comes from farms of 12 acres or less, mostly in poor Third World countries in West Africa, Southeast Asia and Latin America
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200,000 children in West Africa alone are sold into slavery to work on cocoa farms, according to the United Nations Children's Fund
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Family farms scrape by on about $30-$110 per family member per year–the kids, working alongside their parents, rarely attend school
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Tens of thousands of child laborers on West African cocoa farms work in dangerous conditions, clearing fields with machetes and applying pesticides. No one has been looking out for these children or their families–until the past few years.
But today, thanks to a loose coalition of international, largely nongovernmental organizations, the lives of many cocoa farmers are beginning to improve. The tasty twist is that these improvements are being financed through the sale of "fair trade" chocolate–and not just any chocolate. The products whose sales are easing the burden of these farmers contain a higher percentage of cocoa than that of better-known rivals, giving them a seductively rich flavor. (See "Our Picks," p. 54.)
That's why you pay a little more for fair trade chocolate and one reason the higher price is worth it. The second reason is that participating farmers keep a greater share of the profits, some of which goes to improve labor conditions and to build schools and install sanitation systems. The third reason is the most important: The chocolate is made from cocoa beans that come from farms where children are not enslaved.
To read more of this fascinating article click here.
by:
This is a great article about why certain chocolates are bad for us and others are good. I have read many articles now about the health benefits of [tag]Dark Chocolate[/tag] but very little as to why [tag]milk chocolate[/tag] and [tag]white chocolate[/tag] are actually bad for us so this was a refreshing read!
Healthy Chocolate by: Gerald Meyer
It's great news that research found a food that lowers blood pressure and is healthy for the heart and maybe more. The problem is that the chocolate most Americans consume is not the same kind. The more popular kinds of chocolate have little or no positive effect on your health. Only certain chocolate may be healthy. Dark chocolate is the chocolate that was found to have positive effects on blood pressure. Participants given dark, milk, or white chocolate every day were evaluated in different studies. It turns out that dark chocolate contains important antioxidants called phenols. These natural compounds from the cocoa bean are known to increase nitric oxide, reduce platelet aggregation, and inhibit oxidation of LDL cholesterol. Cocoa can decrease blood pressure, reduce cholesterol, and increase your insulin sensitivity. Milk and white chocolate are low in these antioxidants and do not have the same effect.
The problem is how chocolate is processed in this country. White chocolate, regardless of where you get it, actually contains no cocoa at all and is made only from cocoa butter; just the fat from the cocoa beans. It also contains no phenols. Most of the other chocolate we eat is made with "dutched" cocoa. The cocoa beans are treated with an alkaline solution to make them dark in color and to reduce the natural bitterness from the plant. But, it also reduces almost 90% of the phenols and most of its healthy benefits. The other problem is that when made into milk chocolate, the milk seems to prevent the phenols from being absorbed and, thus, negating any possible benefit from the chocolate.
The best chocolate for your health appears to be dark chocolate. In the European studies done, they ate 100gm of chocolate a day (100 grams equals approx. 3.5 ounces). That's the equivalent to 2 1/2 regular size Hershey's bars. It also adds about 550 calories to the diet. They were instructed to substitute this amount of calories from other foods they normally ate each day. You would have to do the same or forego its healthy benefits by increasing your waistline. European chocolate in general is healthier than that found in America due to the fact that it is less processed than ours and contains more of the heart healthy antioxidants. Dark chocolate is an acquired taste for most Americans since it is much more bitter than its milky counterpart.
So why is this research being touted as the 'best medical news in ages'? It appears to be one more way we look to justify the unhealthy diets we follow. When people hear that chocolate is now healthy, they don't hear any of the other restrictions involved, and don't want to. In fact, most people wouldn't want to change to a more bitter tasting chocolate and also cut out over 500 calories from their diets. Our diets already have enough sweets and this type of news only fuels the diabetic and obesity epidemics. This kind of medical news will only make most people add extra calories to their diets and increase their health problems.
