Shopping Responsibly Can Enhance Your Holiday Spirit

(ARA) – As the holiday shopping season gears up this year, wouldn’t it be great if you could find meaningful gifts that show you care not only about the recipient, but about the environment and your neighbors around the world?

You can, if you purchase a Fair Trade Certified product. What does that mean? It means that in the true spirit of the holidays, you are helping improve the lives of the farmers who grew the coffee or tea, or the craftsman who made that beautiful bowl.

Historically, profits from those products, generally grown in developing countries, seldom find their way back to the farmers and communities that produce them. But Fair Trade Certified products bypass local middlemen, guarantee a living wage for producers, and eliminate labor abuses. As a result, families of Fair Trade producers are more stable, children have better access to education and communities are enriched.

In addition, agreements guarantee a safe workplace, the right to unionize, and a fair price that not only covers the cost of quality production, but also facilitates social development and environmental protection. One of the requirements of fair trade certification, in fact, is that farmers stop using toxic sprays and switch to organic methods that protect the rain forest. They are not doing so grudgingly either. They understand the rain forest is their heritage and want it to be restored.

Vanilla, a key holiday baking ingredient, became available as a Fair Trade Certified product earlier this past year. This premium vanilla is produced by small farmers in the shadow of Bangalore, India's fastest-growing city. Those growers now have an opportunity to further develop their production with responsible farming practices. In addition to this premium vanilla, Frontier Natural Products Co-op offers more than three dozen other Fair Trade Certified products — most of them also certified organic — including baking mixes, cocoa powder, a cocoa drink mix and a wide selection of teas.

Fair Trade products are widely available at grocery stores, specialty health food outlets, online and even through local Fair Trade gift markets. Putting together a gift basket that contains Fair Trade ingredients lets someone special know how much you care about them while shopping responsibly.

For more information on Fair Trade or to purchase Fair Trade Certified vanilla, cocoa and teas, go to www.frontiercoop.com/fairtrade.

And for those of you who want to show off your cooking skills in a socially responsible way, here’s a delicious example of using Fair Trade ingredients for frosting holiday cookies or cakes.

Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients:
1 8-ounce package cream cheese, softened
4 tablespoons melted butter
2 teaspoons Fair Trade Certified Vanilla Extract
4 cups Fair Trade Certified Powdered Sugar

Preparation:
In a medium mixing bowl, use an electric mixer to blend the cream cheese, butter and vanilla. Slowly add in the powdered sugar. Mix until creamy. Can be used immediately or cover and refrigerate until use.

Makes approximately 2 cups frosting.

Nutrition Facts:
As prepared, each serving contains 140 calories, 6 g of fat, 15 mg of cholesterol, 30 mg of sodium, 22 g of carbohydrates and 1 g of protein.

Ease of Preparation: Easy
Preparation Time: 5 minutes
Cooking Time: None

Chef Suggests:
Place frosting in plastic sandwich or freezer bag, snip off corner and squeeze to decorate cookies and cakes.

Courtesy of ARAcontent