Saturday, May 09, 2009

Endangered Species Chocolate Dark Chocolate with Deep Forest Mint


The idea of contributing something when buying, and subsequently eating, good chocolate has always appealed to me, coupled with my concern for Nature and the animals, and plants, of this world, so this chocolatier is right up my alley. Endangered Species is an American company whose corporate philosophy is to give back to the very source of their profit. They do this in several ways. They buy cocoa that is grown in the natural shade of forests; shade-grown chocolate, and coffee, is better for the environment, as it promotes plant diversity and does not destroy the environment around which the cacao could grow, making the farmland sustainable. The cacao they buy is ethically traded, which means that the cacao workers have humane working conditions and get a fair price for their product. Thirdly, Endangered Species donates 10% of their net profits to help support species, habitat and humanity. They also have a Giveback program, where they partner with organizations that help the world.

Each of their bars has a theme of animals on the packaging, for this one it is a rainforest, with a macaw, a gorilla, a chimpanzee and a jaguar, each of these is endangered; the theme is the rainforest, an important source of many things, including food, pharmaceuticals and oxygen; all of these animals live in a rainforest, in different parts of the world. The rainforests of the world are being destroyed because of demands for timber and cropland use, and with it, the vast diversity of animals and plants are disappearing too.

This is a dark chocolate bar, with 70% cacao content, the ingredients are few, cocoa mass, unbleached water filtered beet sugar, soy lecithin (as an emulsifier), natural vanilla and natural mint flavour.



How did it taste? The chocolate was smooth and good tasting, it snapped well and smelled good, and melted well in the mouth, and the mint was not too strong a flavour and paired well with the dark chocolate. I have bought this before, and will likely again.

No comments: