Lindt & Sprungli, the world's leading producer of premium chocolate, today announces the introduction of Lindt Chocolate R.S.V.P., a new direct sales program for Lindt USA. The new venture provides chocolate lovers with the chance to become entrepreneurial, independent Lindt Chocolate R.S.V.P. Consultants, and to host in-home chocolate tasting parties. In addition, the program allows Lindt to showcase and sample its wide variety of premium chocolate, including exclusive Lindt Chocolate R.S.V.P. specialties, to new consumers across the country.
Not only can Lindt Chocolate R.S.V.P. Consultants take pride in selling the world's most premium chocolate, the program also features a compelling commission structure and enticing host rewards. Consultants are given the tools they need to create a fun and rewarding chocolate business including training programs, expert coaching, a personal website that aids in generating successful sales results, and an invitation to the annual Lindt Chocolate R.S.V.P national sales conference.
"The Lindt Chocolate R.S.V.P. business venture is a great opportunity for Lindt to share our premium chocolate with an extended audience," said Thomas Linemayr, chief executive officer and president of Lindt USA. "We are excited to provide chocolate lovers with the opportunity to indulge in an unmatched chocolate experience."
At a Lindt Chocolate R.S.V.P. party, Consultants introduce guests to the exceptional quality of Lindt's products in a comfortable, private setting. Consultants and hosts choose from a variety of party formats, including wine and chocolate pairings, chocolate fondue, or dessert creation. Each party centers on a Consultant-led "Five Senses of Chocolate" tasting, engaging guests' senses to fully experience all that premium chocolate has to offer.
From the iconic smooth melting Lindor Truffles to expertly-crafted Excellence bars, all Lindt chocolate offerings are made with the finest ingredients and most sophisticated refinement. In addition to these classic Lindt offerings, exclusive products are available at Lindt Chocolate R.S.V.P. parties. For more information on Lindt Chocolate R.S.V.P., how to become a Consultant or to host a party, visit www.lindtchocolatersvp.com.
About Lindt Chocolate R.S.V.P.
Introduced in 2011, Lindt Chocolate R.S.V.P. is the premium chocolate direct sales program of Lindt USA. The business provides consumers with the opportunity to become independent Lindt Chocolate R.S.V.P. Consultants or to host chocolate parties, using Lindt's premium chocolate offerings. For more information on Lindt Chocolate R.S.V.P., how to become a Consultant, or host a party, visit www.lindtchocolatersvp.com.
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Lindt Chocolate RSVP
Monday, March 14, 2011
Chocolate fried pickles
People love snacks that are sweet. And sour. And crunchy. And salty.
Chocolate-covered pickles! Hello?
The carnival midway at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo is famous for introducing wonderfully bizarre "carny food" like fried Twinkies, fried Beer, fried Coke, fried butter and, well, fried anything.
The truth is, while fried this and fried that are good for laughs — whoa, almost forgot fried Snickers — dining along the carnival midway is awfully great for what it is. If you like turkey legs, the rodeo has the biggest, most delicious turkey legs. Corn dogs? The corniest. Hot dogs? Half-pounders that can't be beat.
But chocolate-covered pickles? That took some extra-hard thinking.
Unlike New York Stock Exchange burger chains, which spend years and millions of dollars creating, test-marketing and introducing a new "secret sauce," things move fast on the carnival midway.
Last month, Mike Ousie was preparing his Pennsylvania Dutch Funnel Cake booths for the rodeo. His funnel cakes are famous on the state fair circuit. You really have to eat them hot from his cast-iron frying pans with powdered sugar or chocolate frosting on top.
A few years ago, Ousie began selling chocolate-covered strawberries. And he's always sold big juicy pickles.
"My daughter Kate said, 'Why don't you make chocolate-covered pickles?' It sounded strange to me at first, too. But I thought, you know, she might be on to something," Ousie said.
"I wanted to add something different that would get us some attention. Chocolate-covered pickles would certainly do that. Once I started playing around with the concept, things moved pretty quick," Ousie said.
They're $4.75.
Ousie first tried traditional chocolate coating, like a chocolate-dipped cone at Dairy Queen. He didn't like the waxy texture. He also wanted a richer, "more chocolaty" flavor. So he went to Sam's Club and bought some Ghirardelli chocolate bark. He melted the chocolate in a double boiler and dipped a giant dill pickle. He waited to see if the chocolate hardened properly and stuck to the pickle.
It did, but Ousie didn't think the chocolate flavor was right — not "chocolaty enough." So he tossed a few handfuls of Nestlé Toll House chocolate chips into the double boiler with the Ghirardelli chocolate bark. Perfect.
Then came an unexpected problem. Ousie was having trouble finding the right size pickles, and enough of them, for the huge crowds expected at the rodeo. He eventually ordered a truckload of dill pickles from the Cajun Chef company in St. Martinville, La. They arrived just in time for the rodeo's opening day.
Ousie makes his chocolate-covered pickles fresh each morning. He starts with cold pickles, so the chocolate hardens fast. Ousie rolls each chocolate-covered pickle in candy sprinkles or adds a swirl of white chocolate on top.
The chocolate shell is crunchy and brittle, and it crumbles in your mouth when you bite into the pickle. Ask for an extra napkin — these pickles are juicy and squirty.
Chocolate-covered pickles have become a surprisingly good seller for Ousie. His best customers are women. "And not pregnant women, either."
"When people bite into one, they get a surprised look on their face. It's like, 'Wow! That wasn't what I expected!' I think I've got a nice little product on my hands," Ousie said.
St. Patrick's Special Edition Chocolates
American artisan chocolates don't get any better. If you have not tried this New England company's hand-made truffles, bonbons and baked goods, you are missing out.
First, their presentation is unlike anything you have ever seen: Gorgeous wooden boxes wrapped in beautiful wired iridescent ribbon, filled with the perfect sized hand-cut (no molds are used) chocolates in the USA.Bold statement, I know, but I have eaten chocolates in every state and I challenge anyone out there to best Burdick's offerings.
The Company is headed by founder Larry Burdick, his wife Paula Burdick, and Chocolate and Pastry Chef Michael Klug of Montabaur, Germany. Larry hails from Boston, Massachusetts and learned his candy making craft in the late 1970s in France, and then the mid-1980s in Switzerland.Coming back to the US, Larry established L.A. Burdick Chocolate in New York City in 1987, and the success of his door in the big city led him and his family back home to New England, setting up shop in Walpole, New Hampshire.
Together they have built a mini chocolate empire that reaches far away to Grenada, where Larry and his wife have partnered with local farmers to help them build wealth while Burdick's ensures the quality of their cacao product.
Burdick's creates inspired collections for every holiday that comes. What goes with coffee in Ireland? The smokey, complex notes of premium Irish Whiskey, and they have infused the these flavors in their chocolate for a touch of Irish whimsy.
The special St. Patrick's assortment includes Burdick's own "Caife Gaelach" - gourmet Irish Coffee bonbons made with dark chocolate, coffee, cream and Irish Whiskey, coated in white and dark chocolate resembling an Irish Coffee drink.
