Delicious, eco-conscious chocolate used to be tough to find, but now more and more companies are catering to the desire to satisfy a sweet tooth with something sustainable. One of the standouts in this category is award-winning, family-owned Pacari Chocolate, which is not only organic and biodynamic but is also looking to change the chocolate industry in Ecuador.

Founded in 2002 by Santiago Peralta and Carla Barbotó, Pacari Chocolate was created to allow native Ecuadorians to take pride in this local commodity. “They were motivated because they were Ecuadorian and saw so many cacao farmers for generations do all the hard labor but then not getting paid for their work,” says the company’s U.S. importer and ambassador Natalie Mitchell. “And more times than not, they were not seeing the final product of their work, some of them never having tasted chocolate.”

Pacari is the Quechua word for “nature,” and it’s no accident that this is the name that was chosen for the company. The “natural” ideal is strong here, but in order to distance themselves from products claiming the natural label with no solid basis, Peralta and Barbotó made a few concrete decisions.

A Biodynamic Chocolate

Firstly, they decided to be good to the earth. Pacari Chocolate is the only chocolate company to hold the Demeter Biodynamic Certification, a unique and rigorous certification demanding the highest of standards for the product and its fabrication. As Mitchell explains, “The board of Demeter Biodynamics meets yearly to raise the bar and clarify the standards accordingly.”

According to the Pacari Chocolate site, this choice “certifies that the raw material production keeps an auto-regenerative ecosystem which is free from chemicals, pesticides, and fertilizers,” and creates an ecological balance in the production of this chocolate.

“There is also a spiritual element of biodynamic,” explains Mitchell. “Since some of our farmers are indigenous to the land, they are very pure in their methods and the way that they harvest, so we are honoring the, ‘Pace Mama,’ or mother earth.”

It took the company 5 years to achieve this status. “It doesn’t only involve stopping the use of any chemical, batteries on the land, pesticides, etc.,” Mitchell explains. “It is also retreating the soil very deep down.”

By treating the soil well, the chocolate company seeks to find the echoes of Ecuador’s very terroir in the final product.

A Farmer-Based Chocolate

Secondly, Pacari Chocolate put the farmers and producers of their chocolate at the heart of their business plan.

“We are paying our workers 2 to 3 times more than someone outside of Ecuador who is buying the cacao from them,” Mitchell says. “We don’t own the land or the farms, so it’s all based on relationship and the way we treat them.”

And this extends past mere finances. Mitchell relates a story of a worker who had a bad back, and rather than firing him, as some other companies might have done, Pacari Chocolate chose to purchase a donkey, so that he would still be able to move the cacao bags.

“In addition, Pacari is a Pro-Woman company,” says Mitchell. “We have 50-pound bags instead of 100-pound bags like most other cacao farms, and so it makes it possible for all types of people to work.”

Sustainability and social responsibility are at the forefront of business decisions: direct business is done with small-scale farmers, and as a result, this single-origin chocolate shows off the best of Ecuadorian farmers and Ecuadorian soil.

Flavor is Key at Pacari Chocolate

And finally, but of course not least importantly, Pacari Chocolate wanted to make a final product that was delicious and enjoyable for the consumer.

“A fine chocolate should be like a fine wine,” says Mitchell. “You should be able to taste the cacao.”

And that should be all you taste. Pacari is entirely devoid of lactose, soy, and gluten. The chocolate is also USDA organic, Kosher, and Beyond Fair Trade, and its biodynamic certification means that it is entirely devoid of GMOs.

So what is in the chocolate?

One-hundred-percent fino de aroma or Arriba Nacional chocolate (meaning “above the river”), which hails from an ancient Ecuadorian cacao variety native to the region. The beans are harvested moist and fermented for 4 to 5 days to extract the unique flavor of these Ecuadorian beans which, according to Mitchell, produce a chocolate that is far less acidic than some African cacao varieties.

“I believe that all of our bars are unique in flavor, but overall they are complex, fruity, nutty, and floral notes,” she says of the final product.

And indeed, there are several different varieties on offer, from single-origin chocolates to bars with added ingredients, such as coffee, goldenberry, or guayusa, but Mitchell says that her favorite is the plain Raw 85%, sweetened with coconut sugar. “I love it and have it every day to start my day right,” she says. “I don’t drink coffee, but that one square of 85% gives me that kick of caffeine I need for the day, and it’s pure and not too sweet.”

