Dutch chocolate

Oh Tony … I feel so lonely … I don’t even have to say it out loud and he comes to the rescue. I have a bit of a crush on Tony. Daan, my boyfriend, has excepted it. Better yet, he understands. Tony is brave, packed with exciting flavors and never predictable. How can you not love him? Red wrapper for milk chocolate. Blue for dark. Which one will I devour today?

Of course, chocolate is more than just heaven on earth. Like everything we eat and drink, there’s a story behind it. That’s why I can’t stop talking about it and love people who suffer from the same happy addiction. So, this week, I blog about my favorite chocolate brand: Tony’s Chocolonely.

Brave

By setting an example, the chocolate makers of Tony’s are committed to a slave-free chocolate industry. They want to know exactly where their cocoa beans come from. That’s why they’ve set up long-term relationships with reliable and trustworthy farmers in Ghana and the Ivory Coast. By doing so they hope to inspire other chocolate makers to take responsibility. Brave and refreshing, in a market dominated by giants!

Who gets the bigger piece?

The bars of Tony’s Chocolonely are poured into a mold that divides the bar into unequal pieces. Why? The chocolate officers at Tony’s think it’s strange for a chocolate bar to consist of equal blocks, while the chocolate world is so unequal. So when you put a piece of Tony’s chocolate in your mouth, you literally break through the habit of eating chocolate without thinking about where it comes from. No more guilty pleasure!

With a grain of salt

Normally I go for the dark chocolate bar, which contains at least 70 percent cocoa solids. Makes sense when you suffer from a chronic endorphin shortage don’t you think? For the latest milk chocolate bar Tony has put on the market I have no excuse. Except that he gives me, endorphins or not, butterflies in my stomach. Sweet milk chocolate, caramel and every now and then a pinch of sea salt. Once I had him in my arms, he was gone in a week… ok, two days… You can recognize this seducer by his orange wrapper (you’ve been warned).