The Inspiring Story Behind Our Sugar
August 26, 2009
After nutritionist Marion Nestle's appearance on the Colbert Report and her follow-up article on the Atlantic Food Channel, we found ourselves thinking a lot about the sugar that goes into our chocolate. Sugar is a significant ingredient in most chocolate bars, even dark chocolate. In many cases, sugar (not cocoa) makes up the majority of a chocolate bar by weight.
That fact alone isn't surprising enough to give anyone much pause. It's listed on the back of most every chocolate bar. But what isn't listed is exactly what kind of sugar you're eating. What is it made from? Where was it grown? How processed is it? Is it vegan? Are fair prices paid for it? Are fair work practices utilized in the farming of it? Is it organic? Is it sustainable?
These are the kind of questions that people are asking about their food now. And they're the kind of questions we ask about all of the ingredients we source for our chocolate. That includes our sugar...
The sugar we use in all of our chocolate comes from a Brazilian concern called The Green Cane Project. The GCP started in the 1940's as a family-owned mill. The success of the first mill lead to the purchase, over time, of several others, and eventually, the GCP emerged as one of the country's major sugar producers. During this time, the Green Cane Project also moved forward with its goals of organic, sustainable, socially responsible sugar production
Today, the Green Cane Project produces 100% certified organic cane sugar. The sugar is certified by all major international certifiers, including Brazilian, Japanese, European, and American authorities. But organic agriculture is only a small part of what makes the GCP unique.
Harvesting cane by hand is grueling and backbreaking work. The Green Cane Project retrained hand-harvesters to harvest by machine using modern farming equipment fueled by ethanol produced by the mill. They also eliminated the practice of burn-harvesting, whereby the fields are burnt between harvests to encourage the next year's growth. Instead, the chaff is mulched onto the fields, forming a layer of organic material that acts as compost.
The fields are hand-planted every 6 years with non-GMO cane. The cane is a hybrid cross between wild and domesticated cane plants, developed in the farm's nurseries specifically for the GCP's method of organic growing. The cane is grown, harvested, and regrown over 5 years with one harvest occurring each year. In the sixth year, the soil is tilled and left fallow. A cover crop of high-biomass leguminous plants is laid down. These plants will fix nutrients in the soil, and will be mulched back into the soil at the end of the season.
Biodiversity also plays a key role in the successful growth of organic cane sugar. The GCP creates biodiversity "islands" among the cane fields. These areas are populated with indigenous plants grown in the GCP nursery. Animal life flourishes in the biodiversity islands in fully formed ecosystems, including many species of mammals and birds. The islands are not stocked with animals and the populations there are self-sustaining.
After harvesting, the mill employs sustainable methods in all aspects of sugar production. No synthetic chemicals, bone or ash are used in the extraction and filtration processes - only potable water. Green Cane Project sugar is a vegan sugar. Filtration is accomplished with centrifuge, osmosis, and screen filters. At every stage, the cane syrup residues and sugar molasses that are left over are collected. Some is fermented and redistributed onto the fields as a fertilizer. The rest is used in the production of ethanol, which fuels vehicles and farm equipment, and is also sold.
The spent cane fiber, or bagasse, also sees a dual purpose. Some is processed into a nutrient-rich cake that is the foundation of GCP's fertilization program. The rest is burned in a steam generator to produce electricity. This produces more than enough energy to power the entire GCP facility and surrounding area. In fact, the surplus energy is pushed onto Brazil's power grid, and sold to the state. It's enough to power a city of 500,000 inhabitants. The burning of bagasse produces no sulphur and little greenhouse gasses. The practice of burn-harvesting sugar cane, still widely used in many parts of the world, is exponentially more harmful to the environment. Indeed, the Green Cane Project already meets and exceeds Kyoto Treaty protocol standards.
Finally, the Green Cane Project offers extensive social services to its employees and their dependents. The GCP provides full health insurance and encourages preventative care and healthy lifestyle choices for employees. Workers can participate in profit sharing programs, and they and their families can attend schools on the mill grounds.
Let there be no illusions - the Green Cane Project is a large sugar producer, employing over 2500 people (and supporting 6500 more family members). But it is distinguished by its commitment to integrating forward-looking sustainable manufacturing practices. Every stage of the process is designed to minimize the GCP's environmental impact while maximizing production capacity. These two goals are held in estimable balance by the Green Cane Project.
And what about the taste, you say? The GCP sugar we use (golden natural) is light-colored with a hint of amber. The flavor is clean and pure, and only slightly caramely. It is subtle, which makes it the perfect foil for our chocolate, the real star of the show.
-AJF