Saturday, March 12, 2011
Godiva Chocolate outlets being refurbished
The first of the Godiva retailers to feature the d-ash design concept recently opened in Istanbul's Nisanti district. Godiva and d-ash design are continuing their collaboration with newly completed stores in Amerkez, Turkey; Xintiandi, Shanghai; Shanghai's Pudong region; and in an IFC mall in Hong Kong. Stateside locations will open in Atlanta in Spring 2011 and in New York City in Summer 2011.The d-ash design team (led by David Ashen) partnered with Linda Lombardi, Godiva's Vice President of Global Store Design & Visual Merchandising, to create the new concepts, which brings a more luxurious, immersive retail environment to the company's worldwide operations. Together, Lombardi and Ashen have fashioned a glittering aesthetic that pays tribute to Godvia's venerable Belgian heritage while presenting a fresh face to the world, with clean, modern interiors where as Ashen puts it "chocolate is the star."Each flagship has its own personality and amenities, including a Godiva cafe that provides guests with an elegant and stylish place to have a cup of cocoa, an interactive 360-degree "Chocolate Island," and a two-storey vertical vitrine in place of the traditional chocolate display case. The interiors highlight a palette of dark browns and bright creams, rendered in an array of rich materials, and the exterior features beautiful Art Nouveau-inflected bronze gates framing the Lady Godiva logo."Our objective was to make the consumer feel totally surrounded, in a sense, not just by chocolate itself but by all the emotions that chocolate conjures-pleasure, indulgence, comfort," said Ashen. "Everywhere you turn there's a different way to enjoy Godiva, a different type of chocolate encounter."The redesign gives new life to one of the biggest brand names in the chocolate industry, with d-ash design bringing a touch of 21st century glamour to chocolate lovers everywhere-just in time for Godiva's 85th anniversary.
Nicole Scherzinger: I love chocolate, cakes and pies
Nicole Scherzinger is a girl who bakes. Nicole Scherzinger loves to cook naughty treats at home.
The star admits she's 11lb heavier than in her Pussycat Doll days, when her toned stomach and perfect pins shot her to stardom.
'I love my pasta, my chocolate - I cook when I can,' says Nicole, 32, who's still a UK size 8.'I love making down-home Southern cooking, and just chilling out and having cakes and pies and baking stuff, you know. I'm a pretty simple girl.'
Nicole, who hopes to become Mrs Lewis Hamilton soon, doesn't make working out her priority these days.
'For a couple of years, at the end of the Dolls, fitness was my life. I'm a lot more relaxed now,' she tells You magazine.
'I have been trying to be a little easier on myself.'
Friday, March 11, 2011
Let Chocolate Be Your Great Escape
A small moment of edible pleasure can keep you going for the rest of the day. Each week Hazelwood Patch provides those deserving people who need some way to get away, with ideas for quick getaways.
Well, as the editor of this site, I work crazy hours. Some days it feels like all I do is work. Well on Monday while working in my office, a Ghirardelli commercial came on.
Now I'm not one to see something on television and want it, really, I'm not. But the commercial showed a rich piece of milk chocolate with creamy caramel in the center. In a moment, it was like the commercial voice and the voice in my head said the same thing at the same time. Why can't Ghirardelli be a little escape from the complexities of the world?
It's that simple. So many people take pleasure in a small square, and for those trying to lose weight as I am, one square is all you need for a little satisfaction. So that's this week's "Great Escape." Let chocolate take you away.
If you don't care for chocolate, the escape doesn't end there. There are tons of great foods that can give you that small moment of pleasure. Just remember, this is one truly sweet way to spend some quality time with yourself.
Enjoy.
Chocolate University students eat their homework
Facts about chocolate:* Chocolate is made from the fruit of the cacao tree. Cacao pods contain nibs that are crushed to make unsweetened chocolate.
* The scientific name of the cacao tree, Theobroma, means “food of the gods.”* When the cacao nibs are crushed, there are fats and solids remaining. The fats are called cocoa butter. The solids are ground into cocoa powder.* There are 40-50 million people who depend on cocoa for their livelihood.* Chocolate bars may have “% Cacao” or “% Cocoa” printed on the label. This percentage refers to the total content of the cacao (or cocoa) solids.* White chocolate does not contain cocoa solids but can be called chocolate by U.S. FDA standards. It must contain cocoa butter.* More than 36 million heart-shaped boxes of chocolate are sold every year for Valentine's Day. * James Baker started America's first chocolate company in Dorchester, Mass., in 1765, based on the advice of John Hannon, a penniless Irish immigrant.* Organic chocolate is made from ingredients, including the cacao bean, that are grown without the use of synthetic pesticides or genetic modifications. In the US, the USDA must inspect a farm before its products can be labeled organic.* It has been reported that Napoleon carried chocolate with him on his military campaigns, and ate it when he needed quick energy.* In countries like Ghana and Ivory Coast, people rarely eat chocolate because it is worth more to them as a trade product than as a food.* Cacao is dried in the sun for about seven days before shipped from the country of origin to the chocolate manufacturer.* The largest cacao producing countries are Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, and Indonesia. * Fermentation is an important step in the transformation of cacao beans to chocolate.* The seed pods of the cacao tree grow directly off the trunk, not on the ends of the branches.* Each cacao pod is about the size of a pineapple and holds 30 to 50 seeds. It takes between 400-500 seeds to make one pound of chocolate.Source: www.chocolateuniversityonline.com“My husband ate my homework.”
There probably aren't too many situations where such an excuse would be acceptable. But Sue Kirk, a recent graduate of Chocolate University Online (CUO), frequently resorted to it.Kirk also unabashedly admitted to eating plenty of her own homework as well. As a Chocolate University student, she was encouraged to sample her lab lessons.Sue, a part-time Yuma resident from Kimberly, Wis., and her friend, Karen Jarocki, a music teacher at Yuma Lutheran School, can be considered chocolate experts after completing the CUO course for chocolate lovers.They can now impress their friends with all sorts of interesting chocolate facts, such as explaining the difference between semisweet and bittersweet chocolate. They can speak in chocolate lingo, exactly understanding what the chocolate ingredient “lecithin” is.They can explain how the percentage of cocoa affects taste and what “single source” and “organic” chocolate mean. Ever wonder what the difference is between milk chocolate, dark chocolate and white chocolate? They can tell you.And they can also share some historical facts such as that the Indians of the ancient Americas used chocolate, which is one of the oldest foods, as currency. They considered it “food from the gods.”“You can talk like an expert,” Sue admitted, adding with a chuckle, “if you can remember.”When Sue does remember, she definitely makes her daughter-in-law proud. Bryn Kirk, who is married to Sue's son, Jeff, is the CUO course facilitator. Bryn recently met with her two Yuma students during a visit from Waukesha, Wis.“She has a very developed taste. She could take a bite and tell you how much spice there is, how much cocoa it has, which country it comes from,” Sue said.Bryn is a true chocolate expert, having worked for nearly a decade in research and development at a chocolate company in Milwaukee. She developed formulas for such companies as Pillsbury, Nabisco, Mrs. Fields and Quaker Oats. She also ran taste test panels for new products developed in the laboratory.She left the chocolate corporate world “to do other things, but my passion for chocolate remained.” Having worked in research and development, “my scientific side was lacking chocolate stimulation.” To satisfy that void, she ran chocolate educational seminars as well as chocolate- and wine-tasting seminars at corporate events and “fun parties” in private homes.In addition, Bryn taught, and still does from time to time, as an adjunct biology laboratory instructor at Carroll College in Waukesha.However, “I wanted to share that passion with more people without impacting their schedules,” explained Bryn, a mother of two teenagers.So Bryn and Jeff, whom she calls the university's “Chancellor of Chocolate,” developed the online lessons, which are also now available in audio and video lessons. They offer two courses: one for chocolate lovers and another for the business professional.“It doesn't matter whether you're in the food industry, own a candy store, are an aspiring chocolatier, love chocolate in secret, or just want to have fun,” states their website, www.chocolateuniversityonline.com.CUO has students from coast to coast in the United States, Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean, South America, Europe, Australia, Asia and Africa. “We're just waiting for a student in Antarctica to complete the collection of continents,” Bryn joked.She noted that they are surprised to have students from countries where chocolate historically hasn't been well known, such as the Middle East and India. Students in those places plan to open up chocolate stores, a growing market in their regions.The school has attracted just as many men as women, who are more traditionally chocolate lovers than men. However, most of the men who have enrolled have done it for business reasons.“For men it's been more of a business approach. Women usually just want to learn more about it,” Bryn said.In the U.S., Arizona tops the list of states with the most students. The Kirks believe CUO is the only online school of its kind.Students can learn at their own pace, receiving a weekly lesson for 40 weeks, or go for “maximum learning” with five lessons a week plus audio lectures and personal coaching. The cost is $19.95 a month. Graduates receive a diploma and certificate of completion.Although the course includes some basic science, Karen insists that the “course is not so technical that people who aren't scientific can't understand it.”The course includes plenty of lab lessons allowing students to make, taste and use chocolate. A lab lesson might call for dipping pretzels or dried pineapple in chocolate dip and evaluating the experiment. This is where students are encouraged to eat their homework. And they usually don't have trouble recruiting volunteers to help them. The recipes were Karen's favorite part. Bryn explained that recipes are a bonus at the end of each lesson, not the focus. But the recipes have proved so popular, she is compiling them into a book.Sue said her favorite part was getting to taste different chocolate treats. One lesson required completing a chocolate comparison sheet similar to a sports playoff bracket.“I learned there is a difference in chocolate brands and flavors. Now I know what's good. My taste has come a long way.”For more information on Chocolate University Online, go to www.ChocolateUniversityOnline.com.Mara Knaub can be reached at mknaub@yumasun.com or 539-6856.