About The Author
Gerald Meyer RPh, provides advice on weight loss. Information on the benefits of green tea and its antioxidant powers can be found at www.natural-weight-loss-programs.com_
Hope you found this article about [tag]chocolates[/tag] effect on our [tag]health[/tag] as interesting as I did!
So, an hour and a half prior to dinner with friends I remembered that we had missed not one but TWO of their birthdays. I didn't have time to go shopping for gifts so decided to make a cake for them instead. I had found a recipe in "Chocolate Desserts By Pierre Herme" that I had been drooling over for weeks and it looked fairly simple so I grabbed the recipe and got stuck in. It turned out to be as simple as it sounded although his recipes look very long and complicated when you broke it down it was in fact quite basic. Another bonus is that this cake has only 5 ingredients! Well the cake turned out well and I did a very quick basic icing as I had no time to make ganache and was out of dark chocolate anyway (I know, what a crime!) and threw a white iceberg rose from the garden on the centre. It was very effective! The cake had the desired effect with a round of oh you shouldn't haves and oh I shouldn't and oh well I'll start the diet tomorrow! We could smell the cake all through dinner. I wasn't in the room when it was served but I could hear moans and groans followed by my friend Jo shouting out to me that I had created an orgasm on a plate! lol! We only got through about half the cake between 7 of us as it is so rich and decadent. We served it on its own but I think that it would be best served still warm with a good dollop of unsweetened yoghurt and perhaps a little raspberry coulis to cut through the richness. Although the recipe states that it can be refridgerated for up to 3 days I found that it dried out. If that happens to you I would, and did, pop it in the microwave for 30 seconds to a minute, just seems to soften it up a bit. This recipe is definately worth making for a special dinner party and it is quick and easy. The book has some fantastic recipes in it ranging from very easy to quite complex. My next experiment from this book will be Nayla's Tart which is a chocolate pastry tart with a ganache center, or the Chocolate Rice Pudding or maybe the Black on Black Truffles! Decisions, decisions! I have included an Amazon link below for the book. Just reading it was a delight for the senses!
Chocolate Desserts by Pierre Herme
UNDECLARED MILK PROTEIN IN CERTAIN LAURA SECORD BRAND 70% COCOA … - Canadia…
15 Mar 2007 at 12:08am
UNDECLARED MILK PROTEIN IN CERTAIN LAURA SECORD BRAND 70% COCOA ….
Canadian Food Inspection Agency (press release), Canada - Mar 14, 2007
All codes of the following three Laura Secord brand 70% cocoa dark chocolate products are affected by this alert. 70% Cocoa - extreme dark chocolate eggs ….
Laura Secord pulls chocolate products Mississauga News
all 7 news articles
Cadbury's Split Cheers Investors (BusinessWeek Online via Yahoo! News)
16 Mar 2007 at 8:08am
One thing is clear: Financier and shareholder activist Nelson Peltz gets results — or at least gets companies to act. On Mar. 13, news emerged that the billionaire had amassed a 2.98% stake in candy and beverage behemoth Cadbury Schweppes , sparking speculation that the company could be split to increase shareholder value.
Information provided by Google and Yahoo
by: Dr. Eileen Silva
Wondering what to give those special, health-conscious gal pals for special events this coming year? I have the perfect gift suggestion — chocolate! I don't mean just any chocolate . . . but specifically dark chocolate. Now it's no secret that most women are openly passionate about chocolate, but are you surprised that I would suggest chocolate for your "health-conscious" friends? Let me reassure you . . . recent research reports that dark chocolate contributes to heart health and is rich in cancer-fighting antioxidants.
Does this sound like just a chocolate lover's dream to you? Let me assure you that in separate and varied research projects, researchers across the world are coming up with surprising results: chocolate . . . dark chocolate . . . (specifically cocoa or dark chocolate with a cocoa content of 60% or more) is consistently proving to be a factor in lowering risk of heart disease.
