"fair trade is dead" - an interesting perspective
Posted in: Uncategorized
Hear hear!
Forum Activity for @Ancel Mitchell
When a Guide to Good May Not Be
Posted in: Opinion
Ignore the money. Follow the cacao. In the same way that buy local, locavore, farmers markets have become big in an attempt to move away from the certification /big agro mess and muddle, why can't artisan chocolate makers do the same? Lead the way for others: educate, stimulate, generate!!! Connect with the farmers, or the co-ops, or at least get as close to the source as you can. If you buy beans buy them from someone who has gone to the farm, touched the soil, heard the birds. Certification is just certification - how many of us really trust the certificates we have? I think it must be time for the local connections to penetrate the artisan chocolate world.This last week I've heard from two people who want to develop beans specifically for individuals or small businesses. Who are looking to form personal connections with their clients. I'm not anywhere in the league of you all out there who have the experience and the developed taste to know the different varieties and nuances of beans. And I don't know how big a part that is of your businessess. I do know the difference between a bean that's been fermented for different lengths and under different conditions, and what that does to the chocolate. And I do know a bean that has been grown in healthy, vital conditions.What is important to you all? What are you looking for? If the artisan producers start dictating to and educating - and paying - for better quality beans from small producers, they'll get them. Connection is the key. And only key.
How much chocolate do you eat per day, on average?
Posted in: Tasting Notes
On average the Swiss population consumes 11lb per year per person, in Germany the average is 10.8lbs, in the UK it's 10.3, and in the US 5.1lbs. So they say. That's all chocolate bars, not just the good stuff. I think consuming a pound a day would make one seriously high or sick or both. Spitting it out, I wonder why one would have to taste so much? How much chocolate does one have to taste to know what one's eating?
Hi Lisa,For Costa Rica, October through early December is the best time to come: harvest, fermenting, drying all happen in these months. Actually the cacao here is produced year round, but these months represent the main harvest and it's by far the best time to come. I don't know offhand of any tour companies offering specific chocolate tours, but I do know of several farms and co-ops which either offer tours, or would be happy to show someone around. We are based on the Caribbean side so the following suggestions are for the eastern part of the country. Rainforest Alliance farm, 'La Amistad'; Catie, a research and educational facility developing new strains of cacao, based in Turrialba; Caribeans, a local organic chocolate producer with a small demonstration farm; Sibu Chocolate, a production company which works with organic / Rainforest Alliance farms; Chocoart, a farm and production company making minimally processed bars; there are several local indigenous families making chocolate and cacao butter from their own cacao. And us, Finca la Isla, a permaculture farm just starting to produce our own bars on-site.Happy to share more if you message me(?),Ancel
updated by @Ancel Mitchell: 11/18/15 14:07:25
Sleeping near Cacao Trees
Posted in: Travels & Adventures
We live on an old cacao plantation, so pretty much if I'm home then I'm within 100 feet of cacao trees. See the pods from almost every room of the house
and the squirrels that eat them. And the boas that eat the squirrels.
What are your impressions of certification programs like Fair Trade?
Posted in: Opinion
I think Fairtrade has to be taken in context. While the concept of paying a fair price for something is great, the reality of global prices makes the 'label' fairtrade an over simplification and allows the consumer to sleep through what should ideally be a 'conscious' choice. It has to be taken in the context of location: the market price, fair trade or not, for cacao is set and the buyers pay more or less that price regardless of country of origin. For a Costa Rican farmer to make the same net profit from cacao as a Nicaraguan or Guatemalan farmer, he has to produce more or find a better price for what he grows. The cost of living is simply higher and thus his returns will be smaller. Fairtrade then works for the very poorest countries. Coffee has the same problem - for many Costa Rican co-ops it is not worth their while being fairtrade because the extra costs associated with the 'label' outweigh any extra returns on price. Not really the way to go to encourage sustainable practises.
It's complicated, and I'm not an economist by any stretch, my experience with fairtrade comes from listening to the farmers.