*** Optional homeworkassignmentChocolate Krazy CakeIngredients:3 cups flour2 cups sugar1/3 cup cocoa2 tsp baking soda1 tsp salt3/4 cup vegetable oil 2 tbsp vinegar1 tbsp vanilla extract2 cups waterDirections:Mix dry ingredients together in a 9x13” cake pan. Stir until well blended.Using a spoon, or even your fist, make 3 indentations in the mix. Put the oil in one “well,” the vinegar in another and the vanilla in the third. Pour water over everything. Mix everything together with a fork. Bake at 350°F for 35 minutes.Chocolate Truffle FrostingIngredients:1/3 cup whipping cream4 oz. semisweet chocolate, finely chopped1/4 cup butter, unsalted (allow to soften, but not to room temperature) Directions:Pour whipping cream into a small heavy saucepan. Bring to a boil. Remove from heat and add the chocolate. Stir quickly until chocolate is completely melted, continue to mix until smooth. Pour mixture in a separate bowl and allow to cool to room temperature. Using an electric mixer whip on high for about 3 minutes. The mixture should thicken and lighten in color.Put butter in a large bowl. Beat until smooth. Add 1/3 of the chocolate mixture, beating continually. Add another 1/3, continue beating. Add the final 1/3. Beat until smooth.Source: Recipe taken from Chocolate University Online Lesson No. 39.
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Sweetening the Palate with (Nearly) Guiltless Gourmet Chocolate
Courtesy of the Global Cocoa Project and Hub SoMa, I sampled about 20 different “eco chocolates”. Another key supporter of the event, Sweet Earth Chocolates, brought its cherry chipotle-truffle red foil-wrapped dark chocolate hearts to sample, as part of its ongoing Project Hope and Fairness Tom Neuhaus is an unlikely Bay Area chocolate ecopreneur. Founding Sweet Earth Chocolates in 2004 with his sister, Joanne Currie, Tom is also an associate professor in the Food Science and Nutrition department at California Polytechnic State University (or “Cal Poly”) in San Luis Obispo, Ca. Their Twitter handle, @slochocolate, is written by Eve Neuhaus, who recently posted about their KCOY video segment on a Valentine’s Day with less Earth-impact By all perceivable measures Sweet Earth Organic Chocolate, as a small business with a Fair Trade, “do no harm” business philosophy, is doing quite well as a profit center, too. It recently opened up a retail store that also does tours open to the public, created a host of new packaged products, including a $25 half-pound truffle that doubles as a birthday cake, and continues to make ardent strides in employing innovative, fair methods to improve the quality of life and work for its cocoa farmers with supply chain origins in Africa, Central and South America. It’s a dream most of us can only hope to attain: doing a job you love that makes people and life better, allowing you to sleep at night, while under a roof of your own provision.Life is sweet, for Tom Neuhaus and Sweet Earth Chocolates. It’s a model worth considering, if not simply supporting through purchase. Compared to the ambivalent supply gathering practices and monitoring of giants like Hershey’s, it’s almost guiltless gourmet. But you still can’t eat the whole half-pound truffle without some regret!
Chocolate: A time to give or give up
As stores across America fill shelves with Cadbury Crème Eggs, milk chocolate bunnies and brightly colored Peeps, many Christians are fighting the marshmallow-laced temptations and opting for a period of fasting, moderation and repentance.
It's that time of year. It's Easter.And while people dressed as bunnies in malls adorn the season with furry hugs and picture poses, the time also is set aside for Christians to reflect on Jesus Christ, particularly his teachings, his sacrifice and his resurrection.
"We tend to find our comfort in chocolate or a cocktail at the expense of being more in tune with what really sustains us, which is our relationship with God," said the Rev. Ann Ralosky of First Congregational Church.
"The stores are ahead of the game."
In many stores, novelty candy starts to sell weeks before the actual holiday.
At the CVS Pharmacy on Claremont Avenue, the shelves were stocked with Easter candy shortly after Valentine's Day, saidShift Supervisor Donna Debiase. "We go from one season to the next," Debiase said.
But at The Chocolate Path, which sells specialty dark chocolates, store owner Susan Fine won't start putting out dark chocolate bunnies and truffle-filled eggs until two weeks before Easter.
"People feel better giving up candy, but they have a harder time giving up chocolate because they get more pleasure out of it," Fine said.
Lent, which began yesterday, Ash Wednesday, is the season of preparation in the weeks leading up to Easter, lasting for 40days, not including Sundays in the count.
The season is mostly observed, not by all, but many Christian denominations, including Roman Catholics, Lutherans, Presbyterians, Methodists, Episcopalians and other Anglican denominations.
Roman Catholics, especially those between the ages of 14 and 59, are encouraged to abstain from eating meat on Fridays during Lent, and during that time those between 18 and 59 should fast and eat only light meals, said the Rev. Aro Nathan of Immaculate Conception Roman Catholic Church.
Prayer during Lent also is encouraged, as well as giving to charities for the homeless and the poor, as the Immaculate parish does, Nathan said.
"It's not a command. It's encouraging practices of little sacrifices, as Jesus did. We follow Jesus in his way. He fasted, he prayed and died on the cross to give us salvation. That is what we remember during lent."
In some countries, such as Nicaragua, crowds of Catholics are lead by a priest for a three-hour procession through town, usually accompanied by someone dressed to imitate Christ carrying a large wooden cross with them through the streets, walking barefoot.
In Montclair, many churches began Lent yesterday with public services.
The First Congregational Church observed the beginning of Lent last night with an Ash Wednesday service in its neo-gothic sanctuary. The service included the giving of the Holy Communion and the imposition of ashes.
Lent is not mentioned in the Bible, though the practice of repentance and ashes is particularly found in what Christians call the Old Testament.
Ashes are a reminder of mortality, and when given, a pastor or religious leader says, "Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return," from the book of Genesis.
As stores across America fill shelves with Cadbury Crème Eggs, milk chocolate bunnies and brightly colored Peeps, many Christians are fighting the marshmallow-laced temptations and opting for a period of fasting, moderation and repentance.
It's that time of year.
It's Easter.
And while people dressed as bunnies in malls adorn the season with furry hugs and picture poses, the time also is set aside for Christians to reflect on Jesus Christ, particularly his teachings, his sacrifice and his resurrection.