Dr. David L. Katz, of Yale University School of Medicine reports, "Cocoa is the most concentrated source of bioflavonoid antioxidants readily available in our diets." He adds that these benefits come only from bittersweet dark chocolate and concentrated cocoa beverages. The key here is the effective combination of cocoa's antioxidants and its magnesium, arginine, and fiber. Katz also warns that milk chocolate contains "potentially harmful saturated fats," that the cocoa in some candy bars is "diluted by many other ingredients," and that "cocoa comes in foods that tend to be energy-dense, and the harm of excess calories could readily offset the benefit of antioxidants."
Are you wondering how dark chocolate lowers the risk of heart disease? Well, a research project conducted by Johns Hopkins University reveals that chocolate affects the platelets involved in clotting the blood, an action that is similar to, but not nearly equal to, taking one baby aspirin a day. This study revealed that chocolate eaters' blood clotted more slowly than the blood of participants who had eaten no chocolate. Urine tests of both groups showed a lower level of thromboxane, a platelet waste product, in chocolate eaters.
What ingenious doctor at John Hopkins University thought of testing for the health benefits of chocolate? Actually, the University was testing the effects of aspirin on blood platelets. As part of the research, volunteers were to exercise, to stop smoking, and to avoid caffeinated drinks, wine, grapefruit juice and chocolate. However, some chocolate lovers admitted that they had not been successful at staying away from their chocolate. Although this negated their use in the aspirin study, researchers looked at their blood anyway. This is when they discovered that the chocolate eaters' blood clotted more slowly than the blood of those who resisted successfully.
However, this was not the first time doctors suspected cocoa of contributing to healthy hearts; researchers have considered cocoa in this light since the 1700's. Believe it or not, the idea for researching chocolate as a health benefit didn't come from the a chocoholic research doctor or even from the clamorings of millions of chocolate loving women, but from the Kuna Indians who live off the coast of Panama. The Kuna, whose traditional diet is rich in cocoa beverages, experience an extremely low level in cardiovascular diseases, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and diabetes. However, when the Kuna reduce their intake of cocoa, the numbers of incidents of these diseases rises significantly. Thanks to this information, researchers undertook projects to determine how dark chocolate can lower heart disease and related diseases.
By the way, remember all those reports you've heard concerning the antioxidants in green tea and red wine? Cornell University reports on their latest research in the American Chemical Society's Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry their surprising results showing that cocoa has almost twice the amount of antioxidants that red wine contains and up to three times the amount that green tea contains. Lead Cornell researcher, Chang Lee, recommends combining all three drinks, "Personally, I would drink hot cocoa in the morning, green tea in the afternoon, and a glass of red wine in the evening." Cornell researchers also advocate drinking cocoa instead of eating chocolate bars because one cup of cocoa has only about 1/3 gram of fat, while a standard 40-gram bar has 8 grams of fat.
Imagine! One of woman's oldest and dearest friends — the chocolate bar — turns out to be a contributor to good heart health. Even better, it's the more expensive dark chocolates (who doesn't love really good chocolate) that have even higher levels of flavanoids. In the light of this research, go ahead — bless the chocolate lovers in your life with gifts of chocolate this year; in fact, why not indulge yourself as well? Happy Munching, and Happy New Year!
Eileen Silva, Ph.D., N.D. is a metabolic health balancing expert, talk show guest, and lecturer. Dr. Silva is also an individual, group, and corporate weight management consultant. Contact Dr. Silva at
http://www.dreileensilva.com
In this blog I will be sharing with you all the best and most up to date information about Dark Chocolate. From Health Benefits of Dark Chocolate, to Dark Chocolate Recipes, product reviews, Dark Chocolate history, Tips and Techniques when working with Dark Chocolate and so much more! From time to time I will be posting instructional recipe videos and product review videos as well as the occasional special deal on Dark Chocolate products such as Cocoa, Dark Chocolate Bars, Dark Chocolate Truffles, Chocolate recipe books etc. But don't worry, I won't be spamming you or emailing every day with rubbish promotions to make a quick buck! I will only ever let you know about very special, genuine opportunities as I discover them.
If you have any ideas, tips, advice, recipes or thoughts of what you would like to know about in regards to Dark Chocolate that I haven't already covered, please feel welcome to email me or post a comment. I sincerely look forward to hearing from you all!
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