Today is Thanksgiving Day (as well as overall Native American Heritage Month) in the US, a time for gratitude, gathering with loved ones and good food! I’ve been reflecting on the intersection of chocolate and gratitude…
🍫 Grateful that we even HAVE chocolate in the first place! From its fragile flowers to limited growing range to the unlikely discovery of fermentation as a vehicle of flavor, present-day chocolate is a bit of a miracle! Especially the rediscovery of and attention to rare heirloom varieties that almost went extinct.
🏠 Grateful for small craft chocolate makers, who work hard, deal with tedious machines & cocoa butter physics, price fluctuations, and survive on thin margins. It doesn’t always work out. Case in point is the respected @solsticechocolate recently announcing closing their doors.
🔎 Grateful for the increased knowledge, passion, awareness and availability of fine chocolate and those who love it! More and more people are learning about where chocolate comes from, its history, flavor potential (beyond “candy bars”) and importance of ethical consumption.
🦃📚 An important part of Thanksgiving & Native American Heritage Month is learning about history of colonization and exploitation, which is also highly relevant for cacao! Especially because exploitation and modern slavery still exist today in the cacao industry. Awareness is the first step to making change.
What are YOU grateful for when it comes to chocolate?
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