"We tend to find our comfort in chocolate or a cocktail at the expense of being more in tune with what really sustains us, which is our relationship with God," said the Rev. Ann Ralosky of First Congregational Church.
"The stores are ahead of the game."
In many stores, novelty candy starts to sell weeks before the actual holiday.
At the CVS Pharmacy on Claremont Avenue, the shelves were stocked with Easter candy shortly after Valentine's Day, saidShift Supervisor Donna Debiase. "We go from one season to the next," Debiase said.
But at The Chocolate Path, which sells specialty dark chocolates, store owner Susan Fine won't start putting out dark chocolate bunnies and truffle-filled eggs until two weeks before Easter.
"People feel better giving up candy, but they have a harder time giving up chocolate because they get more pleasure out of it," Fine said.
Lent, which began yesterday, Ash Wednesday, is the season of preparation in the weeks leading up to Easter, lasting for 40days, not including Sundays in the count.
The season is mostly observed, not by all, but many Christian denominations, including Roman Catholics, Lutherans, Presbyterians, Methodists, Episcopalians and other Anglican denominations.
Roman Catholics, especially those between the ages of 14 and 59, are encouraged to abstain from eating meat on Fridays during Lent, and during that time those between 18 and 59 should fast and eat only light meals, said the Rev. Aro Nathan of Immaculate Conception Roman Catholic Church.
Prayer during Lent also is encouraged, as well as giving to charities for the homeless and the poor, as the Immaculate parish does, Nathan said.
"It's not a command. It's encouraging practices of little sacrifices, as Jesus did. We follow Jesus in his way. He fasted, he prayed and died on the cross to give us salvation. That is what we remember during lent."
In some countries, such as Nicaragua, crowds of Catholics are lead by a priest for a three-hour procession through town, usually accompanied by someone dressed to imitate Christ carrying a large wooden cross with them through the streets, walking barefoot.
In Montclair, many churches began Lent yesterday with public services.
The First Congregational Church observed the beginning of Lent last night with an Ash Wednesday service in its neo-gothic sanctuary. The service included the giving of the Holy Communion and the imposition of ashes.
Lent is not mentioned in the Bible, though the practice of repentance and ashes is particularly found in what Christians call the Old Testament.
Ashes are a reminder of mortality, and when given, a pastor or religious leader says, "Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return," from the book of Genesis.
"It's a season that developed as Christianity developed," Raloksy said. "Christianity came out of Judaism, and around High Holy festivals [about 2,000 years ago] the idea of atonement for one's sins was very important."
"While a person was praying and fasting to get right with God, there were a lot of symbolic gestures, and one was the wearing of ashes."
The season of Lent has also traditionally been a time of self-denial in order to become more aware of "God's presence in our lives," Ralosky said.
"The comforts and the things we rely on, the habits, how we eat and how we spend our time can sometimes create a barrier between ourselves and our need for God," she said.
"When the stores are getting ahead of us, while we're trying to hold back from those things, it's a particular challenge. But I don't think it's unique to the season. We live in a world of such access and instant gratification. Where everything is at our fingers at the push of a button. We can really grow numb to what we need as a human being."
Lent is also a time to re-evaluate lifestyles, and not always think about what to give up, she said.
Volunteering in a soup kitchen or calling someone who is lonely are other ways in which to honor Lent, she said.
Ralosky added, "Sometimes the riskier thing to do is to engage more deeply in the world. Maybe it's not what we don't do, but we dare to do."
The Rev. Paul Leggett of Grace Presbyterian Church said Lent can be about "adding things into your life, rather than taking things out of it."
Leggett said that while he thinks his congregants can observe Lent however they'd like, it can be a time for study, meditation and prayer.
"I don't think Lent is so much about giving up as much as it is about going deeper into your faith," he said.
"If I give up chocolate, that doesn't make me a better Christian. I'm a better Christian by having better relationship with Jesus Christ, or having a better understanding of what my faith is."
Contact Tanya Drobness at drobness@montclairtimes.com.
"It's a season that developed as Christianity developed," Raloksy said. "Christianity came out of Judaism, and around High Holy festivals [about 2,000 years ago] the idea of atonement for one's sins was very important."
"While a person was praying and fasting to get right with God, there were a lot of symbolic gestures, and one was the wearing of ashes."
The season of Lent has also traditionally been a time of self-denial in order to become more aware of "God's presence in our lives," Ralosky said.
"The comforts and the things we rely on, the habits, how we eat and how we spend our time can sometimes create a barrier between ourselves and our need for God," she said.
"When the stores are getting ahead of us, while we're trying to hold back from those things, it's a particular challenge. But I don't think it's unique to the season. We live in a world of such access and instant gratification. Where everything is at our fingers at the push of a button. We can really grow numb to what we need as a human being."
Lent is also a time to re-evaluate lifestyles, and not always think about what to give up, she said.
Volunteering in a soup kitchen or calling someone who is lonely are other ways in which to honor Lent, she said.
Ralosky added, "Sometimes the riskier thing to do is to engage more deeply in the world. Maybe it's not what we don't do, but we dare to do."
The Rev. Paul Leggett of Grace Presbyterian Church said Lent can be about "adding things into your life, rather than taking things out of it."
Leggett said that while he thinks his congregants can observe Lent however they'd like, it can be a time for study, meditation and prayer.
"I don't think Lent is so much about giving up as much as it is about going deeper into your faith," he said.
"If I give up chocolate, that doesn't make me a better Christian. I'm a better Christian by having better relationship with Jesus Christ, or having a better understanding of what my faith is."
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Sweeten the Palate with (Nearly) Guiltless Gourmet Chocolate
Courtesy of the Global Cocoa Project and Hub SoMa, I sampled about 20 different "eco chocolates" right before the Valentine's Day weekend. Another key supporter of the event, Sweet Earth Chocolates, brought its cherry chipotle-truffle red foil-wrapped dark chocolate hearts to sample, as part of its ongoing Project Hope and Fairness.
Tom Neuhaus is an unlikely Bay Area chocolate ecopreneur. Founding Sweet Earth Chocolates in 2004 with his sister, Joanne Currie, Tom is also an associate professor in the Food Science and Nutrition department at California Polytechnic State University (or "Cal Poly") in San Luis Obispo, Ca. Their Twitter handle, slochocolate, is written by Eve Neuhaus, who recently posted about their KCOY video segment on a Valentine's Day with less Earth-impact
By all perceivable measures Sweet Earth Organic Chocolate, as a small business with a Fair Trade, "do no harm" business philosophy, is doing quite well as a profit center, too. It recently opened up a retail store that also does tours open to the public, created a host of new packaged products, including a $25 half-pound truffle that doubles as a birthday cake, and continues to make ardent strides in employing innovative, fair methods to improve the quality of life and work for its cocoa farmers with supply chain origins in Africa, Central and South America.
It's a dream most of us can only hope to attain: doing a job you love that makes people and life better, allowing you to sleep at night, while under a roof of your own provision.
Life is sweet for Tom Neuhaus and Sweet Earth Chocolates. It's a model worth considering, if not simply supporting through purchase. Compared to the ambivalent supply gathering practices and monitoring of giants like Hershey's, it's almost guiltless gourmet.
But you still can't eat the whole half-pound truffle without some regret!
Good Cacao Probiotic Chocolate
Superfood Chocolate™ bars enhanced with probiotics plus 15 other superfoods
Ganeden Biotech Inc., makers of the patented probiotic strain GanedenBC30®, today announced the launch of a new probiotic-enhanced organic chocolate by Good Cacao™, a pioneer in the functional chocolate category. The all-natural Superfood Chocolate™ marks the world's the first organic chocolate to incorporate GanedenBC30 Probiotic along with 15 other non GMO, plant-based, nutraceutical ingredients that offer targeted, evidence-based nutritional benefit.
