Let's Discuss the Easter 2022 Chocolate Scorecard

Easter is approaching in both Christian traditions. For those of you who will give chocolate but haven't finished shopping yet, I wanted to share this post with you in the hopes that it might help you shop your values. Thanks to long time reader, Emilie, for bringing this rating system to my attention at this time of year.

Put out by The Chocolate Collective, the Chocolate Scorecard looks at numerous factors to rank candy and chocolate sellers and makers. You might be familiar with them around Halloween, but this year they also put out a card for Easter.

Let me share some highlights that I found looking through this scorecard and please leave your own thoughts, too. I'd love to have a discussion about this.

1. Companies were scored on the six following criteria:

      Traceability and Transparency (where all or only chocolate ingredients come from?)

      Living Income for workers (at all levels?)

      Child Labor (does this vary from nation to nation?)

      Deforestation and Climate (fairly clear)

      Agroforestry (necessary for cocoa tree farming if you want healthy trees)

      Agrichemical Management (probably should be spelled agrochemical)

2. I have two questions I couldn't find the answer to about the ranking: Does this rely primarily on brands self-reporting? If so, how does The Chocolate Collective adjust or monitor truthfulness?

3. Only two brands scored green in all; neither of these have sent us products to test on The Chocolate Cult.

      Beyond Good 

      alter eco

4. Of the other brands on the scorecard, we have tested and written about the following:

      Nestlé

      Mondelez International

      Hershey's

      Lindt

      Mars

     Barry Callebaut 

     Unilever

     Kellogg's

     General Mills

5. This means that there are a lot of brands whose Easter brands we have looked at that are not on The Chocolate Scorecard such as:

     Ticket Chocolate

     Emvi Chocolate

     Venchi

     Sjaak's

     Williams Sonoma

     Ghyslain

     Life By Chocolate

     Watertown Confectionery

     Frankford Candy and Chocolate Company,

     Occocoa

     Equal Exchange

     Martinsville Candy Kitchen

     DOVE

     Just Born Quality Confections (they make Peeps)

     Kara Chocolates

Granted some of these are small companies but others are not and really should be on the Chocolate Scorecard, don't you think?

6. Do all of the brands on the Scorecard actually make Easter themed treats?

I'm not sure they do. For example, Ritter and Tony's Chocolatey, I can't find Easter themed items on their websites. That's just two at different points on the Scorecard that I checked. 

Conclusion:

The take away for me is that a scorecard like this is a good start. If the categories it uses matter a lot to you, you may need to do your own digging. As it stands, the Scorecard is a challenge for the average consumer to use. 

What brands are owned by other brands? The huge companies listed really need notes to list what other brands they make. To be useful and make a bigger impact, make it easy for someone to see if the treat they find in their local grocery or department store or even online is meeting the standards on the card.

If you want to support your local chocolate and candy makers, you are on your own. Ask about the type of couverture they use and then check to see if that is on this scorecard. If a local company claims to make their own chocolate from beans, ask if they will share where those come from.

Of course, not everyone has the money or tell to do all this work. That's why something like the Chocolate Scorecard is helpful, but it needs to be more helpful with the information it gives us.

I look forward to your comments.