Camino Review & Giveaway

"Camino is a Canadian brand of Fairtrade and Organic certified food products, owned by the Ottawa-based La Siembra Co-operative. La Siembra prides itself on building direct relationships with its 18 producer co-ops, supporting more than 35,000 family farmers in 10 countries across Central and South America, and Southeast Asia. Every purchase of a Camino food product contributes to building vibrant sustainable communities both abroad and in Canada."  Camino products include everything from chocolate candy bars to baking products to beverages and more!

Review
I had the opportunity to review three flavours of Camino chocolate candy bars: Dark chocolate and peanut butter, Dark chocolate with almonds & raisins, and Milk chocolate with puffed rice & quinoa.  These 32g chocolate candy bars come in six varieties and are all natural, organic (certified by QAI), and fairtrade (certified by Fairtrade Canada).  The dark chocolate candy bars are even certified Kosher by the Union Israelita Del Peru.  The bars are made and packaged in Peru.

I had previously tried a couple of Camino's chocolate bars when I received them in my Christmas stocking.  Previously, I had never been fond of dark chocolate, but Camino changed my tastes.  I loved that the dark chocolate bars were organic and fairtrade, plus, they tasted great.  So, as you can imagine, when I found out that Camino wanted to work together and have me review their chocolate candy bars (and *new* juices), I was excited. 

As with the chocolate bars, I really enjoyed the chocolate used in the chocolate candy bars.  The dark chocolate is rich but very enjoyable!  The milk chocolate (I melt for milk chocolate) was delightful! Out of the three chocolate candy bars that Camino sent me to sample, my favourites were the Dark chocolate and peanut butter and the Milk chocolate with puffed rice and quinoa (so yummy).  The next Camino product that I'm looking forward to trying is the Hazelnut butter milk chocolate bar; it sounds amazing! 

I thoroughly enjoyed these Camino chocolate candy bars.  Considering how yummy these organic, fairtrade chocolate bars are, I'd definitely say they are worth the suggested retail price of $1.59/bar.  I'd highly suggest trying one of Camino's chocolate candy bars next time you are in your local specialty health food store; what a treat!

I also had the opportunity to review Camino's juices in 946ml and individual sized 200mL Tetrapaks in all the flavours that Camino offers: Mango, Tropical, Orange Mango, and Limeade.  These juices are brand new and the first organic and fairtrade certified juices in Canada!  The fruits contained in these juices come from Peru, Cuba, and Brazil.  These juices don't contain fillers and are made from 100% fruit juice; except for the Limeade, which does have some golden cane sugar to make it a little less tart and a little more sweet.

When I tried these juices I was impressed by how 'real' they tasted!  Many juices you buy in the store, especially tropical blends, taste fake.  Because Camino's juices don't have extras, you can taste and enjoy the goodness of real fruit.  Of the juices I tried, I really liked the Mango and Tropical.  I was quite surprised that I chose the Mango as a favourite, since prior to trying this juice, I disliked Mango.  This is another example of how Camino has converted me.  It is clear that Camino uses the best quality ingredients when making their products.  I also found it convenient that Camino offers their juices in individual sized Tetrapaks; these are perfect for sending to school in your child's lunch bag!

Camino's 946mL and individual sized (4x200mL) juices have a suggested retail price of $4.49.

Camino products are sold in health food stores and in some major grocery chains. To find a store near to you that sells Camino products, visit the store finder feature on the Camino website - just enter your postal code to get a list of nearby stores that sell Camino products.

*GIVEAWAY*

How many winners are there? Five (5).

What can you win? Each winner will receive a CASE of 20 Camino Chocolate Candy Bars.

To enter, visit the Camino web store.  Then, come back here and tell me which specific product you are most interested in trying.  Please list an individual product; in other words, please do not say a group of items such as 'their chocolate bars', 'their juices', etc., otherwise your entry will not count.  This must be done to gain an entry in the giveaway.

Each of the following will give you one extra entry in the giveaway (unless stated otherwise). If an entry option is worth more than one entry, please leave a separate comment for each entry:
- Become a Registered Camino Customer.  Please state the email address you used to sign up in your comment.
- Register for Camino's Newsletter. Please state the email address you used to sign up in your comment.
- 'Like' Camino Amigos on Facebook. Please leave your name (First name and last initial) that is shown on Facebook for verification. 
- Follow Camino on Twitter (@caminolala). Please leave your twitter name in your comment.
- Adding the Everything Up Close blog button to your blog or website.

- Following me on Twitter (@ihchicky) and tweeting about the giveaway with a link to this page. Please leave a link to your tweet or your twitter name. You can tweet 1x a day.

#Win 20 #organic #fairtrade Camino chocolate candy bars fr: @caminolala & @ihchicky. Ends Apr 27. http://bit.ly/CaminoChoco #giveaway #Canada

- Following me on Blogger / Google Friends Connect (publicly).
- Following Everything Up Close on Pinterest.  Please leave your user name in your comment.
- 'Liking' Everything Up Close on Facebook.  Please leave your name (First name and last initial) that is shown on Facebook for verification. 

- Blogging about this giveaway on your blog. Please leave a link to your blog post in your comment.

- Talking about and linking to this giveaway in any public forum or on Facebook. If you do this, please leave your user-name and a link to the post. 2 ENTRIES!
- Telling me about a topic you'd like to see covered on Simply Beautiful Beginnings.  Suggestions must fall into the scope of Simply Beautiful Beginnings to be considered as an extra entry.

Important Entry Details: The above entries (main and bonus) can only be submitted once per person (except for the tweet entry, which can be done daily). Please do not use more than one blogger account or add additional anonymous comments to gain extra entries. This is not fair to everyone else and this practice is strictly prohibited. If a person is found to be using more than one account to enter the same giveaway, they will be disqualified from that particular giveaway, as well as all future giveaways.

This giveaway will end on Friday, April 27th at 11:59pm (Central Standard Time). After the giveaway has ended, the winner will be picked randomly using random.org and the winner will be posted on the Everything Up Close Winner's List.  The winner will have 1 week to send me an email with their complete mailing address (the winner's information will be verified - please email using the email address you used to enter). If you do not contact me within 1 week, a new winner will be chosen.  

This giveaway is open to residents of Canada only!

Good Luck!

**Disclaimer** Camino sent me free products to help facilitate my firsthand review of their products.  Receiving these items did not in anyway alter the information which I discussed in this article; this review is 100% my own opinion.  I did not receive any other type of compensation for this review.

Camino occasionally has promotions, contests, and other news on the Camino website.  Be sure to check back regularly (and subscribe to their newsletter) for updates!