Each Superfood Chocolate™ bar begins with single-origin, fair trade Ecuadorian cacao which is slowly tempered and then blended over 16 superfoods, including maca, lucama, cupuacua, and marine plankton. Finally, the bars are enhanced with a host of branded functional ingredients including GanedenBC30 Probiotic. Each bar is hand-made, gold foil wrapped and sealed in a recycled FSC certified vegetable parchment paper that is fully biodegradable. The Superfood Chocolate™ bars are offered in four initial varieties – Lemon Ginger | Immunity, Coconut | Omega-3, Peppermint | Clear Mind™, and Nutriberi™ | Healthy Heart. The bars are sold in specialty and natural health stores nationwide and are also available for distribution. The bars will be on display at Supply Expo 2011, starting March 11.
“We are thrilled that GanedenBC30 was the probiotic ingredient chosen by Good Cacao to be included in their chocolate,” said Ganeden Biotech CEO Andy Lefkowitz. “Being part of such an environmentally conscious product is truly an honor for us and I think the Superfood Chocolate bars are really going to resonate with consumers who are looking for easy, tasty ways to get more functional ingredients into their diet.”
Probiotics are “good bacteria” that have been shown to improve digestive health and boost immunity. Unlike many probiotic strains, GanedenBC30 (Bacillus coagulans GBI-30, 6086) is unique in its ability to survive harsh manufacturing and cooking processes. Furthermore, GanedenBC30 is shelf-stable, making it an ideal probiotic to be included in a variety of food and beverage products, including chocolate. The survivability and viability of GanedenBC30 can be attributed to the naturally-occurring hardened shell of organic material that protects the bacteria.
“We researched many probiotics before choosing GanedenBC30” explained Good Cacao (pronounced “ka-kow”) founder and CEO. “We were immediately impressed with the survivability of GanedenBC30 and especially like the fact that it didn't alter our chocolate's flavor or texture. We look at Ganeden Biotech as not just another vendor, but as our partner at the forefront of the functional food category.”
About Good Cacao:
Created out of a desire to move away from highly processed foods filled with pesticides and hormones, Good Cacao was founded to deliver a best-in-class, organic functional chocolate with a strong eco-message, competitive price point, and uncompromising taste. Their simple, yet powerful mission statement, Be GOOD™, is the driving force behind the company as well as each employee and translates into utilizing only superfood ingredients, fair trade practices, manufacturing locally in a USDA certified organic facility, and using exotic raw ingredients and sustainable packaging. For more information, visit goodcacao.com.About Ganeden Biotech:
Founded in 1997, Ganeden Biotech, Inc. is based in Cleveland, Ohio, and is the largest seller of over-the-counter probiotics in the US through its Digestive Advantage® and Sustenex® brands. It also licenses its patented probiotic bacteria, GanedenBC30®, for use in commercial food and beverage applications and nutraceuticals. GanedenBC30® is self-affirmed GRAS (Generally Recognized as Safe) by an independent panel of experts assembled to assess its safety in use as a food ingredient. For more information about licensing opportunities visit ganedenlabs.com.Contact:
Julia Boyd, Ganeden Biotech 440-229-5200 boyd (at) ganedenbiotech (at) com
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Fair trade not Fairtrade
Today marks the launch of Fairtrade Fortnight 2011, a celebration of the most widely-recognised ethical label. Fairtrade sales broke the £1 billion mark last year, showing that even during a recession, many consumers still consider the impact of their buying decisions.
However, there’s a very long way to go before all trade is fair, and it’s unlikely that schemes like Fairtrade can bring this about by themselves. Part of their strength is that by using market solutions and focusing on changing public attitudes, they do not alienate anyone. But this approach is also a weakness. The need for Fairtrade schemes is a clear sign that the current global economic system only makes the rich richer.
Commercial giants
The monopolies of huge companies like Cargill, ConAgra and Unilever and of the supermarkets keep selling prices low at the expense of producers. This keeps farmers in the global south working for survival, with little chance of building up their own economies. Often small farmers, who can be very efficient at producing food and protecting the environment, cannot survive.
Fairtrade supports the income of its producers in the global south, and, says Deborah Doane, WDM’s director, “should be congratulated for showing that co-operative based production and small-holder production can be integrated into global supply chains, while benefitting local communities”. Some of these cooperatives, such as the Kuapa Kokoo farmers’ trust in Ghana which owns Divine Chocolate, have even taken control of their brands. However, even Fairtrade has had to open up to giants like Kit Kat and Dairy Milk in order to increase its market share. It’s debatable how far change ‘from within’ can go in such a system.
Gambling on food
Commercial monopolies are not the only threat to the welfare of small farmers. Financial speculation in derivatives markets has increased food prices, with disastrous results not only for poor consumers but for vulnerable producers as well. This can sound contradictory at first: if Fairtrade schemes are good because they increase the income of southern producers, how can rising food prices be bad for farmers? Here’s how.
Many farmers in the global south are not able to grow sufficient food to feed themselves and their families, but rely on buying food. For example, in Kenya and Mozambique around 60% of rural households are net buyers of maize. The Fairtrade Foundation says of its producers, “most smallholders are net food buyers and as such only a minority have gained from increased commodity prices.”
Fairtrade schemes aim to give farmers a fair share of the price for their produce, paying them a ‘Fairtrade premium’ and shortening the supply chain through which they sell their goods to rich markets. Speculation is different. Often it does not increase selling prices for farmers in the global south, but for big companies that are able to trade internationally. Price rises caused by speculation can affect the staple foods being bought by the poorest people in the world, but not always the food being sold by them. The flow of wealth is going in the wrong direction.chocolate
Speculation causes not only huge increases in the prices of foods, but also volatility – this is where the prices take extreme hikes and dips. Farmers invest in growing more of a crop whose price is booming, but the price may have plummeted by the time harvest comes around. All the precious resources invested in the crop are lost for good. Fairtrade offers farmers a guaranteed minimum price, so that they are less vulnerable to price volatility, but this protection is available to only a small minority of farmers worldwide.
Buying Fairtrade produce does help thousands of people each year, and we should continue to do it. However, there is only so much this can do when the global economic system is structured to make the rich richer. Deregulation of markets and corporations, unfair trade rules, and unrestrained speculation by financiers have created havoc. Markets need to be re-regulated to stop gambling on food and help to ensure that all trade is fair. The Fairtrade Foundation is proud that its work “offers producers in the developing world breathing space to make it through these tough times”, but a comprehensive, long-term solution is needed to put an end to poverty.
Sunday, March 6, 2011
U.S. Chocolate Market Report - Analysis of One of the Largest Markets Worldwide
DUBLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/0993f9/u_s_chocolate_mar) has announced the addition of the "U.S. Chocolate Market" report to their offering.
The US confectionery market is one of the largest markets worldwide. Most of the confectionery items are sold through supermarkets, convenience stores and drug stores. The US Confectionery market was seen as a recession resistant category with retail sales increasing by 5.6% in 2009 compared to previous year. The growth was mainly attributed to hike in manufacturers prices as well as rise in purchasing trends of chocolates. Both exports and imports of confectionery products in the US remained stagnant in 2009.
The chocolate segment accounts for the maximum share of the overall confectionery market in the US. The inherent characteristic of this segment is that it is the most impulsive food product. However, the chocolate market was affected by sugar supply constraint that is expected to prevail in 2010 also. The demand for premium chocolate will persist and is expected to expand by 2011. With rising consumer consciousness for health-related issues, there has been a shift towards healthy and low calorie chocolate products. In addition, increasing consumer income, rise in new product launches and improving economic conditions will be driving the overall the US chocolate market sales.
