Saturday, December 7, 2013

CHOCOLATE!

I'm always searching for the next best chocolate, but lately, ingredients have become more important to me than taste….after all, I did eliminate chocolate from my diet two years ago….while nursing Jane and trying to get a handle on her food allergies. I survived….I gave up chocolate and survived….true story!


But, lucky for me, Jane is not allergic to chocolate, but we do (both) have sensitivities to soy, so the search for soy free chocolate commenced! That was difficult, because most chocolate bars seem to contain an ingredient called soy lecithin. This "preservative" seems to be in everything. Soy lecithin is a waste product from the soybean processing. When disposing this waste product became an issue, scientists where called in to solve the problem….I guess the solution was to put it in our foods….

Okay, so I found some soy-free chocolate, but then I read the (fair trade, organic) chocolate article on the David Suzuki site and….remembering a documentary I saw about kidnapped children working on cocoa plantations…..searching for chocolate has become very difficult and I've been thinking twice about going to some of my favourite chocolate shops.

So I went out in search of fair trade certified organic chocolate with no preservative (no soy lecithin). Luckily, the fair trade certification process also prohibits GMOs! The last requirement on my list, was to search for a great chocolate bar that is made in (or around) Vancouver (to minimize my carbon footprint). Here are my results…in order of preference:


1. smooch from zazubean, made right here in Vancouver! nakid is also good, but I prefer milk chocolate. anything above 70% is too dark for me.


2. Simply Dark from Denman Island Chocolate made on Denman Island, British Columbia.

3. Caramel crunch from camino, La Siembra Co-operative

4. Dark Quinoa from Alter Eco in San Francisco. They had to make the list! Not only is the chocolate delicious…the packaging is awesome and filled with information. Love it!