APRIL 11, 2012

Here are the cacao seeds after being removed from the pod and “corazon”. They are still covered in thick mucilage which decomposes during the fermentation step.

What a wonderful opportunity to learn about exactly how much goes into the chocolate we eat every day!   The beans are removed from the cacao pods and the “corazon”, or heart membrane of the cacao, by the farmer and brought to the processing area as a seed.  Once there, the quality control is very regulated.  First classified by size, damage, or sickness, the highest quality and low quality beans are separated throughout the process.  The larger beans tend to be the higher quality. Low quality beans are set aside to be used for body care or other products, but not intended for eating chocolate. Sanchez Organic is the classification for lower quality, Hispaniola for higher quality. This internal quality control is what leads to the Fair Trade chocolate bar in your local grocery store being so delicious.

The separate qualities of cacao beans are then fermented in three stages in hermetically sealed boxes. While this process really does smell pretty bad, as our host Hector Romero said, it is essential to giving chocolate the flavor, color and smell that we enjoy so much. It is a five day process just to take the bean from the seed to the drying stage! When the steaming beans do emerge from the final box, they are laid out to dry, a process that could often be sidetracked by rain, but CONACADO has covered drying structures, much like greenhouses, to dry beans in any type of weather. The drying must continue until the beans reach 7% humidity as that is the international standard, but it starts at 70% after the fermentation process. They then “guillotine” the beans to make sure the insides are not affected by mold or disease. Less than 1% imperfections are allowed so the beans are checked continually for quality. Once they are dry, they are packaged and sorted into the warehouse areas classified by quality, or location where grown. When the day is too rainy, there is an artificial dryer, but in the interest of also protecting the environment, this method is reserved only for the rainy season. It requires firewood, because oil or any other method cannot be used since it is not organic material, but as part of the Fair Trade process, protecting the environment is also important so CONACADO tries to avoid using firewood when possible.

The artificial drying process would hold 5 tons, and the temperature higher than 45 degrees Celsius. Once dry, they go through a funnel to clean/classify out the unwanted stuff which is composted. A person then sorts through the larger “waste” to be sure no beans go through. Whether artificial or not, once dried, the cacao beans are loaded into bags that weigh about 70 kgs and shipped to the port which takes about 45 minutes. The low quality beans are kept separated and could be sold to anyone for use in any number of products.

The whole process is labor intensive and during the official harvest season of April-June, they could have over 200 people working on just this process. In the meantime, they are visited regularly by Fair Trade certifiers from FLO who stay for 15 days, seeing farms, sampling the cacao, and verifying the entire process maintains Fair Trade standards. The cacao not exported may be sent to a variety of places, one of which is the Asociacion de las Mujeres.

for the complete story…

http://www.fairtradetownsusa.org/news/15376/

http://www.fairtraderesource.org/wftd/best-in-fair-trade-awards/finalists-for-best-in-fair-trade-awards/ 

Here is the beginning of the Fair Trade Town's Journey to the 
Dominican Republic through the eyes of Ivy Kim from the Fair Trade 
Town Berkeley Campaign.
for the complete story: http://www.fairtradetownsusa.org/news/15381/

Series Intro:  Fair Trade Towns USA sent 12 volunteer organizers on an immersion trip to the Dominican Republic March 28th through April 4th, where they built the people-to-people ties that make working for Fair Trade so meaningful. This series will chronicle our trip through the eyes of a different organizer each day.

This blog post comes to us from Ivy Kim of Fair Trade Berkeley.

“The keys to success are Fair Trade and organization.” ~Hector Romero

Waking up in the morning was disorienting to say the least. Greeted with an unfamiliar smell, with an unfamiliar noise, in unfamiliar bed sheets, I was reminded that I was in the Dominican Republic—the Dominican Republic! For the first time in a very long time, I saw no need for the snooze button; my eagerness to not only learn about Fair Trade, but also start a new day in such a beautiful country triumphed over the lure of the hotel bed.

After a plate full of empanadas, fries, and scrambled eggs at a nearby restaurant conveniently located facing the clear blue Dominican ocean, we headed to the headquarters of CONACADO, a Fair Trade cocoa cooperative in Hato Mayor. On our way to the cooperative, I was pleasantly surprised by the smooth roads of the Dominican Republic.

for the complete story: http://www.fairtradetownsusa.org/news/15381/

Fair Trade Towns USA will be sending 12 volunteer organizers on an immersion trip to the Dominican Republic March 28th through April 4th, where they will build the people-to-people ties that make working for Fair Trade so meaningful.  This is the second time that Fair Trade Towns USA has collaborated with Global Exchange, a leading actor in the Fair Trade movement, to offer town organizers the opportunity to learn about the workings and impact of Fair Trade first-hand (check out last year’s trip to Costa Rica here).  Fair Trade LA is sending two of its volunteers, Susan Pearson of Fair Trade Claremont and Pam Fong of Fair Trade Irvine.

Travelers will come from town and city campaigns all over the country to see the effects of their hard work, including Orlando-FL, Overland Park-KS, Ballston Spa-NY, Media-PA, Boston-MA, Mankato-MN, Chicago-IL, Berkeley-CA, and more.

Fair Trade Town organizers work diligently in their communities to raise the awareness and availability of Fair Trade in creative and interactive ways, and at Fair Trade Towns USA we try to provide organizers the opportunity to make their work come full circle.

Fair Trade Los Angeles is a community based advocacy organization, created to promote the principles of Fair Trade to Los Angeles and Orange County residents and educate the public about the positive impact of conscious consumers.  FTLA has four current Fair Trade Towns’ campaigns: Claremont, Irvine, Long Beach and Pasadena.  We have identified Fair Trade outlets in these cities and organizations that support Fair Trade, gained significant local media attention, and are working on passing resolutions in the City Councils to declare these cities Fair Trade Towns.

To schedule an interview, presentation, public event or for pictures please contact:
Joan Harper, fairtradela@gmail.com, (818) 406-9296