SOURCING SUSTAINABLE CACAO RESPONSIBLY

It's imperative in this day and age to know where your chocolate products come from! Commercial chocolate grown by multi-national corporations is pretty horrible and there are more than a few reasons why you might choose to avoid it. First of all, much of this chocolate is grown and processed using slave-labor. In addition, the agricultural reality that much of this chocolate is grown in is detrimental from an environmental standpoint. The monocropped fields of row upon row of recently-planted young trees often are completely devoid of any pollinator species, and they might be irrigated with water from contaminated rivers and streams. Most of these operations are growing hybridized and GMO varieties that produce chocolate products that are more astringent and acidic, whose bitter taste then must be covered up and diluted
with lots of sugar or powdered milk products. Typical processing methods often use harsh solvents and often includes a process called “Dutching,” a.k.a alkalinization, which mitigates the extreme acidity of the bitter cacao. These very typical manufacturing processing can decrease beneficial compounds and nutrients by over eighty percent!

Cacao trees are amongst the most-sprayed agricultural crops in the world, so you probably want to know growing practices are clean, and that your source is organic, whether it is labeled as such or not. Organic certification is high cost which might be unobtainable for smaller farms. Plus, standards are different all around the world, so just because it's not labeled "organic" in your country doesn't mean it isn't grown using chemical-free practices. As long as you are privileged to have access to it, it's preferable to purchase cacao that's grown using sustainable agroforestry principles and harvested, fermented and processed in ways that preserve the cacao’s medicinal and nutritional values.

The scenario for mainstream commercial chocolate production mentioned above is quite different than what it looks like on a lot of small independent properties and farms, most notably in areas of Ecuador, Belize, Tanzania, Guatemala, and the high-elevation Andean jungle in Peru. In those places, natives are growing older strains of cacao such as the superior Arriba Nacional, a heritage bean prized for its fine, smooth flavor profile. Many pods are harvested from old, wild trees or from trees planted intentionally decades ago in rich volcanic soil amidst biodiverse native forested areas at high elevation. They are often watered with unadulterated mineral-rich spring or rain water, as irrigation would not be affordable. These wild–yet–cultivated trees are often 30 to 80 years old and grown how cacao is meant to thrive.

Small farmers can bring their beans to collectives to be processed to standards set by chocolate companies who are invested in the well-being of the local community and families and have regard for the long-term sustainability of the land as well.

Honestly, I think we are incredibly fortunate that there is a bit of a revolution happening in the chocolate world and that such incredibly high-quality cacao is available to us. It's higher in nutritional value and produced with higher ethical standards and less environmental destruction than ever before. Let's seek it out and support everyone involved in getting it into our hands so it can nourish us all as we cultivate the joy of ChocAnanda!

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