Carol in Cal. Posted October 20, 2015 Share Posted October 20, 2015 The slave chocolate thread made me want to ask about this. I love the taste of CSA fruits and veggies. Inevitably they are more seasonal and freshly picked and taste better than storebought. (Except that our CSA picks all their apples at once, and then parcels them out over the winter when they are short on other offerings. They get pretty nasty after a couple of months of CSA storage.) And organic milk is fine. It doesn't taste any better to me, but it's fine. Ditto grass fed/grass finished/organic ground beef (although I haven't been able to find filet mignon that way). Ditto free range organic chicken. And CSA eggs, when we used to be able to get them before the diseases finished those flocks, were fine. But I have never tasted an organic cheese that I particularly liked, and I LOVE me some cheese. I have never had organic chocolate that actually tasted good. The organic chocolate that I have tried is more like carob than like chocolate. And I'm not a high end chocophile--I actually really LIKE Hershey's milk chocolate bars, and Ghirardelli is my hometown favorite. Most of the fair trade organic coffee I have had tastes burnt, except for the Costco kind. And we like to mix it up when it comes to coffee. I suspect that our really good teas are horrible for people in some way, too. They don't claim to be organic, and they sound fairly labor intensive. So, hive, what are the really good organic and fair trade cheeses, coffees, teas, and chocolates? Bonus points for chocolate chips that taste and cook up just like Hershey's. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jean in Newcastle Posted October 20, 2015 Share Posted October 20, 2015 I like Theo chocolate. But I really do not like Hershey's chocolates so my taste in chocolate might be different. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MercyA Posted October 21, 2015 Share Posted October 21, 2015 Traditional Medicinals teas! Their chamomile and spearmint teas contain 100% certified organic and fair trade ingredients. I also really like their lemon balm tea. Their teas aren't super expensive and are pharmacopoeial quality. As mentioned in another thread, I like the Choceur chocolate at Aldi's. It's not organic, but has natural ingredients and is apparently fair trade. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MEmama Posted October 21, 2015 Share Posted October 21, 2015 Allegro does a great job roasting organic and fair trade coffee. You can find it at Whole Foods. I agree with you about most organic chocolate. I don't know why it would be so different, but I'd rather just go without. And I love me some good chocolate. :) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carol in Cal. Posted October 21, 2015 Author Share Posted October 21, 2015 Traditional Medicinals teas! Their chamomile and spearmint teas contain 100% certified organic and fair trade ingredients. I also really like their lemon balm tea. Their teas aren't super expensive and are pharmacopoeial quality. Thank you! I'm also looking for suggestions for good Chinese teas like Dragonwell or Jasmine or Oolong. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spryte Posted October 21, 2015 Share Posted October 21, 2015 Camano Island Coffee Roasters. They have fair trade, organic, shade grown. My autocorrect just tried to make organic into orgasmic. That works too! :) We order it twice a month. Yum. The coffee. Talking about coffee here... As a bonus, their coffee has a nice chocolate undertone. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Little Women Posted October 21, 2015 Share Posted October 21, 2015 Whole Foods has a "Whole Trade" dark chocolate that is very good. It's not organic, but it's not made with slave labor, either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ali in OR Posted October 21, 2015 Share Posted October 21, 2015 Two chocolate brands to try: Endangered Species and Seattle Chocolates. Looking at their websites, I believe both practice fair trade practices that would preclude any business with operations using slave labor. I think both companies have both milk and dark chocolate varieties. Dh loves dark chocolate, I like both, and the kids prefer milk (but somehow can still manage to eat our dark chocolate if that's all that is in the house...hmmm). The kids really like Seattle Chocolate chocolate bars. They have fun yummy flavors like a peanut butter filled one (my fave), Thanks a Latte that I like to give as small thank you gifts, birthday cake (disgusting kid-type bar imho but my kids like it), chocolate mint, etc. For Endangered Species I like the Rhino bar which has dark chocolate and small bits of hazlenuts and their dark chocolate with sea salt and almonds. But if you like Hersheys, you might want to try their milk chocolate varieties which I'm not as familiar with. Chocolove bars are tasty too, and their website makes me think they're okay too. I find all of these locally in our natural food stores. They're $2-$3 a bar usually but a bar is very rich and can last a long time around here. Umm, not the kids' bars. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liz CA Posted October 21, 2015 Share Posted October 21, 2015 Have not read anything else but when it comes to chocolate, we like Theo's. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liz CA Posted October 21, 2015 Share Posted October 21, 2015 Fair trade cheese? Not sure but I like raw organic selections (cheddar and jack) from Organic Valley or Kerrygold. Have you tried Toomer's Coffee? I have only heard good things but I can get good organic, fair trade coffee locally so I have not ordered from Toomer's. For tea, try this: https://www.mountainroseherbs.com/catalog/teas Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jean in Newcastle Posted October 21, 2015 Share Posted October 21, 2015 All the cheese I know of is locally made from local cows. What would fair trade cheese apply to? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liz CA Posted October 21, 2015 Share Posted October 21, 2015 All the cheese I know of is locally made from local cows. What would fair trade cheese apply to? I was puzzled by this too. Were you thinking of grass fed cows' milk? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tsuga Posted October 21, 2015 Share Posted October 21, 2015 A lot of organic milk goes to just plain milk. Organic certification is hard to get so many creameries that are small--which great cheese creameries are--take longer to get certified. The land has to be organic for so many years pre-certification. Cheese is also expensive due to aging and processing. So when you add on the expense of organic milk, it becomes a luxury product that almost nobody can buy. I mean, we buy organic mozzarella (string cheese) and organic cream cheese. These are short time frame cheeses and the kids eat them. Organic cheddar, also not very aged. So these you will find organic but they cost twice as much as non-organic cheese. But even that is not so bad. People still buy it. Organic gorgonzola? Think about how much gorgonzola costs. Are you really going to double that? So I think all this contributes to an unfriendly environment for organic cheeses in the US. Even in Europe. It's just so expensive. One would hope that as we increase organic production and oversight that we could get more organic cheeses, but what I'm seeing is that many people prefer organic milk to conventional, so on the contrary, as organic grows, for the time being, it is really expanding to a larger population. You can get organic milk on WIC in some states. So we haven't had organic butter from Organic Valley (which is the only Oregon Tilth certified butter we can get at the corner store) in a year I think. We can get Horizon but it's not as popular as they are certified by QAI which doesn't have a great reputation. When I look for cheeses I look for reputable local cheeses. Around here that is Rogue River Creamery. They have not been certified organic but they are pretty good. It's the best I can do. I don't know of chocolates that behave like Hershey's. I don't like Hershey's. It tastes powdery to me. I am sorry. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rosie_0801 Posted October 21, 2015 Share Posted October 21, 2015 String cheese means mozzarella? One of my life's mysteries is solved! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mergath Posted October 21, 2015 Share Posted October 21, 2015 This is my absolute favorite organic, fair trade coffee: http://www.peacecoffee.com/shop/coffee The Birchwood Blend is like heaven. Not burnt tasting at all. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sun Posted October 21, 2015 Share Posted October 21, 2015 I like Theo chocolate. But I really do not like Hershey's chocolates so my taste in chocolate might be different. OP, if you like Hershey's, you might try Theo's milk chocolate bar. It's very creamy and smooth. I've found some organic brands of chocolate don't have a pleasant mouth-feel--they're kind of gritty, almost. The Theo is very smooth and has a nice mouth-feel to me, and the company is very committed to fair-trade cacao. They work with small farmer-owned cooperatives and monitor the work practices on the farms. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jean in Newcastle Posted October 21, 2015 Share Posted October 21, 2015 OP, if you like Hershey's, you might try Theo's milk chocolate bar. It's very creamy and smooth. I've found some organic brands of chocolate don't have a pleasant mouth-feel--they're kind of gritty, almost. The Theo is very smooth and has a nice mouth-feel to me, and the company is very committed to fair-trade cacao. They work with small farmer-owned cooperatives and monitor the work practices on the farms. Yes, try the milk chocolates! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carol in Cal. Posted October 21, 2015 Author Share Posted October 21, 2015 I just don't like organic cheese, not any organic cheese that I have ever tried. It's not even that I don't like it as much as conventional cheese. It's that I don't like it at all. It seems like it's inevitably mild, boring, blah. And yes, I have thought about making it myself. That is not all that easy and very expensive--you buy a gallon of really good organic whole milk, usually in a glass bottle that has a $1.50 deposit on it, so it costs like $8-9, and then you cook it carefully and hover over and give birth to it and in the end you might have good cheese or you might not. And that's just for mozzerrella. For a good aged cheese you then have to wrap it and store just the right way for like a year, and again, in the end you might have good cheese or you might not. That's more trouble for a more uncertain result than I'm willing to go to. Yes, I will pay through the nose for really good cheese if it's organic, from pastured, grass fed cows. It's just not in the doggone stores. My CSA had insanely expensive goat cheese that was like that. And, you guessed it, it didn't taste good. This was a shock to me, as it is the ONLY goat cheese I have ever tasted that didn't taste good. I didn't even know that was possible, which is why I paid their insane price for this stupid cheese. I mean, and in summary, WTF? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rosie_0801 Posted October 21, 2015 Share Posted October 21, 2015 Ricotta is easy to make. You don't have to do any of the strange massaging you do with mozzarella. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rachel Posted October 22, 2015 Share Posted October 22, 2015 String cheese means mozzarella? One of my life's mysteries is solved! Yes but it's not the good fresh mozzerella. It's kind of dry and sold in sticks wrapped in plastic. It peels apart in strings which I think is why it's called string cheese. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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