Issues related to the market include rising candy taxes, usage of artificial colors and limited supply of sugar. Major chocolate manufacturing companies in the US are Hershey, Nestle and Cadbury. Countries with fast-growing middle-classes and large populations like China and India are also regarded as potentially huge international trade markets for chocolate manufacturers.
The present report offers an analysis of the US Chocolate market and discusses major market trends, growth drivers, and major challenges faced by the industry. In addition, the report also gives detailed profiling of major chocolate manufacturers in the US.
Key Topics Covered:
1. Global Overview: Confectionery Market
2. The US Confectionery Market
3. The US Chocolate Market
4. Market Trends
5. Growth Drivers
6. Key Challenges
7. Competitive Landscape
8. Company Profiles
9. Market Forecast
Companies Mentioned:
- Hershey
- Cadbury
- Nestle
Chocolate Festival this weekend at Orlando Science Ctr
Attention chocolaholics! If you love chocolate, this weekend is a real treat for you. Truffles, cakes, cupcakes, cookies, brownies, pastry, crepes, chocolate drinks and even chocolate spa treatments. The Orlando Science Center is hosting The Festival of Chocolate with tastings, classes, demos, competitions, and chocolate, chocolate and more chocolate.
March 5 from 10am - 7pm and March 6 from 10am - 5pm, the Orlando Science Center will be home to the region's premiere chocolate shopping, educational and interactive event.
Highlights include:
* Tastings and Sales of Gourmet Chocolate, Cookies, Brownies, Cakes, Cupcakes, Chocolate Drinks and much, much more!
* A "Kids-4-Chocolate" Creative Workshop area with creative chocolate crafts
* Demonstrations by Award-Winning Pastry Chefs
* An Educational Chocolate Museum featuring Chocolate Production, History of Chocolate, Chocolate Trends, Chocolate and Health, etc.
* A "Best of" Chocolate Indulgence Competition Awarding the Best of the Best in Six Chocolate Categories
* A Chocolate Decadence Raffle Drawing featuring gourmet chocolate creations from the Region's most acclaimed businesses (complimentary with Ticket Purchase)At The Festival of Chocolate, Kids can:
Decorate a Decadent Chocolate Pizza. ($)
Design a Crazy Chocolate Cupcake. ($)
Create a Fancy Chocolate Cake Pop. ($)
Dip and Decorate Marshmallow Kebobs. ($)Unleash your inner Cocoa Picasso with a KidzArt Interactive Design Project.
Make Gooey Chocolate Playdough.
Mix Up some Rock Salt Chocolate Ice Cream.
Take a Kid-Centric Class All About Chocolate.
Be a Chocolate Detective uncovering Facts in the Chocolate Museum.
Join in on a Young Chefs Academy "Kids Cooking Up Chocolate" Demo.
Participate in a Cooking Stacking Competition.
Eat your way to Victory in an Ice Cream Eating Competition.
Test Your Chocolate Knowledge in a Tasty Trivia Contest.At The Festival of Chocolate, Adults can:
Tempt all of your senses with over 30 Vendors selling Everything Chocolate!
Participate in an Interactive Chocolate Candy Making Demonstration.
Create a Captivating Chocolate Cup using a Balloon Technique. ($)
Mix Up some Fresh Creamy Chocolate Mousse.
Watch the Live Judging of the "Best of" Chocolate Indulgence Competition covering Six Chocolate Categories.
See Pastry Chefs Compete in a Live Chocolate Showpiece Competition.
Cheer on Top Rated Pastry School Teams as they go head to head in a Mystery Ingredient Chocolate Dessert Plating Competition.
Participate in a Crazy Cookie Stacking Competition.
Eat Your Way to Victory in an Ice Cream Eating Competition.
Learn about the delicate and delicious relationship between Chocolate and Wine. ($)
Relax as you enjoy a Chocolate Spa Treatment. ($)
Travel through a one-of-a-kind Chocolate Themed Museum.
Watch an Artist create Inspired Chocolate Art right before your eyes.Entrance to The Festival of Chocolate is included with Admission to the Orlando Science Center. Advanced Tickets on Sale on the Festival of Chocolate website.
Saturday, March 5, 2011
Beyond Chocolate - Cadbury launches Oreo in India
India’s biscuit wars have gotten hotter with one of the world’s biggest household cookie brands set to shake up the snacky business. Oreo — cream biscuits sometimes dubbed as the 20th century’s most popular — are set to be manufactured in India, a fallout of the global acquisition of Cadbury by US food giant Kraft.Oreo is sold with the slogan, “Milk’s favourite cookie” – while in the past, it used to be “America’s favourite cookie.”
Indian cookie connoisseurs influenced by the American fancy have been munching the imported version thus far, but will now get to dunk into their milk or coffee the version supplied by Jalandhar-based Mrs Bector’s Food Specialities, who now makes them for Cadbury India, which has launched the global brand here.
Market researcher Nielsen says India’s biscuit category is growing at 17% annually.
Kraft has competition waiting, thanks to rivals that thought ahead.
Britannia Industries has its Pure Magic and ITC’s Sunfeast has a brand extension called Dark Fantasy that pretty much sit in the category in which Oreo is a household name in many countries.
A large packet of Oreos cost around R50 at imported rates but can now be had in packets that cost R5, 10 or 20, Cadbury officials said. The Indian supplier has played a major role in bringing down costs.
Oreo also marks a pioneering foray into the biscuit segment for Cadbury India, so far known more for its milk chocolates and health drinks such as Bournvita.
While Oreo is a Kraft product, it will be promoted as a Cadbury brand in India.
“Cadbury is an iconic brand in this category and it was the most appropriate thing to do,” said Anand Kripalu, president – South Asia & Indo-China, Kraft Foods and Managing Director, Cadbury India. “Our ambitions are to have a sizeable market share in this segment.”
