Apologies, this is a very frivolous post. Although maybe not so frivolous — food matters, and similar considerations apply to the manufacture of chocolate as to e.g. the running of nuclear power stations, or the efficient provision of educational services.
First, let me tell you why you should regularly eat organic chocolate:
- Chocolate is good for your brain (sorry, don't have links to the research, but I'm sure you can google them for yourself).
- You want to avoid non-organic because cocoa is one of the most highly-sprayed crops (no good doing your brain good in one way, if it harms it in another).
Until recently, I bought Green & Black's which is available in most supermarkets by now. However, frankly their chocolate is not as nice as some non-organic e.g. Lindt. (Cadbury's? Pur-lease. If you must eat newsagent chocolate, at least go for silk rather than cotton.*)
Now, however, I have discovered a brand which is utterly fabulicious: Montezuma's organic 73%, made on the sunlit summits of Sussex (slight hyperbole). Okay, so the cocoa content is lower than G&B's 85% (which, frankly, is barely edible it's so bitter). But according to the back of the packet:
Judging chocolate by cocoa content is like judging wine by alcohol content. Always consider the variety of bean, climate, soil, weather, skill and about 5 zillion other things that have a more significant effect.I won't try to describe the wonderfulness of it, my prose isn't up to it. Suffice it to say I have never eaten chocolate that good in this country. (Germany/Austria/France, yes. Sorry Britain.) I recommend you try it for yourself.
Sadly, at the moment Montezuma's is only available in some health shops and delis, though probably also online (haven't tried). But that may change; after all, G&B didn't hit supermarkets till about a year ago I think.
No, I'm not being sponsored by Montezuma's.
Happy, chocolatey Easter.
* I.e. Galaxy
PS "Fair trade" chocolate? Don't get me started. The best I can do for that particular political-correctness movement is not to discriminate against it when making purchases.