Posts Tagged ‘fair trade’

Chocolate Peanut Butter Primates

Monday, November 26th, 2012

Chocolate peanut butter chimpanzee

You know when you make something for a friend and you just go with it and you don’t measure anything, you know, because they’re really awesome and they inspire you and they run a primate sanctuary so you think “I’m gonna make them some chocolate peanut butter primates for their Thanksgiving dessert.” And they really love them. And this makes you really happy so you put the picture on Facebook and Instagram and Twitter and every where else any one will let you. Just because you want everyone to see this great thing you made your friend. You know what I mean?

Well that happened this week. So yesterday I had to try and figure out what I had done in that fanciful moment, because the moment I posted the picture, people were “I need these!” and “Want. Want. Want.”

I have recreated this adorable little impromptu chimp creation for all you Gone Pie chocolate lovers. Chimpanzees are very social animals, so we shall celebrate this fact by selling these chocolates in packs of 8; enough to share and be social like our primate brethren (or not). Each pack is $21.00, with postage included.

Each chimp is 1 1/2 ounces of fair trade chocolate, infused with organic peanut butter and  organic coconut milk. You will be receiving 3/4 of a pound of chocolate peanut butter chimps; each individually packaged in a compostable cellophane bag. We have festive red shipping boxes with green “grass” packing fill for $4 extra. Yup. FESTIVE!

The chimps have a rich dark chocolate flavor with just a hint of peanut butter. The peanut butter does more for the texture (smooth and creamy) than the flavor.

Order Peanut butter primates

Make mine the gift box please….

Order Peanut butter primates (gift box)

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Posted in chocolate, fair trade, special products | Comments Off

Survey says….

Tuesday, May 31st, 2011

fairtrade a concern of those who responded to my query

I have been mulling over some thoughts for my next post on
one green planet. I want to write about some of the things vegans care about once they have become comfortable reading labels and understanding ingredients.

I did a little survey on Twitter and Facebook to get a sense of what concerns some of the people I connect with.

Here I have posted my question and the answers I have received so far. Please join in and comment on this post if you have something you would like to add to the discussion.

What are some of the issues beyond presence of animal products and allergens that effect your food choices?

TWITTER ANSWERS

Francesca
- Fair trade. When I was on Food Stamps, cost was the biggest concern.
- Oh and packaging. I prefer minimal packaging.

Vegan T
- Minimally processed/or unprocessed, organic and fairtrade is preferable. (not always possible tho.) local vegetables when possible.
- Oh and GMO free. :) (so many labels!)
- In a capitalist soc, they only hear you when you vote with your wallet. Support good brands/labels, avoid bad. But you already know that ;)

Robin
- Taste and vegan ethics are pretty much it for me. Bad, I know, but life’s too short to worry about it too much. ;-)

[Gonepie: Vegan ethics is a pretty broad term. How do you define the term?]

- True. Well, I’m still working that out, actually. I’m becoming increasingly aware of fair trade issues, which also seems vegan issue.
- It’s hard for me to always decipher fair trade, though. I’m studying different vegan philosophies now, too, as well.
- So, with all this contemplation, if something is labeled vegan and cruelty free (and tastes yummy), I tend to eat it now. hehe


DaynaR
- I’m trying to be more conscientious about seasonal produce, fair trade and palm oil.

CanarsieBK
- Social issues such as treatment of workers. Pesticide and GMO use. Distance traveled of food.

Donald
- Ethics of the company (whether they’re charitable/not, who their parent co. is, etc.) & how it’s packaged.

FromAtoVegan
- My husband and I try to stick to organic when possible. We have CSA shares from 2 local farms for year-round organic local veggies.

Malini
- Overall sustainability, where and how they are processed. I try to eat foods in season. I will not touch genetically modified food.

Quantum Vegan
- I try to avoid HFCS and was avoiding artificial colors before I developed an allergy. I also aim for a balanced nutrient intake!

Debra
- Artificial anything. Especially food colouring. I want real food. =)
- actually I share concerns with the four u mentioned. Also fair trade is important.

FACEBOOK ANSWERS

Minku
- sugar. trying to cut down on added sugars. i once made sugar-free cookies, and they were pretty rad. lots of fruit.

Natasha
- Salt!! Too much soduim!!

Dave
- Flavor? =PppPppP

Anita
- eat what makes me feel good physically

Justin
- taste, texture,vitamins,energy,comfort

I found it interesting that the two discussions were so very different. Won’t you please weigh in with your concerns so I can try to write a representative piece? Thanks!

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Posted in activism, fair trade, food labeling | 9 Comments »

Vegan, gluten-free, fairly traded chocolate chips! Huzzah! (with a giveaway at the end)

Sunday, May 22nd, 2011

PLEASE NOTE: Sweet Earth is now Mama Ganache Artisan Chocolates and can be found at www.mama-ganache.com. The product remains the same; truly awesome. We continue to proudly feature Mama Ganache chocolate in all our chocolate and cocoa containing goodies.

Winners were picked for this giveaway. Congratulations Abby Bean, J. Muir and Marika! Both Abby and J. posted blogs about their bounty. Check out the blog post by Abby here and the post by J. here. Mmm…. Thanks for the inspiration!

Here we have the AMAZING- nearly too good to be real -vegan, gluten-free, fairly traded chocolate chips.