Thursday, March 3, 2011
A kitchen made of chocolate
He has built a 20-foot-tall skyscraper of chocolate in New York, a 22-foot-tall chocolate Christmas tree in Hong Kong and a 1,250-pound chocolate cake on "The Martha Stewart Show." And now chef Alain Roby's latest foray into extreme sweetness is a life-size chocolate kitchen in downtown Geneva. Roby, 55, is a master pastry chef and Food Network regular who has concocted sweet creations for royalty and dignitaries around the world. Now, the French-born Roby is following his passion of constructing amazing works of chocolate and sugar in Geneva, where he and his family have lived for 10 years. "I like breaking the records and crossing the lines," he said recently, as he worked on more chocolate molds at the display space at 507 S. Third St. "As you build something that has never been done, it pushes you to explore, to push the envelope." Roby, formerly the senior pastry chef for Hyatt Hotels, holds two Guinness World Records designations for tallest chocolate building (20 feet, 8 inches) and tallest cooked sugar building (12 feet, 10 inches). He is hoping Guinness officials will make the trip to visit his kitchen, a replica of his home kitchen. Cabinets, a stove, a sink, a tiled backsplash, teapots and dishes — all are made from more than 2,000 pounds of donated chocolate and sugar. A few women stopped by the space on a recent Friday morning, oohing and ahhing at the kitchen and checking out the different confections he has for sale. Roby also has a life-size chocolate Blackhawks player, astronaut and dinosaur on display, along with a cookbook he wrote. "I've always told the people that have worked for me that we are in show business," Roby said. "Yes, the food has to be great, but you also have to make it an experience." Roby said that the celebrity chef phenomenon has led to an increased awareness among the passers-by who stop in, looking for the drama that they see in the kitchens on their televisions. Average Americans now eat up cooking shows on channels such as the Food Network and aren't intimidated by terms such as blown sugar, Roby said. In recent years, Roby has made several appearances as judge on Food Network challenges and has been featured on specials such as "Extreme Pastry" and "Sugar Rush." Roby set out to build a life-size kitchen after he decided he wanted to raise awareness for a charity dear to him and his wife, Esther Roby: the Saving Tiny Hearts Society. Roby became involved with the organization after his son Jonathan collapsed at age 16 on a football field in Geneva in 2007. He was diagnosed with a congenital heart defect, which was treated. He's now a college student. But as the Robys dealt with their son's condition, they were surprised to discover that congenital heart defects are the No. 1 birth defect and that one of every 125 babies is born with a heart defect. Roby decided to raise awareness and money for the grass-roots volunteer organization that funds research by doing what he does best: constructing extreme creations of chocolate. A portion of all the proceeds of sales from the cookbook and the store goes to Saving Tiny Hearts. Jonathan Roby said he used to take for granted the incredible creations his father would construct for birthdays and Halloween, such as gigantic birthday cakes and huge sugar ghosts. Once, his dad asked to borrow a toy gorilla, he said, and when he went to his dad's workplace weeks later, he found a life-size gorilla made of chocolate. "It's always been that way. He gets an idea, and then he is taking on some new challenge. But I no longer take it for granted that he has the ability to make masterpieces of chocolate and sugar," Jonathan Roby said. The process of building the kitchen started last year with chocolate donated by Callebaut. Roby melted the chocolate into molds he designed, then connected the pieces by using more chocolate. The dishes were made of sugar, and the tiles made to look like tiles by glazing and sculpting. It took months to do, and Roby still has to tweak it now and then. One recent day, he was bustling to repair a door that had cracked. Roby said the chocolate won't melt unless temperatures reach into the 90s. He said that while the artistry of the kitchen is a challenge, the engineering it takes to build can be just as complicated. When he is executing his visions, he is in a zone, he said. Jonathan Roby described him as looking like a scientist figuring out equations in his head. "I don't hear anything, I don't see anybody," Alain Roby said. "It's like I'm a movie director making sure that all the parts come together. Then, you just hope it is well-received." The response to the kitchen has been enthusiastic, and the local developer who donated the open retail space in a development downtown is allowing Roby to stay through the spring. Jean Gaines, president of the Geneva Chamber of Commerce, called the chocolate kitchen a unique destination for Geneva residents and visitors that added something special downtown during the Christmas season. Roby said that after he is finished with his all-chocolate kitchen project, he is sure he'll have another extreme chocolate challenge to tackle. "It's in my blood," he said. "I don't have blood. I have chocolate running through my veins."
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Satisfy a Chocolate Craving on a Diet
Cultural reverance for chocolate has existed for centuries. Over the years, chocolate has been associated with decadence, luxury and relaxation. Cacao beans, which chocolate is made from, were so valuable that the Aztecs used them as a type of currency. Many Mesoamerican cultures considered chocolate to be magical and divine. The Smithsonian states that some historians believe that "evidence of chocolate consumption stretches back three or even four millennia." Although it was known in many cultures as an exotic treat for the elite, there's a much more biological reason why humans crave chocolate. Chocolate triggers a series of chemical responses when it is eaten. There are numerous health benefits of chocolate including:
Moderation Slowly eat a few small pieces of dark chocolate (the darker the better!) and focus on the flavors.
- Reduced risk of stroke and heart attack
- Improved blood flow to the brain which results in higher concentration, mental clarity and memory function
- Increased production of serotonin and endorphins, which are hormones that regulate mood, sleep and other mental faculties
- Antioxidant support
It's unnecessary (and possibly counter-productive) for you to stomp out all of your chocolate cravings with the attitude of a bootcamp sergeant. Allow yourself the occassional indulgence of dark chocolate, and receive the many benefits! When you find yourself craving chocolate and don't want to bust the diet that you've worked so hard to stick to, remember three words: moderation, combination and purity:
Combination Try combining your treat with some time just for you; read a good book, watch the sunrise or catch up on your favorite show. You may be craving the relaxing and reassuring health benefits of chocolate, which can be revved up by the added stress-reducing activity of your choice.
Purity Chocolate, in it's purest form, is an invaluable gift. However, the many confections that it goes into are not. Ice cream, candies and beverages add extra sugar, fat and other ingredients which negate the health benefits of chocolate. Eat dark chocolate and avoid washing it down with milk, as some studies suggest that it interferes with chocolate's beneficial properties.
It's no wonder that we still experience lust over chocolate in modern times. Go ahead and give in a little, just remember moderation, combination and purity!
Saturday, February 26, 2011
JWoww Manages Chocolate Addiction
Not even the pressure to fit into sexy outfits can keep Jersey Shore star Jenni “JWoww” Farley from indulging in regular splurges. She loves chocolate too much!
“I don’t diet,” she tells me during an Abdominal Cuts event. “It never works. I eat in moderation, I eat frequently, and the biggest help is cardio.”The reality darling, 24, can’t resist candy, but keeps her sweet tooth from damaging her figure.
“I love chocolate, and I definitely do it two or three times a week,” she says. “Instead of getting those big candy bars, I get the Halloween treats. I love Snickers. Snickers are my thing, and Kit Kats. It keeps me from crashing.”
I bet she can’t wait to taste the different desserts they’ll have in Italy when Jersey Shore films there later this year. She’s never been to the Old Country.
Hm, what does she love about Abdominal Cuts?
“It’s a natural supplement, and that’s what I’m into. I don’t like anything that’s too out there. It’s natural for the body and healthy for the body.”
Chocolate Wealth
ALNWICK is a pretty market town boasting a wealth of independent businesses offering the very best in customer service and expertise. Here we take a closer look.
The Chocolate Spa
Everybody needs a bit of luxury in their life, especially when times are hard.
Chocolates are a great value luxury that really can make you feel better when you’re a bit down.
Located at 1 Fenkle Street; The Chocolate Spa specialises in luxury chocolates from some of the best Chocolatiers in Europe.
Its product range now includes ‘Willies’ delectable cacao and chocolate bars (as seen on Channel Four).
So why not visit and enjoy the finest of Italian coffee, ground freshly on demand or luxuriously rich hot chocolate – not forgetting the complimentary truffle served with each hot drink – a purely pleasurable experience while the staff package up your unique gift from the Chocolate Spa.
Planning a wedding? Contact The Chocolate Spa for a truly individual take on wedding favors. Staff will help you choose your luxury chocolates and create packaging to compliment the theme of your special day.
The Chocolate Spa staff will their best to take the stress out of choosing an affordable luxurious treat for your guests.
Friday, February 25, 2011
Chocolate novelty for expectant moms
Expectant moms with a craving for chocolate no longer have to feel guilty about indulging in the sweet treat. Coco Preggers is a specialty shop in California that is now shipping specially fortified chocolate for pregnant women. The candies contain folic acid, and omega-3 fatty acids, and just 51 calories. The company president says the candy isn't a replacement for a healthy diet or prenatal vitamins-- but can help eliminate the guilt over a chocolate craving. The company behind Coco Preggers also has other body-boosting varieties of chocolate, including Coco Heart, Coco Brain, And Coco PMS, for the more hormonal consumer.
Chocolate ‘ransom’ demanded for Rocky Mountain mascot
The apparent “bear-napping” of Truffles, the oversized stuffed mascot of Park Ridge’s Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory, is being described as a “prank” by the shop’s owner.
“We understand he is not harmed and will return soon,” Linda Hills said of the fuzzy brown bear that normally looks out from a chair in front of the store. Hills said while she did not know where Truffles is, she’s “pretty sure we know who has him” and that there was no malicious intent in his disappearance.
