The Ten Best: Fairtrade Chocolate

Not only is the chocolate in these treats certified, so are the brazil nuts at their centre. The Day Chocolate Company, which makes them, is an interesting outfit: 33 per cent owned by the Kuapa Kokoo cooperative of small-scale farmers in Ghana, and also supported by The Body Shop and Comic Relief.

Available from Oxfam

2. Theobroma Cacao Fairtrade Chocolate Sticks £16.25 (350g)

These are expensive, but the chunky sticks (above right) are so rich even chocoholics will find it difficult to eat more than one. They look like a long truffle, but underneath is a finger of solid choc. Serve them instead of dessert if you're sure of your guests' teeth. The box is wrapped in tissue and ribbon.

www.theobroma-cacao.co.uk

3. The Cocoa Tree Chocolate Bar with Ginger £3.50 (100g)

Based in Devon, the Cocoa Tree labels its products with "Proud to be a Fair Trading Company" but is not certified. This organic dark chocolate made with chunks of crystallised ginger is the best of this range, which features pieces of each flavouring on the bar. Suitable for vegans.

www.formanandfield.com

4. Green and Black's Maya Gold £1.49 (100g)

Not many people realise that the only Green and Black's flavour to carry the Fairtrade symbol (as opposed to the Soil Association logo for organic production) is Maya Gold, a mix of dark chocolate with orange and spices. It's also available as a hot drink and an Easter egg. The beans are from Belize, and it has 55 per cent cocoa solids.

Supermarkets and convenience stores nationwide

5. Montezuma's Extraordinary Dark Milk Chocolate £1.99 (100g)

All Montezuma's cocoa is organic and comes from co-operative growers in the Dominican Republic. This bar is designed as a "dark milk" chocolate, so it's full-flavoured as well as creamy. It is 54 per cent cocoa solids, as opposed to the company's cheaper Smooth Milk bar, which contains 34 per cent.

Branches of Montezuma's and via www.montezumas.co.uk

6. Grenada Chocolate Company Organic Dark Chocolate £5.50 (for 113g bar)

Prettily etched slabs of dark chocolate from a Caribbean co-operative that produces organically. The 60 per cent solids variety is good, the 71 per cent version exquisite: a great cocoa taste that's not too bitter. The factory is solar powered, so this is the ultimate in green cuisine.

Branches of Rococo, www.rococochocolates.com

7. Dagoba Organic Conacado Chocolate £2.89 (56.7g)

Conacado in the Dominican Republic is the world's largest organic Fairtrade co-operative. It mixes its cocoa plants with trees to protect biodiversity, and creates fertiliser fromrotting foliage. Dagoba chocolatiers, have named this bar after the co-operative, which supplies the beans.

Fresh & Wild

8. Malagasy Sambirano £3.20 (85g)

Malagasy says: "We will not sell cash crops from Madagascar at pence per kilogram, so that others can sell them at pounds per kilogram in international markets." So the company produces its fine chocolate from pod to packaging entirely in Madagascar. Sambirano is earthy and bitter.

Chocolate Trading Co, www.chocolatetradingco.com

9. Co-Op Crispy White Chocolate, 99p (100g)

The Co-op often leads its rivals when it comes to ethical products, and they have 10 own-brand Fairtrade chocolates, as well as nine bakery products carrying the logo. This crunchy blend of white chocolate and crisped rice is manufactured in Germany using cocoa butter from Ghana. Suitable for vegetarians.

Branches of Co-op

10. Traidcraft Organic Praline Chocolate £1.95 (100g)

This hazelnut crunch flavour is delicious. Traidcraft's creamybars are made in Switzerland, using cocoa from Bolivia and the Dominican Republic, and sugar from the Philippines. Planet Organic; www.traidcraftshop.co.uk