Sometimes Foodie: Endangered Species Chocolate - Dark Chocolate w/Cacao Nibs -Whole Foods (What's Fair Trade?)

Endangered Species Chocolate - Dark Chocolate w/Cacao Nibs -Whole Foods

Now, this is a food blog, so I try my best to stay on topic and discuss foodie things, but every once and a while a food item touches on a little something else. In this case, 10% of the profits from this candy bar goes towards the conservation of various endangered species. I won't get all preachy on you (don't worry), I just wanted to say that I love all creatures big and small, but bats in particular hold a special place in my heart. I don't have any grand story to explain my love of bats, to be honest I have no idea what in particular attracted me to them in the first place, but I just adore them. How can I combine my love of bats and my love of food? With a bat-benefiting candy bar of course!
(For the record, the profits from this bar don't go directly to bats, but there are plenty of charities for my fellow bat-fans.)

This candy bar was actually a little gift from my boyfriend. He works within walking distance of Whole Foods so he tends to spend his lunch breaks there, eating food from their cafeteria, or walking down the aisles looking for unique foods. He happened to see this bar and, seeing as it was made with dark chocolate and there was a picture of a bat on it, he knew it was something I had to review.

The way this candybar is packaged is very similar to the Chocolove bars I've already reviewed. The outside wrapping is made of paper and, instead of containing a love poem like the Chocolove bars, this candy wrapper contains information about bats, ethical traded foods, and the Endangered Species brand.

I love when food packaging is able to pull double duty. In this case not only do I get a dark chocolate bar to satisfy my not-so-sweet tooth, but I get to learn a little something about bats and "fair trade."

For those of you who don't know what "fair traded" or "ethically traded" mean, I'll give you a really breif run down. The idea behind this movement/practice is that a lot of the people who cultivate the products we consume (like coffee or cocoa) are not well paid or taken care of. (This isn't the best example, but it's the only one I can think of.) Imagine a giant food sweatshop, the workers are mistreated and underpaid and they can't just leave and find a new position because they really have no other choice. Instead of leaving that system as is, this movement focuses on creating better working conditions, providing work-based education, and buying the products from the producers at a "fair" price. It's a really nice movement and concept, helping others and being fair, but it isn't with out it's problems. Lots of brands are abusing the "fair trade" concept to raise their prices without actually making any changes to the conditions of the farmers/producers or their work practices. (Read this for more info. Warning: naughty language ahead)

If you'd like to read more about this concept click any of the links in the above paragraph, instead of talking your ear off I'm going to get back to the review.

Okay, back to the candy! Inside the paper wrapper is a sheet of gold colored foil. I peeled the foil back and the bitter, slightly dry, aroma of dark chocolate came wafting out. The scent wasn't intense on it's own, but my photo lights get really intense, after a few minutes the chocolate started getting soft and the aroma intensified. I had to move fast...

Maybe that's one in the center?

I broke the bar into pieces (thisismylastresort) to try and photograph the cacao nibs, but I couldn't really find them. Oh well, I might as well pop a little square into my mouth before it melts entirely. (You can see it's starting to soften and my fingerprints are showing up all over the place.)

The dark chocolate is rich and bitter, just the way I like it. I could not have been happier with this chocolate, but I like my candy bars REALLY dark. IF any of you are big fans of milk chocolate, this is NOT the bar for you. In fact, this bar was even too bitter for my coffee addicted boyfriend, which was pretty surprising. Even though he prefers his coffee to be near black, he was taken aback (rhyme!) when he nibbled on a little piece of this stuff.

Personally, I love it! Plus, I may not have seen the little cacao nibs, but I can definitely taste them. They have a bitter taste and a gritty texture, which is very similar to coffee grounds, but they break apart and dissolve as you chew them which adds a really nice texture to the overall candy bar.

If you like your coffee dark as knight (~~see what I did there?~~ I like bats and angsty superheros.) then this is the candy bar for you. Everything, from the informative packaging, to the deliciously dark chocolate squares, is absolutely perfect. (For me anyway.)