By Kelsie Evans, Chocolate Products Coordinator
 Is there such a thing as too much chocolate? After three full days surrounded by chocolate at the 12th Annual New York Chocolate Show in October, I can definitively tell you, no! Equal Exchange was there sampling and selling our chocolate bars and cocoas to thousands of the city’s chocolate lovers. While some people already knew (and love!) Equal Exchange, we were excited to meet people unfamiliar with Equal Exchange’s products and mission and introduce them to our delicious chocolates.
As the only Fair Trade and organic company at the Chocolate Show, it was great to communicate more about our work with small-scale growers of cacao, sugar and vanilla, and Equal Exchange’s role in pioneering the Fair Trade movement in the U.S. over 20 years ago. This really resonated with a lot of the show’s attendees and we enjoyed some inspiring conversations with people about the role of Fair Trade and challenges facing farmers today.
Of course, the chocolate wasn’t a hard sell, either! Even with the trends toward dark chocolate these days, the first bars to sell out were our Organic Mint Chocolate with a Delicate Crunch (67% cacao content) and Organic Milk Chocolate with a Hint of Hazelnut (38% cacao content)! People raved about the refreshing flavor of the Mint Chocolate, and loved the creamy texture and malty flavor of the Milk Chocolate bar. Our newest bar, Organic Panama Extra Dark Chocolate (80% cacao content), was still popular with the dark chocolate fans because it is surprisingly smooth and chocolatey (not dry or too bitter) for a higher cacao content bar.
Other highlights of the show included a booth selling rum using Equal Exchange’s Organic Very Dark Chocolate (71% cacao content) bar for pairing, our booth being located near the dessert wines table, and seeing the creative Halloween costumes made entirely out of chocolate during the fashion show (yes, there was a chocolate-themed fashion show).
To visit Equal Exchange at other events like this one, check out our Events Calendar.
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