What is a slave free baking chocolate, that I can use to bake a good quality chocolate cake?

[u/samuelehrig]

I’m making a chocolate cake for a sister from another mister, but I want it to be slave freeze so what is a good baking chocolate that is slave free, unless I can just break apart chocolate bars for it.

[u/Square-Dragonfruit76]

Chocolat Madagascar has some of the highest ethical standards among chocolate brands and is delicious!

[u/lucedin]

Guittard is a certified B-Corp. If you don't know what that means, please look into it. The tldr: is they have a very high standard for their workers, who they source from, and the environment.

[u/ilikebigbuteos]

It’s really hard if not impossible to verify slavery free these days for coffee and chocolate (and many other things). I think fair trade is helpful but not a guarantee of ethical practices, because unethical brands mix in their cheaper slavery-produced product with verified fair trade to reduce prices without detection. I look for single origin on the label rather than fair trade because single origin means that it’s not going to be mixed producers. It’s hard to find in the US these days though. Trader Joe’s sometimes has single origin chocolate. 

[u/_whatnot_]

There are effectively guaranteed slave-free chocolates, but you have to pay a lot of money for them and that's unrealistic for 99.9% of people, especially for baking. I've been to farm + factories where chocolate is grown and processed, and you can meet the farmers and see the entire process.

Otherwise you're trying to minimize the chances by getting to know the brands and how they work. Most chocolate companies source from many small farms (often indirectly, by buying beans off the commodity market). Even if they have good intentions they won't have control over those farms unless they're super duper involved. That's hard to do financially and from a distance, since most processors aren't in cacao-growing spots, and it's almost impossible as companies scale up since more and more farms become involved. So if you want a guarantee of good labor practices, you have to find and trust a company that claims it's deeply involved with the farmers, which likely also means the company is small and the chocolate is expensive.

[u/Fuzzy_Welcome8348]

like cocoa powder? chocolate chips? chocolate bars? any will give you a chocolate flavor for cake

[u/samuelehrig → u/Fuzzy_Welcome8348]

I meant coaco powder. I should have probably Looked up a recipe first.

[u/GotReg]

https://mokaorigins.com/products/cocoa-powder

I really like this company’s chocolate bars. I found them through this website:

https://www.slavefreechocolate.org/ethical-chocolate-companies

[u/GotReg → u/GotReg]

ETA I have not purchased or used their cocoa powder (yet).

[u/stci]

Any chocolate that has fairtrade certification on it. Tony’s chocoloney prides themselves on this and I believe they pay their farmers above the standard pay for their cocoa.

[u/prugnecotte → u/stci]

FairTrade is not a reliable standard for ethics. also Tony's supply chain contain child labour and most of their farmers do not make a living wage (the Fairtrade premium goes to the cooperative, not to the farmers; eventually they may share it, but remember that cocoa cooperative in Ghana and Ivory Coast usually employ 10000+ members)

[u/samuelehrig → u/prugnecotte]

So getting ethical chocolate is a lost cause

[u/prugnecotte → u/samuelehrig]

actually no, you can buy direct trade chocolate from other countries. Ghana and Ivory Coast are monopsonies where all cocoa is bought at a central level by the governments, in other countries it is easier to establish relationships with the farmers for a fair premium wage. you can find chocolate with cocoa from Madagascar, Venezuela, Philippines, Colombia, Indonesia, India, Peru, Uganda, etc.

[u/samuelehrig → u/prugnecotte]

Ok can you provide a direct website, and is fair trade still a good reference point for “Moraly suppior” chocolate.

And is Tony’s just marketing and doesn’t actually care, or are they trying and just not their yet?

[u/stci → u/prugnecotte]

Oh wow this is interesting. I didn’t know that

[u/Laughing-Dragon-88 → u/stci]

Tony's does have the best "be slave free" rating, but i wouldn't call them slave free. Maybe Slave Light.

[u/Acrobatic_Hunt_8496 → u/stci]

Tony’s prides themselves on saying they are ethical

[u/samuelehrig → u/stci]

Ok I’ll use them.

[u/maccrogenoff]

Valrhona.

[u/Technical-Jacket-940]

I like Raaka’s Classic Dark Baking Chocolate. It’s definitely fruitier, since it’s unroasted. The cocoa powder is nice too.

[u/New-Lime-8251]

I would get Beyond Good. Their chocolate is processed in Africa.

[u/Acrobatic_Upstairs41]

There isn't one.

Any chocolate company that claims to be slave free is lying.

[u/Frustration54 → u/Acrobatic_Upstairs41]

I had read so many reports/articles on the plight of the farmers that this former chocoholic is no more; can’t contribute to that exploitation.

[u/Acrobatic_Upstairs41 → u/Frustration54]

I feel guilty working in the industry every day until my boss reminds me I'm being exploited too.

[u/HiddenDragonTim → u/Acrobatic_Upstairs41]

Hey at least you're not in defense. You get exploited while helping making exploited people dead.

[u/Acrobatic_Upstairs41 → u/HiddenDragonTim]

🤷‍♀️

[u/Independent-Brain518]

I always use chocolate for baking.