The Chocolate Fudge Cafe

Amazon Watch

This year’s luncheon was a celebration of fifteen years of achievements for the people and rainforests of the Amazon and the launch of new initiatives to advance alternatives to large dams in the Brazilian Amazon, secure land rights for indigenous peoples in Peru, and bring clean water to oil affected communities in Ecuador.

Our special guest was Brazilian indigenous leader Sheyla Yakarepi Juruna, an unwavering defender of the Xingu River and indigenous rights in Brazil and key spokesperson for the campaign to stop the Belo Monte Dam.

Amazon Watch

July 22nd, 2011
7:00 – 8:00 p.m. VIP cocktail reception
8:00 – 11:00 p.m. Dinner and program

The Four Main Types of Cacao

From the book “Discover Chocolate” by Clay Gordon

   Forastero 

Origin:   Amazon River Basin; introduced into Western Africa via the island of Sao Tome

Tree:      Comparatively high yielding and disease resistant

Pod:       Lower Amazon (Amelonado): yellow pods with smooth outer skin

              Upper Amazon (UPA): yellow pods with variable shapes

              Comparatively disease resistant

Bean:     Size: large

              Interior Color: violet

Flavor:   Robust; not considered to be fine flavor cacao

Criollo 

Origin:  Central America, Mexico

Tree:     Comparatively low yielding and not as resistant to disease

Pod:      Red, orange or yellow pods; rough outer skin with longitudinal furrows

Bean:    Size: small to medium

             Interior Color: pale to white (which gave rise to the name Porcelana)

Flavor:  Delicate and nuanced; considered to be the finest flavor cacao

  Trinitario 

Origin:   Island of Trinidad (a natural hybrid between Forastero and Criollo);

              Introduced into Western Africa via the island of Fernando Po (Malabo)

Tree:      Intermediate yield and disease resistance between Forastero and Criollo

Pod:       Various Colors, often purple

Bean:     Size: medium to large

              Interior Color: ranges from violet to pale depending on predominance of

              Forastero or Criollo strains

Flavor:   Nuanced to robust; considered to be fine flavor cacao

 Nacional 

Origin:   Equador, technically considered to be Forastero sub-type exhibiting many

              Criollo characteristics

Tree:      Similar to Trinitario

Pod:       Similar to Trinitario

Bean:     Size: medium to large

              Interior Color: ranges from violet to pale

Flavor:   Nuanced and robust; considered to be fine flavor cacao

Inside of dried Cacao Pod with pale interior color:

 Shawn Askinosie of Askinosie Chocolate talks about Direct Trade vs. Fair Trade

      The following is an excerpt from the FAQ page of Askinosie Chocolate’s website.  Shawn Askinosie, the founder, has traveled extensively in cacao-growing regions and he has a direct relationship with the farmers he purchases cacao from.  I really appreciate his “first-hand” explanation of “direct trade”, and the sharing of his experiences importing cacao into the U.S.  (Shawn is the tall one in the back of the photo.)

I shop fair trade as much as possible. How do you pay your farmers and how do they share in the profits? 
I love the Fair Trade idea.  I believe that we have to be vigilant that Fair Trade does not become a marketing gimmick or reduced to a bumper sticker.  We must ask the questions and dig deeper to find out how the company treats those that supply them raw materials AND how they treat their own employees. Fair Trade has been scrutinized because some question if the money ever finds its way to the farmer in the field and not coop bureaucrats. My chocolate is not “certified” Fair Trade mainly because the farmers I deal with cannot afford the certification and they are very loosely organized. They are very poor. I go way beyond Fair Trade and here is how I do it:

1. I deal DIRECT with the farmers 100%.  I have a rule that I will not buy beans from farmers I have not met – in person.  This is hard because I travel a lot and while it is fun it’s not always easy.  The travel is not the hard part; it is the complicated nature of importing that I do myself.  I have a local company that handles shipping and customs clearing, but other than that it is all me.  I am the only chocolate factory in the US (that I am aware of) that sources 100% of their beans direct. There may be one other person who does this, but I cannot verify this and he is a much smaller company.  When I go to these origins I see the farms and determine myself the issues that a Fair Trade certifier would look at. The main thing is that I am building relationships with the farmers and their families.  This is hard and takes time, but it is worth it.
2. I pay far above the Fair Trade market price (which is set above the world market price) for beans.
3. I have implemented a program called Stake in the Outcome^TM  (a profit sharing program for the farmers) which is described on our website at “The Farmers”.  This guarantees to the farmers open books.  This is not a negotiation tactic to get them to lower the price on the beans; it is in ADDITION to what I pay them for the beans.  I know the name of every farmer who contributed to the crop in both locations.  This is something that I doubt any other chocolate maker in the world can say.  You can’t share with someone if you don’t know their name.  I distributed my first profits in Ecuador in December 2007 and in Mexico in January 2008.  These were, by far, my best days yet in the chocolate business!  They said that nobody had ever come back to thank them, let alone share money with them and show the books.  
4. Why is Stake in the Outcome important?  This directly affects the quality of the cocoa beans I buy.  It affects quality in a way that Fair Trade never will. One day farmers will give me higher quality beans to my specifications when they see that they will make more money if I make more money.  They will literally share in my success.  I have a very detailed specification now for the beans I buy, but I know that what I buy will be even higher quality than what I have now.  I have done this with my law practice for nearly a decade.  My secretaries, for example, knew the details of our income statement and made more money when I did.  Why should companies in the US buy raw materials, jack up the price, and not share the profits with those who they source from?  My prayer is that one day a small company from another industry will ask me how to implement this model.  If I can inspire even one other company to adopt Stake In the Outcome, then I will have been a success in this business.  I have had the “career” and it is not about that now.  If I was doing this business to get rich I would have stayed in my law practice.  This program will not change the world but it might change the life of a farmer or two or three.

Equadorean Protestors in Lago Agrio near the Columbian border

Cacao pods on trees

  Did you know that some of  the best chocolate comes from Equador?  Small family farmers are growing some of the best cacao in the world and the chocolate from those trees is delicious!  It is pure, organic and fair trade without the “greed energy” of some of the other cacao growing regions.

   This is why we must do all we can to protect the Equadorean rainforest and its farmers.  One way is to get Chevron to clean up its mess from an oil spill by Texaco.   The plaintiffs in a huge lawsuit in the Ecuadorean oil boom town of Lago Agrio, located just across the border from Colombia, allege that Texaco, which operated in Ecuador from 1964 to 1990 and was acquired by Chevron in 2001, poisoned their lands, rivers and ground water with toxic chemicals.

http://mobile.globalpost.com/dispatch/the-americas/090429/chevron-ecuador

If you interested in signing a petition regarding this issue:

http://act.credoaction.com/campaign/chevron_ecuador/

There is also activity in Tena and the Kallari, where Ivanhoe, a Canadian oil company, has leased rights from the Ecuadorian government to prospect for oil. The form of oil that is found in the area does not lend itself to conventional drilling, instead, a form of strip mining must be used. Naturally, the consequences of unrestrained exploitation of oil in the region could be devastating not only to Ecuador’s Amazon rainforest, but to large amounts of acreage planted in cacao, and to many members of the Kallari community. One only has to visit the town of Coca to see the potential for problems.  Keep updated:  http://www.thechocolatelife.com/group/tenadiaries