Who knew there was such a controversy?  It all starts with the precious Cocoa trees - where they are grown, how they are grown, how they are harvested.  Normally acres and acres of natural forest, trees and rainforest are destroyed to make room to grow Cocoa trees.  Some companies just plow down the trees while others don't tear down the trees, but trim the upper trees so much that the birds cannot use the branches as nests.  It's important to look for both "Shade Grown and Bird Friendly" which allows the canopy of trees above the Cocoa to remain intact and therefore protects wildlife and nesting birds. 

In addition, full sun Cocoa are more susceptible to disease and insects so are heavily doused with pesticides.  So typical chocolate is basically produced without regard for anything but profit.  The birds lose their nesting, we lose our natural forests, additional pesticides are forced into our environment, we eat the chemicals when we eat the chocolate, and the big company makes greater profits on our ignorance.  To further add insult, many growers use slave laborers or people they pay unbelievably low wages to work the Cocoa trees.  Worse yet, the Ivory Coast forces CHILDREN to work the fields!  When we bite into our chocolate bar from the local convenience store, how sweet is it really knowing that a child was forced to harvest it and that it is hurting our world?

Support our environment with your pocket book and choose companies who care.  I don't buy many commercial brands anyway, but I took the time to find out which companies create this elixir with the following: Organic, Shade Grown, Fair Trade, Slavery Free, Child (Slave) Labor Free.

Buying fair trade chocolate provides farmers a decent wage and that allows communities to thrive with schools, clean water and food.  And with a decent wage, they no longer have to clear the rain forests for pasture for cattle, further saving the earth.  Just 50 people buying one bar of Fair Trade Chocolate each week, instead of other chocolates, will help maintain an acre of wild lush forest and jungle.  So help yourself and your body to organic (chemical-free) fair trade chocolate, help others and our environment in the process, and truly savor and enjoy, because you are doing a good thing!

And Dark Chocolate, in moderation of course, carries potent (flavanoid) antioxidants .  Flavanoids fight aging and disease.  Like you needed a little excuse!  Cocoa has almost twice the antioxidant value of red wine and three times those found in Green Tea!  Chocolate makes us feel good because of it contains phenylethylamines.  Chocolate helps calm stress; it relaxes our blood vessels and improves blood flow.

Hot Chocolate has been around for thousands of years.  The Aztecs made the first hot cocoa from wine, water, peppers and cocoa beans.  The Spaniards added sugar to the original recipe.  The English added the milk.  Delicious Organics offers fair trade, organic, kosher, delicious, and simple hot cocoa mix that was field tested by a playgroup of wild 4-year olds and passed the test!  With only three simple ingredients: organic sugar, organic cocoa powder, organic non-fat dry milk.  The company returns half the profits to the indigenous growers cooperative in Costa Rica that supplies the cocoa. Guaranteed to be the best tasting and lowest cost organic hot cocoa mix available!  But if you'd rather, you can make your own hot cocoa mix.  We offer everything you need to make it organic, fair trade, and delicious!

We have personally taste-tested all the organic chocolate we could find, someone had to do it, and we have chosen to carry a really delicious Fair Trade, Organic Chocolate!  Actually we were quite picky even before we began taste testing.  Most chocolate has a cheap emulsifier, soy lecithin.  If you read labels, I'm sure you've noticed this is in just about everything processed.  It is also not good for our bodies in the amounts that we can now easily consume, so we, at Delicious Organics, search out products that don't rely on this cheap emulsifier.  Art Bars are pure and do not contain soy lecithin!  (Most of our products do not contain soy by-products to make shopping healthfully easier for all of us.  When we do include soy, we make sure that it is nonGMO.)  We read labels, we taste the product, we sample it around, we ask the manufacturer questions, then we decide whether to stock it and offer it to our family and to you.  We know you are counting on us to do something very important, feed you and your family; we are honored that you entrust us with that important job and we take that very seriously.

Another great source if the Fair Trade Store, Global Exchange.  Cocoa Camino from Canada, Green & Black from England, Dagoba, and Art Bars here in the U.S. can be purchased there:

• www.radicalthought.org
• The Green Guide Chart of Chocolate by Manufacturer (at the bottom of that page)
• The Green Guide Report on Chocolate
• Coffee and Chocolate: Choose Organic, Fair Trade, Shade by The Green Guide
• Global Exchange
• Chocolate Art Bars