Ocho: Peanut Butter Eggs

I wasn't planning to get on the soapbox about Easter chocolate again this year. I was just going to quietly say, hey, here's some alternative chocolate. But I picked this bag up too quickly at the store. I didn't notice until I sat down for my review that while it's organic, it isn't fair trade. Still good, but not quite the angle I was going for. I guess the good thing about all this is that fair trade chocolate is becoming so much more common that I took it for granted that this one was.

So let's go ahead and see what this chocolate has to offer while I have it here. The bag comes with a resealable top, which is an unnecessary addition of material: the chocolates are individually wrapped. The white wrappers have orange decorated edges to evoke painted Easter eggs. While the look might not quite compete with the shiny wrappers of most candies, they aren't really trying to replicate that look, anyway.

The little eggs are only rounded on one side; the other side is flat. Imprinted on them is an image of a baby chick hatching from an Easter egg. Here I'd call it a pretty similar approach to the Palmer's bunny that decorates much Easter chocolate.

Like most of the peanut butter chocolates coming out these days, these are fairly comparable to Reese's Cups. Of course, not exactly like them, but different companies are finally settling in on what makes Reese's so popular. The salt is there and also that semi grainy or crumbly texture to the peanut butter. The chocolate isn't as greasy, which is technically a good thing, but you know, that greasy element is part of what makes a Reese's Cup a Reese's Cup. You can also taste more chocolate here than with Reese's.

So if you are going for better ingredients for environmental reasons (organic keeps it all safe from pesticides) or for feeding your family better (some of the ingredients we eat regularly without blinking an eye are downright disturbing), these are a good option. Organic is a step, yes. And they taste good. They're close enough to Reese's to taste fine to those used to the usual candies. And for those who are just used to alternatives, they'll be completely satisfactory. I just hope that we can keep on taking steps and get to more fair trade chocolate, even if it means we eat less chocolate overall (which I realize sounds self-contradictory from someone who regularly reviews chocolate, but there you have it).