What relationship do high quality, non-artisanal chocolate makers have with the cacao farmers/plantations?
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Chocolate Education
Thank you Sebastian for this post. And for helping to start what is turning into a very interesting and fruitful discussion. I was not aware of UTZ certification and after quickly reading the
UTZ wikipedia entry it seems that it has some interesting points. One thing that is not clear to me was whether it is the farmers who have to pay for the certification (like in Fair Trade) or how exactly that works. Seems that a combination of the quality control, efficiency standards and training of UTZ would be an interesting addition to Fair Trade. I would agree with Clay's other posts that providing a premium price for beans regardless of quality is a bad idea at best and encourages low quality beans at worst. Fair Trade has a long way to go to get away from the perception that Fair Trade equals low quality. I find myself reluctant to say a bar is Fair Trade, because I feel the assumption is: good story, bad taste.I wholeheartedly agree that the problem needs to be addressed on multiple levels. Communities who are not thriving (or at least managing to do more than survive) are not going to continue growing good quality cacao.As background, my original reason for getting involved in chocolate was because I felt it was a way to address basic health and welfare issues in parts of the world where cacao is grown: clean water, access to basic health care, education, training. I was inspired by a model in Ecuador on the Napo River, run by Douglas McMeekin. Yachana Gourmet and Yachana Lodge were established as businesses to feed a non-profit organisation now called Yachana Foundation and to ensure that the communities working in these two businesses were reaping the benefits of the profits. A health clinic, a primary school and now a technical high school teaching relevant skills have been set up through this group. This to me is an example of good work.The problem is that this is not visible to the average person who is shopping for chocolate at the specialty shop or grocery shop. One of the criticisms of UTZ is that large companies are "greenwashing", or "ethical washing" by using these certifications that are not that effective. How do I know whether the Endangered Species bar is actually doing what they claim to be doing? Short of some serious research I can't know.Which brings me back to my original question: I want to be able to collect reliable data on various producers and how they treat the cacao growers with whom they work. Not everyone is transparent. I want to provide this data to my customers, I want to be able to talk to the folks who come in to do chocolate tastings, and tell them who are the people behind this bar. Who are the people behind growing the cacao, fermenting and drying the cacao, turning it into chocolate bars? I want to be able to tell my customers what the positive selling points of this bar are. Not just in terms of taste, which of course is important, but also, as I like to put it simply and maybe in a bit of a silly way, how happy is this chocolate bar? How much happiness does this bar pack?I would like to believe that on a small scale initially, if I can be reliable with the data I provide, people can have more access to the stories behind the bars. It is my hope that this will affect their purchasing choices.What I am starting to think is that I need to try to build relationships with all of the individual producers and try to suss out for myself who is doing what. This is a herculean task, which is why I was posting this in the first place. The problem with asking others for information is that I don't know how reliable the TCL members are. Not everyone posts who they are, what their background is, who they work for or why they are interested in chocolate or even what their last name is. As I write this I am fully aware that I still need to post more information and background on who I am. And be completely transparent about my involvement with chocolate. And I will as soon as I have some more time.So, I agree with what you are saying and I am wondering if you (or anyone else who is posting here or reading) have any tips on how we can perhaps start collecting this data. How do we make it somewhat objective? Maybe I should start a community database that compiles information on producers in a rigourous and transparent way? Because it seems that the third party certifiers that we currently have are seriously flawed and we need a new way to figure out which producers are doing the ethical thing.I have been running chocolate tastings now since 2004 in the San Francisco Bay Area. We are now taking it to the next level and have rented a space to host chocolate tastings, retail chocolate and serve as a place to educate people about chocolate. The next logical step would then be for my chocolate tasting members who are feeling more connected to the chocolate makers, to start building community with the cacao producers. Organise some trips like Clay has been organising. Go spend time seeing where their favorite bar originated. Get invested in the growers, connect a Palo Alto school to a farming community in a cacao growing community and work together to build a school, or whatever might be most needed by the cacao community. There are lots of possibilities.And lots of questions. Before I write a book, I will stop here and wait for some responses.Apologies to all for taking so long to respond, I have been reading all your responses with great pleasure. Thank you for all the information and for furthering my education. Have I mentioned how happy I am to be part of this great community called The Chocolate Life?
We carry a diverse selection of Happy Chocolates and are open by appointment. We specialize in chocolate tastings and have a "try before you buy" policy.