For Mitchell, this chocolate redefines what chocolate should taste like — no longer an amalgam of cream and milk and sugar, but the purest flavors of bitter, sweet, fruity chocolate that isn’t just delicious, but that you can feel good about eating too.

As for the future of Pacari Chocolate, the company seeks only to reach new heights. For now, all of the cacao is biodynamic, and all of the added ingredients are certified organic, but in the future, the company hopes to source all of its ingredients from biodynamic farms. The work of informing, educating, and aiding these local farmers to convert to biodynamic is the next challenge for this biodynamic chocolatier.

Related on EcoSalon

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Behind the Label: The Unsweet Dark Side of the Chocolate Industry

Images care of Pacari Chocolate

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When I first started learning about organic makeup, I pictured butterflies alighting on biodynamic fields of lavender and organic rose petals magically ground into lipsticks. And yes, maybe it is like that – somewhere, in someone’s pretty organic fantasyland.

In reality, the world of organic cosmetics is much more like the wild, wild west. Just add uncomfortable corsets digging into our spines! Organic could mean 100 percent organic, or it could just mean made with organic ingredients. Natural is different from organic. Biodyamic means super organic, but is really hard to confirm. Essentially, confusing, unregulated labels abound – some are which bald-faced lies.

So what to do? Almost every expert I speak to about this subject says the same thing – educate yourself. At present, there is very little regulation preventing any company from slapping on organic label on anything with a price tag. So it really is up to us, the consumer, to wade through the misinformation.

First, some easy quick tips to get started on. You can find an organic brand you really like and stick with it. You can also look at the packaging of a product – if they invest time and money into eco-friendly packaging, that’s a good indication you should spend your money on it. Third, you can check out our list of some common labels you may see on your cosmetics.

NATURAL: The USDA regulates that food can only be labeled natural if it contains no artificial ingredients or added colors and is minimally processed. The term is applicable to cosmetics that are made with natural, food-like ingredients. Although this label is an important step in the right direction, there isn’t a lot of regulation for enforcing it. The standards for labeling something organic are much stricter.

ORGANIC: During the Clinton administration, there was enormous debate with the USDA as to what organic exactly meant. And it meant it could include things like sewage sludge and genetically-modified ingredients. Luckily, that has all changed.

Now there are three tiers of organic labeling. If something is 100 percent organic, this means that the products were made entirely with certified organic ingredients and methods and therefore can be labeled “100 percent organic”. “Organic” also applies to products with at least 95 percent organic ingredients. Both of these categories may also display the USDA Organic seal.

If something is “certified organic,” this means that certification is about regulating and facilitating the sale of organic products to consumers. Products may also display the logo of the certification body that approved them.

If something is “made with organic ingredients,” this means that products made with less than 70 percent organic ingredients can only mention this fact in the product’s ingredient statement.

BIODYNAMIC: Common in many overseas products, this means the product has been organically farmed in a rather interesting way. The farms are cultivated as unified and individual organisms, emphasizing the development and interrelationship of the soil, plants, and animals as a self-nourishing system without external inputs. There is very limited ability to establish and verify this ingredient. You just can’t claim something is biodynamic – it must be certified by an outside source. But these standards can sometimes exceed organic standards.

Hopefully these tips help you in your organic cosmetic shopping adventures!

Image: Ecolabelling.org

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It’s one thing to go organic, but many California wineries are taking sustainability to another level. From ground to glass, the California Sustainable Winegrowing Alliance (CSWA) is ensuring that Californian vintners are known not only for quality organic wines, but for being leaders in the movement towards sustainable agriculture.

Some of the recommendations put forth by the CSWA for Californian vintners are:

Embrace alternative energy sources, such as solar, wind and biodegradable fuels.

Be at the forefront in habitat restoration and preservation efforts.

Use green building materials – straw bale, rammed earth, recycled lumber – in winery construction.

Use cover crops and compost.

Adopt water conservation practices.

Have employee-run recycled and solid waste management programs.

Give back to the community by supporting non-profit and charitable organizations.

CSWA is setting the standard for real grassroots change in wineries, and we can support them by urging our favorite vineyards to adopt these ideas and become shining examples for wineries – and other businesses – around the world. Learn more about these wineries.

Image: zest-pk

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