**Update 12/16/2020: What a fun, fascinating, and delicious chocolate tasting we had today via video conference! Thank you for your awesome participation, or for visiting this page even if you didn’t have the chance to join the call!
As promised, here are links to shop the craft chocolate bars from the different sets, plus links to retailers who buy wholesale from me and where you can find multiple craft chocolate brands including many of the below; please note that not all bars are available in all countries at the current time:
Brands in our sets
9th & Larkin Chocolate of San Francisco, woman-owned, Lan puts her husband to work roasting cacao sometimes
Baiani Chocolates of Brazil, wife/husband-owned, wife Juliana is the chocolate maker
Crow & Moss Chocolate of Michigan, husband is chocolate maker, wife does their graphic design
Dick Taylor Chocolate of Eureka, California
Honest Chocolate of Cape Town, South Africa
Manoa Chocolate of Hawaii
Xocolatl Chocolate of Atlanta, wife/husband-owned, signatory to the Nestle and Cargill v Doe amicus brief linked below
VAICACAO of Italy, wife/husband-owned, both are chocolate makers
US retailers who will ship anywhere
Cocoa & Co., woman-owned in Chicago
Gourmet Boutique, woman-owned in Boston
Honeycreeper Chocolate, woman-owned in Birmingham, Alabama
Rare Bird Preserves, woman-owned in Oak Park, Illinois
Yahara Chocolate of Wisconsin, possibly the most extensive selection of craft chocolate anywhere
Please tell any of the brands or retailers I sent you!
I’d love to hear what you choose or what your favorites were from your set, or your thoughts on Nestle and Cargill v Doe, or thoughts or questions on anything else.
Thank you!
Valerie
chocolateuplift@gmail.com
**
Hello!
I am excited and thankful for a special virtual chocolate tasting for the Harvard Law School Women’s Alliance, with my sister alumnae!
Below is the welcome letter going out with the craft chocolate tasting kits, and below that is information on the chocolate bars in the kits, and on how to recognize ethical chocolate, as well as updates on Nestle and Cargill v. Doe, a case about child slave labor in Big Chocolate brands in which the US Supreme Court heard oral arguments earlier this month.
Thank you, and enjoy!
Valerie
Valerie Beck (HLS ’96)
Founder/CEO Chocolate Uplift
Craft Chocolate Distribution and Consulting
Welcome Letter
Hello and welcome to our virtual chocolate tasting!
The craft chocolate bars I’ve selected are enclosed, and we’re going to have a fun, fascinating, and delicious time!
Here is our plan:
1. Anticipation: Please don’t eat the chocolate yet! (Step 1 is the hardest!) We can taste it together during the Final 2020 Chapters Call:
Date: Wednesday, December 16
Time: 10:15 AM (PDT) / 1:15 PM (EDT) to 11:30 AM (PDT) / 2:30 PM (EDT)
Dial-in: Details to arrive electronically
2. Storage: I recommend storing your chocolate in a cool, dry place, and not in the refrigerator where the moisture can cause the chocolate to “bloom,” or develop chalkiness.
3. Tasting: During the call, I’ll walk us through a guided tasting so that we can talk about the history and health benefits of chocolate, how to recognize ethical chocolate, and a related recent Supreme Court case, and so that we can simply enjoy craft chocolate and a festive gathering!
For more information in advance about the chocolate bars in your kit and on craft chocolate in general — such as about my 5 Ss of first-class chocolate: slavery-free, soy-free, sustainable, small-batch, and scrumptious — please see www.chocolateuplift.com/hlswa.
I look forward to our virtual chocolate tasting, and am grateful to HLSWA for hosting this special event!
Thank you, and happy holidays!
Valerie
Valerie Beck (HLS ‘96)
Founder/CEO Chocolate Uplift
Craft Chocolate Distribution and Consulting
P.S. Here is my favorite Aztec-inspired hot chocolate recipe; feel free to sip during our presentation:
4 tablespoons drinking chocolate mix or finely chopped chocolate bar
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/8 teaspoon sea salt
1/8 teaspoon orange zest
Whisk dry ingredients with up to 1 cup hot water or your favorite milk, top with orange zest, and enjoy!
*****
Ethical Chocolate
Commercial chocolate / big-brand chocolate comes from a supply chain with child labor, forced labor, and deforestation and other environmental degradations.
How to recognize and choose craft chocolate instead, which nourishes people and planet?
Look for my 5 Ss of first-class chocolate:
*slavery-free — Look for the cacao country of origin on the label. If you see none, chances are you have non-traceable bulk cacao, which comes from tainted supply chains.
*soy-free — Look for the presence or absence of soy lecithin or other processed ingredients on the label. These indicate industrial chocolate and also have negative health effects.
*sustainable — Does the brand tell you about the cacao they sourced, and about their packaging?
*small-batch — The big brands are all complicit in child labor, farmer poverty, deforestation, and overuse of chemical pesticides. Look for small brands making a difference.
*scrumptious! — Chocolate is about enjoyment!
*****
Tasting kits for our HLSWA virtual event
Chocolate bars in most US Mainland tasting kits:
- @crowandmosschocolate Bolivian Rose Salt chocolate bar, made from Colombian cacao plus cane sugar, with a gentle sprinkling of Bolivian pink salt. This fruit-forward bar reminds me of childhood visits to Michigan, where my mom spent part of her childhood on a small family farm!
- @dicktaylorchocolate Brazil, made in Eureka, California, is sophisticated and rich, and reminds me of the years I lived in Europe, where the idea to create the world’s first chocolate tours came to me, as a chocolate-obsessed exchange student in Paris in 1989!
- @xocolatlchocolate Kissed Mermaids, made in Atlanta, is light, bright, and topped with cacao nibs, and you know how excited I get about cacao nibs, and about blue and white! A cheerful bar! Plus, this is the first batch on Uganda cacao (instead of Costa Rica), grown by the Semuliki Forest collective of around 1,000 family farmers, and I love the rich notes of warm spice on a core note of straight-ahead chocolate!
Alternate bar in NY/NJ kits:
Chocolate bars in a San Francisco tasting kit:
Craft chocolate brand in Hawaii tasting kit:
Craft chocolate brand in Brazil tasting kit:
Craft chocolate brand in Europe tasting kits:
Craft chocolate brand in South Africa tasting kit:
*****
Info on Nestle and Cargill v. Doe
Washington Post article
Video debrief featuring the attorney who made the recent argument before the Supreme Court, and other attorneys involved
Amicus brief filed by craft chocolate makers (including Xocolatl Chocolate, which we are tasting in our US Mainland kits)
Symposium of articles about the case from Just Security, based at the Reiss Center on Law and Security at New York University School of Law
*****
Thank you and keep eating real chocolate!
