2009.07.10: July 10, 2009: Headlines: COS - Madagascar: Food: NY Times: Madécasse (pronounced mah-DAY-cas) chocolate is made from beans grown in Madagascar and produced in factories nearby. The company is owned by two young Americans, Brett Beach and Tim McCollum who both worked in Madagascar as Peace Corps volunteers
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2009.07.10: July 10, 2009: Headlines: COS - Madagascar: Food: NY Times: Madécasse (pronounced mah-DAY-cas) chocolate is made from beans grown in Madagascar and produced in factories nearby. The company is owned by two young Americans, Brett Beach and Tim McCollum who both worked in Madagascar as Peace Corps volunteers
Madécasse (pronounced mah-DAY-cas) chocolate is made from beans grown in Madagascar and produced in factories nearby. The company is owned by two young Americans, Brett Beach and Tim McCollum who both worked in Madagascar as Peace Corps volunteers
Because their entire manufacturing process happens in Madagascar's cacao-growing region, much of the profits go back into the local economy. In December 2008, Tim asked me to taste his chocolates and give him some feedback. Although I liked the back story - a socially responsible product made with the best ingredients available - I thought the chocolates were good but a bit astringent, the raw beans needing improved fermentation. Just seven months later, after Madécasse purchased new fermentation boxes for the farmers, the bars have improved twofold. I'm awestruck. The 70% is smooth and chocolaty with a sweet-and-sour dried cherry finish. The 63% is noticeably sweeter, buttery and rich.
Madécasse (pronounced mah-DAY-cas) chocolate is made from beans grown in Madagascar and produced in factories nearby. The company is owned by two young Americans, Brett Beach and Tim McCollum who both worked in Madagascar as Peace Corps volunteers
Tasteful Company | Madécasse
By Jill Santopietro
These days my favorite chocolate isn't U.S.D.A. organic certified and it's not Fair Trade or Rainforest Alliance stamped. It's Madécasse, made from cacao grown in Madagascar's naturally organic forests. It's traded fairly and is environmentally friendly. Best of all, the new Madécasse 63% and 70% chocolate tastes so good - a refreshing anomaly in a sea of astringent bitter chocolates with trendy (and often misleading) labels.
When it comes to chocolate, the meaning of the term "organic" is much more complicated than it is for, say, local blueberries. But my personal theory is that cacao grown in pesticide-free forests shaded by biodiversity is better for the health of the plant and the land than cacao grown on a mono-crop organic plantation. It typically tastes better, too.
Kallari, a company I wrote about in a Times article last November, grows its cacao beans and produces its bars in Ecuador with the indigenous Kichwa people.
Madécasse (pronounced mah-DAY-cas) chocolate, on the other hand, is made from beans grown in Madagascar and produced in factories nearby. The company is owned by two young Americans, Brett Beach and Tim McCollum; both worked there as Peace Corps volunteers before moving on to the U.S Embassy and Usaid in Madagascar (Brett) and the business world and business school in New York (Tim). Because their entire manufacturing process happens in Madagascar's cacao-growing region, much of the profits go back into the local economy.
In December 2008, Tim asked me to taste his chocolates and give him some feedback. Although I liked the back story - a socially responsible product made with the best ingredients available - I thought the chocolates were good but a bit astringent, the raw beans needing improved fermentation. Just seven months later, after Madécasse purchased new fermentation boxes for the farmers, the bars have improved twofold. I'm awestruck. The 70% is smooth and chocolaty with a sweet-and-sour dried cherry finish. The 63% is noticeably sweeter, buttery and rich.
Madécasse is sold all over the country. Some stores, however, still stock the original bars, so look for the packaging above. And while you're at it, try the vanilla products. I've never been to Madagascar, but if you place a vanilla bean to your nose, close your eyes and inhale, you might get there.
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Headlines: July, 2009; Peace Corps Madagascar; Directory of Madagascar RPCVs; Messages and Announcements for Madagascar RPCVs; Food
When this story was posted in August 2009, this was on the front page of PCOL:
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| Director Ron Tschetter: The PCOL Interview Peace Corps Director Ron Tschetter sat down for an in-depth interview to discuss the evacuation from Bolivia, political appointees at Peace Corps headquarters, the five year rule, the Peace Corps Foundation, the internet and the Peace Corps, how the transition is going, and what the prospects are for doubling the size of the Peace Corps by 2011. Read the interview and you are sure to learn something new about the Peace Corps. PCOL previously did an interview with Director Gaddi Vasquez. |
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Story Source: NY Times
This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; COS - Madagascar; Food
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