I'm baking up a batch of my somewhat famous fair trade cocoa brownies for a potluck tomorrow. I'll admit to loving chocolate. Not too many people don't love it. But chocolate provides a real ethical problem for people in the know.
When most Americans think about their chocolate preferences they will tell you what kind of candy bar they like best. (An interesting side note--think about candy bars for a moment. Most of them are just chocolate covered, yet you pay the same for a chocolate bar as a chocolate covered something bar, and chocolate is the expensive ingredient. The biggest coup in the candy industry was convincing us we wanted something other than just a chocolate bar!) But for me, it is a different question. For me, the kind of chocolate I like best is fair trade chocolate.
Similar in concept to fair trade coffee with which many more people are familiar, fair trade (or sometimes for chocolate "ethically traded") chocolate is cocoa, that among other things, is not produced by using slaves. Yes, you read that correctly, slaves. A lot of cocoa, especially that produced in places like the Ivory Coast, is harvested by children who are slaves, most of whom will never eat a candy bar themselves. The average price of a child working on a cocoa plantation is about 50 US dollars.
It is a heart breaking reality than in some places of the world parents are so desperate that selling a child into slavery seems like a good option. And as the old story goes when it comes to choosing something other than slave traded chocolate (and this is just a version of the argument that concerns all sweatshop labor), don't I hurt those who need that work by choosing the other? Well, on that score, I think that we have to do what we can to make the choice of slave labor, sweatshop labor, and any other labor that does not pay a living wage, unattractive to those who would take advantage of the desperate and provide better opportunities to those who are the desperate. This is what "fair trade" is supposed to help do--provide a living wage for those who work in industries and agriculture that is especially unstable given the peaks and valleys of the market.
Chocolate other than slave trade chocolate is very tempting in many situations--restaurants, parties, and the "big chocolate" holidays--St. Valentine's Day, Easter, Halloween. I try really hard to say "no." And most often do. But sometimes a polite "no" meets a more insistent "have some, really." And usually in those situations, a lecture on the slave trade is a bit rude. But I still try to say "no."
So, when I bring a chocolate something to a party, make hot cocoa, or eat a chocolate bar or whatever, I try to make sure that it is made with fair trade chocolate. It means I read a lot of labels when buying a candy bar and have some "go to" brands for things. And it also means I had to change my brownie recipe. I had a good one. A really good one. But it called for baking chocolate. And I still haven't found a reliable source for fair trade baking chocolate. But I have for fair trade cocoa powder. I scoured the Internet for cocoa powder brownie recipes and mostly found some real duds (dry, bitter, cloyingly sweet). And finally I found one. I read the recipe and thought "this can't be right" but tried it anyway. It was good, but not quite right. I had to adjust the temperature and cooking time, but now I have a killer brownie recipe that is dark and rich (a very small brownie will do you!) and tastes like a soft, slightly sweeter cakeier version of the outside of an oreo cookie.
I made these brownies for a gathering of students coming to discuss the social justice magazine I am the advisor for and pushed the remaining brownies on the students. The day after the gathering I ran into the roommate of one of these students who was a beneficiary of the leftovers. She said that while they were eating them that were sitting around and asked "is there anything Prof Mac can't do?" That's high praise indeed.
So, in case you were wondering if I would ever get to the recipe, here goes:
Fair Trade Cocoa Powder Brownies
4 large eggs
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
1 1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup flour
8 ounces melted butter
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 teaspoon salt
Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Butter and flour a 13 x 9 inch glass baking pan. Beat eggs, add sugar and beat. Pour in melted butter and vanilla. Stir to combine. Add dry ingredients and stir until blended. Pour batter into pan and bake for 45 minutes. Check for doneness with a toothpick. Remove to rack to cook. Cut into small bars and serve. Yum!
