This is powerfrau's favorite chocolate brand (well, of the selection available in the States, at any rate). She grew up loving it, because it was the kind of fair-trade product her parents and friends and teachers raved about and she liked the idea that the people growing the cocoa would be paid properly. She cannot stand the taste of popular chocolate brands in the States, because they taste of oily oily oil...ICK...in powerfrau's opionion those brands should not legally be allowed to use the name "chocolate". But wait, she just learnt from the website that Green&Blacks are now owned by Cadbury Schwepps, so she is a little sad and weeny bit worried. However, since Whole Foods is closed, she cannot eat some Green&Blacks to cheer herself up. So she'll listen to Over The Rhine instead...their song "Born" is almost as good as Green & Black's chocolate.
From www.greenandblacks.com:
"It all started back in 1991 when Craig Sams, founder of Whole Earth - the pioneering organic food company - was sent a sample of dark 70% chocolate made from organic cocoa beans. His wife, environment columnist for The Times and confirmed chocoholic, Josephine Fairley, found the half eaten bar on Craig's desk and sampled some for herself. The intense flavour was unique and unlike anything she had tasted before. Jo was convinced other chocolate lovers would appreciate it in the same way she had and they set about making the world's first organic chocolate. The final product was a high-quality, bittersweet dark chocolate bar, packed with 70% cocoa solids - enough to make chocolate fans sit up and take notice..
As the brand began to gain a loyal following, Maya Gold was added to the range in 1994 - the product of a holiday Jo & Craig made to where they discovered cocoa farmers were being penalised, as some larger confectionery companies tried to drive cocoa prices down. They agreed to pay the farmers a fair price for their crops and created the flavour of Maya Gold to capture the taste of the rainforests where the cocoa is grown. This way of doing business didn't seem different to them - it was what came naturally but it susbequently earnt them the UK's first Fairtrade mark."