A while back, I decided to try again to find a vegan, organic, fairly traded chocolate chip. Gone Pie had been using Enjoy Life chocolate chips. They had given us the following statement:

While our chocolate is not fair-trade certified due to strict allergen requirements, our supplier focuses on improving conditions for the cocoa farmers and is committed to operating in an ethical, responsible and safe manner.

I had accepted this statement and continued using their product. My first concern is to properly serve our vegan and gluten-free clients. But the statement kind of bothered me, since browsing the Equal Exchange website, one can find numerous glutenfree offerings, although not chocolate chips.

So back to the google I went. And there I found a new result for vegan, fair trade chocolate; Sweet Earth Chocolates. I set up a wholesale account and filed away the info for our next order.

Meanwhile, my friend and fellow righteous vegan baker, Fran Costigan, contacted me to see if I knew of a vegan, fairly traded chocolate chip. I told her about Sweet Earth. Apparently she was asking on behalf of a friend who had been told by Sweet Earth that they could not verify that they were indeed vegan — there was a question about the type of sugar they were using.

I emailed the folks at Sweet Earth for clarification and contacted my friends at The NYC Fair Trade Coalition to see if they knew of any other potential suppliers. They put me back into contact with Sweet Earth and facilitated our dialog.

The outcome of this long (and fascinating to ME) story, is that via twitter and email, the folks at Sweet Earth were open to understanding our concerns, did research and came back to us with good news. Their sugar is organic, unrefined sugar. Pure dehydrated cane juice. Which also means it is GMO free.

Fran and I were pretty happy right about now. As the discussion was occurring via Twitter, I immediately retweeted the good news. Someone at once asked if the chips were also gluten-free. And to my EXTREME elation, Sweet Earth replied that they were. This was almost too much good news for one day.

So my friends, I share this good news with you. If you have weathered this long post, you now must simply say HUZZAH in the comment section below and we will select one of you to receive a bag of these amazing chocolate chips. Please feel free to say something more that will encourage us to pick you as our winner!

Check out this awesome Ganesh our friends at Sweet Earth are starting to make! I can imagine gifting these in the near future! Click on the image for instructions on how to consume your deity! These folks are not only responsible chocolate suppliers, but they are fun. And creative! And, and, and….

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Posted in fair trade, giveaway | 33 Comments »

Singing Dog Vanilla Giveaway

Thursday, March 4th, 2010

If you read our last blog post, you know I am pretty crazy about this vanilla. Really good vanilla – which this is – is an amazing flavor on its own. In combination, it enhances nearly everything. The purpose of this post is to share a little more about this company and offer you kind folks some really awesome vanilla.  This vanilla is organic, Fair Trade Plus+™ and gluten-free.

Singing Dog Vanilla is produced in Papua  New Guinea  and named for the native Singing Dog. The dog does not bark. It prefers to “sing” somewhat like a whale. It is considered the ancestor to the Australian dingo and other Asian species of domestic and wild dog.
Click here to hear it sing.

Now that you’ve heard the dog sing, it is time to taste the vanilla!  Leave a comment telling me your favorite recipe that features vanilla.  Winners will be contacted by email.

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Posted in giveaway | 17 Comments »

Carefully chosen ingredients

Monday, March 1st, 2010

Vanilla beans as they grow

One of the most challenging and rewarding parts of the Gone Pie experience for me, is selecting the ingredients that we use in our products.  This is no small task. We consider taste and quality first and foremost.  This can be tricky.  There are some amazingly tasty products on the market that just do not fit into our concept.  Obviously all of our products are 100 % free of animal ingredients.  The impact of a product on non-humans extends beyond the actual ingredients.  Organic production and corporate responsibility are among the factors we consider in selecting our carefully chosen ingredients.

Some examples of how we select ingredients follow.

Palm oil is a perfect ingredient to illustrate how we consider environment in our choices.  This is a seemingly vegan ingredient.  Just  a little research will inform you that palm plantations are displacing natural forests to satisfy steadily increasing human palm oil consumption.  This, to me, makes avoiding palm oil a must. Palm oil is purely vegetable derived, but the consequences of its production, for me, make it an ingredient I cannot consider vegan.  Producing our treats in the most environmentally responsible way is always going to be central to Gone Pie.

Last week while ordering basic oil for baking, my distributor advised me that buying the larger 5 gallon tub would save us significant money.  There are a myriad of environmental considerations in selecting ingredients. In this case the concern was Genetically Modified (GM) ingredients. In the past only the one gallon containers were non-GM.  Avoidance of such foods is part of the Gone Pie vegan agenda.   The distributor was able to provide me with documentation that the oil was indeed produced with Identity Preserved (IP) non-GM ingredients and I was able to save Gone Pie some coin without compromising our values!

Another consideration for us, is whether a product is made in compliance with Fair Trade standards. More and more Fair Trade products are available all the time.   At Gone Pie we use a most delicious and ethical vanilla.  The producer partners with local farmers and contributes a portion of the profits back to the farmers and their communities.  Their organic farming practices support a friendly habitat for bird species, enabling organic cultivation with minimal impact on the local habitat.  In their own words: “Our vanilla vines are grown on shade trees in Papua New Guinea.  These shade trees make great homes for local birds that help keep our vanilla vines healthy and free from pests.”

I often wonder what other people consider in selecting their ingredients.    Please feel free to leave a comment and let me know what matters to you.  Perhaps we can inform each other on how we make socially responsible vegan decisions.

P.S. Later this week I will be posting a vanilla giveaway. We really love this vanilla – on every level – and want to share it with you. Stay tuned for more info….

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Posted in vegan baking, veganism | 6 Comments »