Having just learned about the use of child slave labor to pick cocoa beans, you may be asking, “Camp Host Chad, from which ethical chocolate company** should I buy chocolate for s’mores?”

Good question! I’m here to help.

It seems to me that the only way to know for sure is to use a single elimination tournament bracket. You know, like in March Madness.

I randomly paired these two against each other (mainly because they were for sale at the same location): Compartés Milk Chocolate Peanut Butter vs. Cocoa Parlor Night Train 75.

(**Cocoa Parlor is not yet on the list, but they do have the suggested “Fair Trade” stamp on their packaging.)

Testing my new camp stove mentioned in this post, I made a double batch of s’mores.

Compartés appealed to me with the “peanut butter” reference, as adding peanut butter to s’mores is a thing I quite enjoy, but the chocolate just tasted like chocolate with nuts, no discernible “butter” flavor. The nuts were harder than the chocolate, which was very soft. Maybe other flavors would work, but at over $10 a bar? Yikes.

Cocoa Parlor also had a surprising crunch — the “nibs” inside the chocolate — but I loved it (kinda like eating tiny chocolate-covered espresso beans). I also liked the texture of the chocolate (much more firm than Compartés) and the price (a little over $6). Finally, I discovered I much prefer dark chocolate to milk chocolate when it comes to s’mores, as the dark helps keep the overwhelming sweetness in check.

VERDICT: Cocoa Parlor.

Personally, I don’t even need to continue the battles as all I want is to eat is Cocoa Parlor, which comes in 16 flavors! But I will continue, as long as I still have these in my cupboard: