Color:	opaque brown; garnet tint
Surface:	scratchitti; huge swirl, shaped in a V-neck zipper on back
Temper:	good gloss
Snap:	dull thud

gum ball machine: candied allspice, apricot, & orange zest overlays a rubber bubble

Texture:	dry
Melt:	fissiparous

rancid orange oil backed in allspice; chocolate an innocent bystander; finishes breakfast cocoa & rice

The crown jewel in G&B’s empire. Somewhat ethically grown & traded thru the Toledo Cacao Growers Association (TCGA), a cooperative mainly of Mopan & Q’eqchi’ Mayan surrounding southern Belize, reputedly including remnants of heirloom quality from the recovered Kramer plantation. In 1993, G&B struck a deal with TCGA after Hershey’s pulled out from the area. Soon this bar became the first product to bear the int’l Fair-Trade logo. But tensions have arisen & simmered ever since over land-use rights plus economic inequalities in its wake (similar to casino gambling on reservations in the USA), as elucidated by Michael K. Steinberg in his trenchant article The Globalization of a Ceremonial Tree: The Case of Cacao among the Mopan Maya.

Amateur production in this bar further aggravates the situation, especially the overpowering spice additives - no matter how ‘native’ (orange is nowhere to be found in traditional Mesoamerica cacáo).

And can Green & Black’s print the word ‘ORGANIC’ (thanks primarily to farmers too poor to afford pesticides) any bigger / bolder on the wrapper? It may have to because there’s no other reason to buy this.