Sweet
Satisfaction
For many of the country’s finest purveyors of artisanal chocolate,
the search for distinctive quality is now rooted in ethics as well as taste
In Ikom, Nigeria, near the Cameroon border, a group of men
from Indiana are eager to see their harvest. From under their
leaves, mature cacao trees reveal pale, football-shaped fruit. The
pods are prodded with bamboo sticks so they drop to the ground.
Next, a machete strikes methodically at the exterior ridges until
the fruit opens, exposing the soft, white beans and pulp that
will be fermented, dried, sorted, and processed into a bitter
powder used as the primary ingredient in
fine chocolates. To the group’s surprise,
harvesting in Nigeria is not mechanized
the way it is in the US. These are not the
great wheat fields of the Midwest. Work is
long, tedious, and always done by
hand. But one of the men, Wayne Zink, now
knows exactly why he’s here in Africa.
“This was a way to make sure our cacao
was ethically traded,” says Zink, CEO of
Indianapolis-based Endangered Species
Chocolate, whose packaging notes that 10
percent of net profits support the planet.
Zink is not alone in his efforts. An emerging
group of manufacturers are choosing to
personally manage their chocolate, from
the source to the final morsel. Through their
pursuits to understand the origins of their
product, bean-to-bar chocolatiers from
Seattle to Switzerland are discovering that
making chocolates of distinction directly
links to how the cocoa is being farmed.
Joe Whinney, founder and CEO of
Seattle’s Theo Chocolate, genetically maps
the DNA of beans he buys from co-ops in
Central and South America and from West
Africa, where more than 50 percent of the
world’s cacao comes from. He’s grown so
invested in the quality of his chocolate that
he teaches the farmers about intercropping
Ama Kade, one of Divine Chocolates’
farmer-owners, harvests cacao pods in Ghana.
48 | february-march 2008
Madhu Puri
Endangered Species Chocolate’s
tree imprint symbolizes the company’s
commitment to conservation.
—growing trees of other origins, such as
avocados, teak, and black pepper, in the
same plot. The added flora nourishes the
soil, benefits the neighboring cacao trees,
and provides cash crops in the off-season.
Whinney’s chocolates are all organic and
Fair Trade–certified. The label, bestowed
by TransFair USA on transactions between
US-based companies and suppliers in
developing nations, guarantees living
wages and safe working conditions for
farmers and ensures that child labor is
prohibited. (TransFair also pays farmers a
premium for community-minded initiatives
like healthcare and microfinance programs,
which the farmers themselves vote to put
in place.) But Whinney goes beyond the
Fair Trade guarantee to deal directly with
the farmers, recognizing that while cacao
currently sells for around $1,900 a ton, farmers
often see only a portion of that amount. Fair
Trade farmers receive at least $1,950 for each
ton of organic cacao (more if the world price
goes up), so Whinney pays between $3,500
and $4,000—allowing farmers to invest more
in their families and land.
Appealing to the high-brow style and taste
of chocolate gourmands, Alice Chocolate, a
Swiss-American brand, presents artisanal,
small-batch chocolate in designer packaging.
Alice’s cacao grows wild in Bolivia and is
harvested and traded by local farmers from
whom the company buys beans directly. The
result is an ethical bar full of flavor.
Amid the sweltering heat of Sekyerekrobo,
Ghana, in a small farming community just a
photos by by Michael Weber (opposite, bottom right); Sean McDevitt (opposite, center right)
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