Frissons

Je ne suis pas une grande fanatique de sorbet, que je trouve souvent trop acidulé. J’ai cependant fait une découverte cette semaine qui m’a fait changer d’idée… Je cherchais un dessert frais à offrir à la grande visite et j’ai trouvé les produits de Carribean Juice dans une épicerie fine de mon quartier. J’hésitais entre le sorbet à la mangue (ma saveur préférée) et poire et Calvados quand je suis tombée sur un contenant brun foncé. Du sorbet au chocolat noir! Grande amateure de chocolat pur, j’ai succombé à la curiosité. Je m’attendais tout de même à être un peu déue. Je n’aime pas la crème glacée au chocolat qui, selon moi, ne goûte pas du tout le chocolat, alors je croyais que le sorbet au chocolat noir risquait d’être une version encore plus diluée.

oh. my. god.

Absolument décadent. Le petit côté rugueux du sorbet et la richesse du chocolat se mélangent à merveille. Ça fond dans la bouche comme du vrai chocolat, sans toutefois être trop riche. Mmmmm… Je n’aurais jamais imaginé qu’une telle combinaison puisse être aussi délicieuse. Et tout comme le chocolat noir, pas besoin d’en manger beaucoup pour être satisfaite. Et le produit est équitable! The Gazette a écrit un article au sujet de la jeune compagnie et de son fondateur en juillet dernier.

Essaye-le avant que l’été ne soit terminé et redonnez m’en des nouvelles!

Bittersweet chocolate

I’m glad that this article from Salon used Valentine’s Day as an excuse to remind us about the fact that almost all the chocolate one finds on the market these days involved the work of children, most of them slaves.

« The existence, and the plight, of these children were publicly acknowledged by chocolate companies in 2001 after high-profile stories in the media — most significantly, a documentary by the BBC and a prize-winning series by Knight Ridder reporters — had exposed the horrific details of the children’s lives, and their connection to the chocolate consumed, often by unknowing consumers, in this country.

And yet, despite committing themselves 16 months ago to a highly publicized four-year plan to abolish child slaves and laborers from the cocoa farms with whom they do business, the chocolate industry, worth billions a year in U.S. revenue alone, has managed to continue making and selling products without demonstrating any discernible progress in solving the child labor problem. »

Some people think that a solution is to send inspectors to chocolate farms across the world to monitor the work done there by children. But it looks like they might not be as successful as UN inspectors in Iraq:
« Anti-sweatshop activists have found that opening factories to inspectors as a means of monitoring is ineffective. « It’s impossible because of the sheer number of factories around the world, » says Jason Marks, a spokesperson for Global Exchange. The money is better spent, Marks says, on worker empowerment — giving workers a living wage and allowing them the right to form trade unions. Worker empowerment is what makes Fair Trade collectives easy to monitor — they’re more invested in maintaining the criteria that a FLO inspector comes to check on once a year. »

So what are chocolate lovers to do until they can make sure that no slaves were involved in the production of their favorite drug? The best solution right now is to buy fair trade chocolate. And you won’t even have to compromise on taste. I found this fabulous 71% cocoa chocolate bar produced by a fair trade co-operative called La Siembra. The bar is part of a product line called Cocoa Camino, and you can find it in a lot of places across Canada ( about 4.25$ for 100g ).

I was able to find it in Montreal at Rachelle-B�ry’s stores, but also in the small fruit and vegetable markets on Mont-Royal. One piece of this divine dark poison, and you’re in paradise. And it smells SO good, I want to bottle its perfume and wear it all day long. It is one of the best chocolate I’ve ever tasted, bitter yet sweet enough to make me go « oooh »… guilt free.