Equal Exchange chocolates and cocoas are crafted using only the purest ingredients, grown with care by small farmer co-ops. We source from these small farmer organizations because we believe they are the heart and soul of the Fair Trade movement.
Cooperativa de Producción Agro-Industrial Manduvira Ltda (Manduvira Co-op) is located in the village of Arroyos y Esteros (Streams and Swamps), in the southwestern region of Paraguay.
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Fortaleza del Valle was founded in 2005 to improve living conditions for small-scale cacao producers in the Manabí Province of Ecuador.
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The National Confederation of Dominican Cacao Producers (CONACADO) is an organization of small-scale cacao producers in the Dominican Republic.
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Spin the wheel to discover delicious pairing combinations.
Play our Cacao Game for a chance to win our brand new candy bars.
Try our Chocolate Guide to find your perfect match.
Every Friday morning as you sip your (Equal Exchange!) coffee and settle into your day, something remarkable is happening. Promptly at 10 a.m., highly trained tasters are assembling in a quiet corner of the Quality Control lab at Equal Exchange for an hour of intense product evaluation.
A fellow Equal Exchange chocolate lover pointed out to me the surprisingly high amount of iron per serving, thus giving us an excuse to consume more. How does chocolate get so much iron and is it readily absorbable? -
"Cacao" is the bean that comes from the cacao tree, which is known by the scientific name of Theobroma cacao. Cacao pods - large football-shaped fruits - grow off the trunk and limbs of the cacao tree, and cacao beans are found inside the pods. The beans are harvested, fermented and dried. They are then cleaned and roasted, after which point the products are often referred to as "cocoa." In other words, "cocoa" is what the bean is called after it has been processed.
This weekend I put together a hot cocoa bar for some friends and it was a big hit! It was fun to make our own creations and compare the delicious results.
