The Fair Trade Chocolate We're Gifting Everyone This Year

It's the holiday season and what better gift to give than chocolate. Sure, you can make your own luscious chocolate desserts or homemade hot cocoa drinks, but sometimes store-bought really is the way to go (thank you, Ina!). This year we will be filling everyone's stockings with Madhu Chocolate (follow them on Instagram at @MadhuChocolate) to spread holiday cheer in an ethical, sustainable and seriously delicious way.

Founders Harshit Gupta and Elliott Curelop started the one-of-a-kind company out of their own kitchen in 2018. Curelop added Indian spice mixes to the chocolate bars he would make as a hobby, and customers could not get enough. Madhu Chocolate has since become one of the fastest-growing chocolate businesses in the U.S., perhaps thanks to their admirable mission as well as their delicious products. All of their cacao beans are ethically sourced from Columbia, and they adamantly support fair trade to help farmers prosper and help eliminate slavery from the chocolate business. Their production facility also operates on 100% renewable energy and follows aggressive composting practices to help reduce their carbon footprint.

The company's impressive work has not gone unnoticed. They were named one of the best chocolates in America by Food & Wine Magazine, and this year they were a recipient of Meredith Corporation's Good Impressions program. This program provides a select group of minority-owned small businesses with an award package of pro bono ad space and marketing consultation services from Meredith experts valued at approximately $100,000. (EatingWell is part of Meredith's National Media Group.)

"This award means so much to us because it validates the uniqueness of our business concept and the quality of our products," Gupta told Meredith Corporation upon receiving the Good Impressions award. "We have put our all into developing the flavors of our products to demonstrate that amazing chocolate doesn't have to be so Eurocentric in flavor, and it is very gratifying for us to know other people feel the same way."

This season, many of us are trying to choose gifts that give back and contribute to a greater good. Not only does Madhu Chocolate make a product you can feel good about buying, but their flavors have us drooling. They offer a dozen chocolate bar flavors, including Masala Chai, Rose Pistachio and Lemon Coriander. Get your hands on a Hot Cocoa Holiday Kit or one of their other festive bundles for a perfect gift for any chocoholic in your life (yourself included!). Be sure to order by December 17 to get your gifts in time for the holidays.