You have heard of fair-trade chocolate. But wait – is that enough?

Nothing like Chocolate is a documentary film that portrays the poignant story of the determined Mott Green, founder of the Grenada Chocolate Company. This pioneer pursues his unique ambition to create the best chocolate in the world, from scratch. Once you listen to the narrartion – rendered by Susan Sarandon – you would have learnt much more about fair trade, fair transport and sustainability, besides actual chocolate-making.

That’s right – the 3D chocolate printer is out – you can now design and print out your favourite snack. You can either bid for the first 3D chocolate printer, or you can pre-order Choc Creator 3D chocolate printers at a discounted selling price. To look up details of the offers, go to Choc Edge, the creators of the desktop creative 3D Chocolate printer.

Now that you can have your own home-made / desktop-created / designer chocolate, rather than the branded fingers and bars that tumble out at the end of conveyor belts, be aware of  ’Factory Clearance chocolate’ too – these are simply the self-same chocolates that end up not being “perfect” enough to enter an elite box. They taste the same, they only look imperfect or have less of a polished look!

Speciality Chocolate Fair is stated to be the only trade show in the UK that is devoted to fine and artisan chocolate. What’s more visitors to the fair can witness a unique contest between chocolate-greats – this fair will be the host for the UK Chocolate Masters Finals.

Participants in the UK Chocolate Masters finals will showcase their creations when they compete for the ‘National Chocolate Master’ crown. Each of them will need to prepare a chocolate cake, two pralines, a dessert and one artistic creation.

The crowned UK Chocolate Master will then proceed to compete in the World Chocolate Masters in Paris in 2013. This contest is one of the foremost culinary contests, that is dedicated solely to the art of chocolate.

Godiva Chocolates from Godiva Online Store, (buying in Euro and delivery to the UK)

Cadbury’s from Cadbury Gifts Direct

All types of chocolate from Serenata Chocolates

Thorntons from Thorntons Online

Belgian, Swiss and English chocolates from Moko Chocolates

Luxury chocolate gifts online from Chocolate Trading Company

Green & Blacks Organic from Green & Black’s Direct

Luxury chocolate from HotelChocolat

The Milsom Place Chocolate Festival draws chocoholics from all over the UK, with promises of luxurious treats, chocolate samples and an opportunity to find unique “edible gifts” for Christmas.

The line-up this year includes -

• famous names in the world of chocolate – James Chocolates from Bristol, Damian Allsop, Rococo Chocolate, Minerva, Chococo, Crumpet Cakes, Baruzzo and Demarquette’s
• tastings and demos on chocolate production
• option to try before you buy
• offer of choccy based menus at a few of the restaurants at Milsom Place

Find more details at Chocolate Festival December 2011. What is bound to make the festival sweeter – it is a free event.

Here are a few chocolate-related happenings and indulgences.

• Cocoa Therapy
• Rococo Chocolate
• Chocolate Ecstasy Tours
• Choc-tails
• Divine Chocolate Board

For more on those ‘sweet’ options, look up Travel blog: chocolate in the capital.

Whether you are a chocolate addict – or getting there – you will benefit from some expert views on chocolate.

Look up this useful information from a clinical research resource for cellular nutrition & trace mineral analysis on the topic “Chocolate & Cocoa: ‘Healthy’ Benefits, or Negative Health Effects?” Below is the gist of the article that demystifies some of the popular claims by chocolate manufacturers and others who swear by it.

“As is the case with other sweets – anything beyond a casual consumption of chocolate will result in reduced, not improved health, without even going into some more immediate health concerns that some individuals experience from consuming chocolate, such as allergic reactions, chronic mucus / sinus problems, heartburn, esophageal reflux (GERD), kidney stones, fibrocystic breast disease, migraine headaches, or aggravated PMS. Nevertheless – in moderation Chocolate can certainly be the Sinful Delight it was meant to be!”

Health benefits of cocoa – Ignore the  derivative and get back to the real cocoa / cacao – “Raw cacao powder has nearly four times the antioxidant content of regular dark chocolate, 20 times more than blueberries and 119 times more than bananas”. Read about how you can enjoy the health benefits of cocoa.

Thornton’s Chocolates – Read about the origin of Thornton’s chocolates and then enter a contest by answering the question “When was Thorntons chocolates started?”

Tapping medicinal qualities – Discover how a new product that uses dark chocolate is prescribed for women.

Print out your favourite chocolate – So far you may have been printing chocolate recipes, but you can soon design and  print chocolate, and then relish what you printed out!

Perhaps a few chocolate addicts are aware of Fairtrade Chocolate. The delectable edible end product is produced from raw material obtained through fair means. The farmers who are the sources of the raw material are guaranteed a fair and stable price for their crop, besides an extra premium for community development.

Here are a few sources of Fairtrade chocolates in the UK.

Green&Black’s, whose Maya Gold bar is claimed to be the first chocolate product in the UK to be awarded the Fairtrade mark. The cocoa is sourced from farmers in Belize, Central America.

Dubble and Divine, who source their raw material from cocoa farmers of the Kuapa Kokoo Co-operative in Ghana (West Africa).

Chocolala, who source their ingredients locally.

Plush Chocolates, who source cocoa from South America and West Africa.

If you are familiar with Fairtrade products, here is some useful information. You can get several Fairtrade dark chocolate recipes online from the Fairtrade Foundation. Many readers like you have contributed tried and tested recipes.

Go ahead and access the delectable cakes and desserts from the Fairtrade Foundation. Perhaps you will end up donating some of your own created recipes.