Alter Eco Chocolate (History, Pictures & Commercials)

Alter Eco Chocolate is a product that is made by Alter Eco trading. This is a new product that has been created to be fair and responsible. Sustainable foods are getting increasing attention and since the early 2000s, these kinds of products have become more and more well-recognized for their excellent features and flavor. If it seems impossible to craft chocolate that is sustainable, this Alter Eco has succeeded in doing so.

When compared with all the candy products that are made of all kinds of “fake” substances and ingredients, Alter Eco Chocolate provides consumers the opportunity to enjoy “real” candy products, maybe for the first time. If you have ever wanted to try a sustainable candy product, Alter Eco Chocolate is a great place to start.

History

Alter Eco Chocolate expanded its markets to include the US and Canada in 2005. The company is headquartered in San Francisco and is the partner of the Melbourne outlet of the company. Alter Eco US acquired Alter Eco Australia in 2015, but prior to this time, the two business outlets worked in tandem but did not have the same management.

The parent company is French and it sells its products to France and Brazil. The parent company was one of the first Fair Trade experiment companies and created all kinds of other products besides chocolate. The chocolate products that Alter Eco was selling became their most popular creations, however, and this product lineup has been an area of attention for years now.

The company has been awarded many prizes like Delicious Living Magazine’s Best Bite Aware of 2016. They have also won a NEXT Award for Best packaging for various of their products. In 2017, the company was placed on the list of the fastest growing private companies of 2017. Recently, the company was acquired by NextWorld Evergreen and there was a management change at the headquarters in San Francisco as well.

There are many chocolate products and chocolate-centered products that this company makes. They make coffee, tea, rice, olive bars, hearts of palm, and more. By far the most popular products are the chocolate products and the focus of the company has been increasingly directed at their chocolates themselves rather than other accompanying products.

The current lineup of chocolates offers chocolate bars in various flavors and chocolate truffles in unique flavors as well. These products are all non-GMO, fair trade, and organic. Some of them are also vegan. Their chocolate is made in Switzerland as well, which just adds to the authenticity and flavor of their unique recipes.

The current candy bar varieties have been the same for some time, but in 2018, Coconut Cluster products were added to the chocolate items offered by the company. These include items such as cherry and almond butter, original coconut clusters, seeds and salt, and more. These are vegan products and are aimed at a slightly different market than the other chocolate products that the company sells.

The goal of the company continues to be full-circle sustainability. The company makes sure to use organic and non-GMO products that are made into chocolate products with clean practices. Traceability is a part of their process as well and the company will never substitute any product that is not on a par with the original ingredients that have become unavailable for some reason.

Part of the reason that Alter Eco Chocolate is working so hard on this goal is that Cocoa production is set to be dramatically reduced in the next five years due to land degradation and a lack of investment in smallholder farmers. Another companion issue is climate change. Companies that are producing chocolate using old-fashioned methods might soon find themselves in trouble as far as sourcing their products due to these changes. The time for responsible farming and product creation has arrived and there is finally enough mainstream support that these techniques might actually gain a foothold.

Another added benefit to getting products from this company is that African chocolate is often created by child slaves and child laborers rather than through the support of traditional and safe farming practices. Cocoa producers all over the world live in extreme poverty and many of these farmers are moving out of the market, leaving it wide open for these predatory practices.

Coconut oil is used rather than palm oil in their products and all of the products they make are certified organic and non-GMO. At this time the vegan products are not certified vegan. The company website states that gluten, soy, additives, and GMO products are never used in their recipes.  

The company says that its cacao beans come from organic trees in Ecuador and Peru. They are then sent to be turned into chocolate in Switzerland. The cacao fruit that is used for their product takes more than five years to grow and some weeks to ferment and prepare for use in chocolate. The company even makes sure that all of its packaging and containers are recyclable and compostable to eliminate all waste. Alter Eco Chocolate also partners with the Pur Project in Central and South America to offset 100% of the company’s emissions.

There are few companies who are this socially conscious and despite changes to their product lineups and other kinds of alterations to their products, they have stuck with this goal and ethos. If you care about the environment and you love candy, you are going to love everything about this product lineup.  The carbon-neutral and compostable nature of their business model is highly unique and the fact that their products are also delicious is really exciting. For those who have always wanted to support the environment but have been unable to find good candy products while fulfilling this goal, Alter Eco has stepped in to fill this need.

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Varieties

• Brown Butter
• Super Blackout
• Classic Dark
• Sea Salt
• Salted Caramel
• Mint Crème
• Silk Velvet
• Coconut Clusters
• Dark Twist
• Dark Quinoa

Ingredients

From their website, using the Super Blackout Bar as a basis, the ingredients are:

• Organic cacao beans
• Organic cocoa butter
• Organic raw cane sugar
• Organic vanilla beans

The company does warn that the products are made on equipment that shares with products containing milk, hazelnuts, almonds, coconut, and soy. This might not apply to all of their products, but it is worth noting this if you have an allergy that you are trying to be careful of. The products also note after the short ingredient list how much of the bar is Cocoa. This particular bar is 90% cocoa minimum.

Unique flavors might have other ingredients included in them. The recipes are similar for the truffles but they are not exactly the same.

From the company site for the Super Dark Truffles:

• Organic cocoa beans
• Organic raw cane sugar
• Organic coconut oil
• Organic cocoa butter
• Organic butterfat
• Natural flavors
• Organic vanilla beans

This recipe states that the truffles contain 99.4% Fair Trade ingredients and that cocoa is 80% minimum. There is also an allergy warning for almonds, soy, milk, and coconut. The wrappers are also compostable just like the candy bar wrappers, which is very exciting. The chocolate in this recipe is also noted to be Dominican dark chocolate.

Nutrition

Serving Size:	1 sections (7.5g)	% Daily Value*
Amount Per Serving
Calories	47.5
Total Fat	4.3g	7%
Saturated Fat	2.5g	13%
Trans Fat	0g
Cholesterol	0mg	0%
Sodium	0mg	0%
Total Carbohydrates	2g	1%
Dietary Fiber	0.8g	3%
Sugars	1g
Includes Added Sugars	1g	2%
Protein	0.8g
Vitamin D	0mcg	0%
Calcium	3mg	0%
Iron	1mg	4%
Potassium	74mg	2%

• The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a serving of food contributes to a daily diet. 2000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.

Packaging

This company uses some really beautiful packaging for both their truffles and Alter Eco chocolate candy bars. The candy bars are often quite colorful and they depict some squares of the chocolate with part of the ingredients in the bar at the bottom left of the wrapper. The middle of the bar shows a circle that states the brand name and the flavor of the candy bar as well as that the product is organic. Most of the bars are 70% cocoa and this is stated on a small banner on the top of the wrapper.

The truffles are packaged in colorful bags that follow the same model but they do not show the candy bar segments on them. For the truffle packaging, you can also expect to see the main ingredient that comprises the flavor of the truffle in the center. There is also typically an artistic design behind the same circular logo. These bags also offer a small window where you can see the truffles that are contained within.

The truffle wrappers are each compostable as well, which is really nice if you are trying to be responsible for the environment and might have steered clear of them due to this potential issue. The company has thought of everything with regard to this part of the sustainability question which is very nice for those looking to make a difference while still enjoying candy that is delicious.

The individual wrappers of Alter Eco chocolate are made of eucalyptus and birch fibers. There is a very thin aluminum layer that will still compose and the writing and designs are crafted in natural inks. There are not many other companies that have taken the time to put this much effort into their packaging for this stated goal.

Pictures

Ads:

A French ad:

Alter Eco chocolate informative video about their grass-fed milk products:

Company video about Agroforestry: