Filed under: Food, Shopping Guide

Theo Chocolate, Food of the Gods! Photo: theochocolate.com

If there’s one gift you know people will be glad to receive it’s chocolate!

Chocolate is sweet, but the cocoa trade is rough on the farmers who work on cocoa plantations — and most of those plantations don’t have the best environmental record, either.

In the past few years several fair-trade, organic, delicious chocolate makers have emerged. So when you’re looking for a sweet holiday surprise, consider one of these:

Theo Chocolate
This award-winning chocolate claims to be the only organic, fair trade, bean-to-bar chocolate factory in the US. You can check them out in person, taking a tour any day of the week at their factory in Seattle, WA.

Theo Chocolate temptations for the holiday include gifts that range from a two piece boxed gift set for $4.40, to the Food of the Gods Collection for $74.99, which is a beautiful fair-trade woven basket filled with treats like Marshmallow Big Daddy, Ghost Chile Salted Caramel and yummie bars.

Dagoba
You’ve probably seen the exotic organic chocolates, with flavors like lavender blueberry, and spicy xocolatl in your local fancy organic foods store. The Ashland, Oregon-based company follows a doctrine of “Full Circle Sustainability” to maintain the highest eco-standards.

My vote for holiday gift giving is the 12 Bar Alchemist Blend Box, which at $44.95 is a sweet treat for dark chocolate lovers.

TCHO
San Francisco-based TCHO wants to be “an agent of positive social change”, especially for the growers of cocoa beans. They developed TCHOSource, a partnership that takes Fair Trade to the next level by helping the farmers improve their product and become premium cocoa growers — and improve their income.

The TCHO a Day 30 lets you send someone you love their daily chocolate fix for just $20, and support the TCHO mission.

Got someone on your list who’s been extra good? Pick up a gift from all of these great chocolate brands!

Eco-Chocolate Gifts for the Holiday originally appeared on Green Daily on Mon, 14 Dec 2009 12:03:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Fashion, Food, Shopping Guide

As you walk through the malls and shop-o-plexes this week, you may not feel like you have a lot of environmentally sound options when it comes to Valentine’s Day gifts. Well, before you throw in the towel and buy your loved one a houseplant, name a star after them, or something eco-friendly but boring like that — you might want to consider giving it one more try.

Lucky for us last-minute types, you can find a cornucopia of eco-friendly V-day jewelry, sweets, etc. online. After an exhausting — but far from exhaustive — search of what’s around, I’ve put together a list of a few of the more attractive, kitschy, and affordable green Valentine’s gifts. Check them out in the gallery below:

Green Gift Ideas for an Eco Friendly Valentines Day originally appeared on Green Daily on Mon, 09 Feb 2009 15:30:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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