Truffles went missing about 6 p.m. Feb. 15. An employee said a customer came into the shop and told her he saw someone stuffing the 4-foot-tall bear into a car and driving away. A two-page, hand-written note demanding 1,700 pounds of chocolate in exchange for the bear’s return was taped to Truffles’ chair.
Other Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory stores have been victims of bear-nappings. The Naperville store’s Truffles has been swiped four times in seven years. Jennifer Johnson
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Aero Chocolate returns in Australia
Chocolate finds new flavour for mums with special tastesA POPULAR local with what you might call a bubbly personality has moved back to Australia after 15 years in Britain.
Aero chocolate bars are now being made in the company's Campbellfield factory in Victoria, to a new formula designed to appeal to Australian tastes.
Aero is the latest Nestle chocolate bar to return to Australian production and be made to local formula, in a strategy the company started about two years ago.
Advertisement: Story continues belowThe new version of the bars arrived in shops this week and will be the focus of an advertising campaign starting on Sunday night. It will target mothers aged 28 to 40, a slightly older group than for previous campaigns.
Andrew McIver, Nestle's general manager of confectionary and snacks for Oceania, said research had taught the company that Australians and New Zealanders had quite different tastes in chocolate compared with Europeans and Americans.
Aero will continue to be sold in Britain and made according to the older recipe, but the Australian version will have a ''smoother, creamier'' taste.
The change will add about 1000 tonnes of chocolate a year to production at the Campbellfield plant, and will support about 20 jobs. Nestle has finished a $12 million upgrade of the factory including new technology to produce the signature Aero bubbles.
Mr McIver said the new ad campaign was aimed at appealing to mothers who perceived chocolate as their small treat. ''Women aged 28 to 40 with kids have a very strong relationship with chocolate,'' Mr McIver said.
''In store we will highlight the new formula, but the campaign is about reconnecting consumers with the experience of bubbles melting in your mouth, and bringing them back to the brand through that,'' he said.
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Mars unveils 2011 holiday lineup
HACKETTSTOWN, N.J. — As the holiday season comes to a close, Mars Chocolate North America already is unveiling its winter holiday offerings for 2011.
Mars said it is expanding its M&M's and Dove brands with seasonal candies that capture the holiday spirit, including new gifting displays for retailers.
New products include such items as M&M's stocking tin ornaments, which are filled with M&M’s milk chocolate candies, and Dove silky and smooth truffles, available in milk and dark chocolate.
Mars said its new products will be supported with holiday-themed television, print and online advertising, store displays and more.
President's Chef a Scientist
Some sweetened tangerine juice. A little soy protein. A blender. Voila: A trendy, frothy dessert becomes a lesson in kitchen chemistry.
It turns out the chef who whips up pies for the president is also a bit of a scientist — calling on knowledge of how to help bubbles hold their shape and how crystals affect chocolate and salt, in the quest for healthier goodies.
You wouldn't think taste tests would be on the menu, er, agenda when the American Association for the Advancement of Science assembles some of the world's leading molecular biologists and geneticists and astronomers for a once-a-year look at exciting discoveries.
But White House pastry chef Bill Yosses exchanged his white apron for a bow tie Saturday to talk with scientists about how chefs are changing perceptions of taste. He brought samples — chocolates that gleamed, and that tangerine foam that held up spoonfuls of juicy berries for about an hour.
His point: Texture plays a huge role in taste.
Consider chocolate mousse with its sumptuous mouth feel, caused largely by added cream that, Yosses notes, also clogs arteries. He substitutes water and gelatin for cream to deliver that feel with less fat.
Or take that tangerine foam. The soy protein helps form structures around the air bubbles from Yosses' blender. Look, he said as he spooned a plateful: "It's just tangerine juice, but we can fill the whole plate."
Maximize texture to maximize a taste, Yosses said, and suddenly people are happy with fewer bites — a message that goes hand in hand with the healthy-eating mantra of his bosses, President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama. Dessert in moderation, he said, can be part of a healthy balanced diet.
"What chefs want to achieve with modern cooking is a kind of fascination with food" that also is "able to move people toward a healthier approach to eating," Yosses told the researchers.
In fact, the science of taste is a booming field. It tells us that taste is incredibly complicated, an interaction of the tongue, the nose, psychological cues and exposure to different flavors.
Kraft Foods research scientist Jane Leland brought samples, too — yellow jelly beans. Pinch your nose closed, she told the crowd. Now take a few chews of a jelly bean. It tastes sweet, from taste receptors on the tongue.
OK, release the nose and chew some more. Whoa, now lemon flavor bursts forth. Aroma molecules move through the back of the mouth to the nasal cavity and reach the olfactory bulb, she explained.
For all its cellular commonalities, taste is incredibly individual — and our earliest exposures to different foods helps determine the flavors we like and dislike, said Gary Beauchamp of the nonprofit Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia.
Components of flavor can transmit in amniotic fluid, Beauchamp said, citing a study that gave carrot juice to women in the last trimester of pregnancy. At age 6 months, babies drank carrot juice for the first time, and those who'd been exposed in the womb liked it more than babies who hadn't been exposed.
A different study examined how babies react to a special hydrolized-protein formula that may help them digest but that Beauchamp said tastes "just awful." Babies given it before they're 3 months old don't mind; they suck down bottles with gusto. But if they don't taste it until they're older? A video showed a tot's whole face screw up in a grimace as he pushed the bottle away.
Infants similarly develop a preference for saltier foods the earlier they taste them, he said, and that's important because Americans eat more than double the amount of salt necessary for good health.
That brings us back to the texture lesson from the White House's Yosses. Sodium is sodium whether it's in the fine grains of the typical salt shaker or large chunks of trendy sea salt, he said.
But larger crystals melt more slowly on the tongue, so sea salt can be "very satisfying," he said. That's why he uses that type for salted caramel.
"It really is texture as taste. But if you're going to do that, you have to reduce it (sodium) somewhere else," he said.
In the same way, the quality of chocolate depends on how its sugar crystals line up, Yosses said. The best literally shines and causes "a nice crack when you bite." That crunch lets Yosses get away with thin layers of chocolate in a dessert "that's more satisfying even though it's small."
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
HAWAII CHOCOLATE FESTIVAL
» Place: The Shops at Dole Cannery, 650 Iwilei Road, Honolulu» When: Noon to 5 p.m. Saturday
» Admission: $20 in advance; buy tickets online at www.hawaiichocolatefestival.eventbrite.com. A limited number of tickets will be available at the door for $25. Tickets include 10 chocolate tastings.
» Entertainment: Guitarist Jeff Peterson and bassist Steve Jones, and Halau o na Pua Kukui
» Phone: 234-0404
» E-mail: hawaiichocolatefestival@gmail.com
» Website: www.hawaiichocolatefestival.com
PRESENTATIONS
» 12:30-1:30 p.m.: Dodi Rose of Dodi-Lishious Healthy Food with Flare demonstrates how to make vegan chocolate mousse.
» 2-3 p.m.: H.C. "Skip" Bittenbender, extension specialist for coffee, kava and cacao at the University of Hawaii's College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources, presents two half-hour talks: "Cacao 101: Seed to Pod" and "The History and Future of Cacao in Hawaii."
» 3:30-4:30 p.m.: Representatives from Madre Chocolate discuss "Chocolate: History, Tasting and Making, from Bean to Bar."
CHOCOHOLICS, TAKE NOTE
Places to explore local chocolate growing and candy making:» Hilo Shark's Cacao Plantation: This plantation in Papaikou on the Big Island grows cacao, coffee, macadamia nuts and tropical flowers. Stroll the orchard, learn how chocolate is made and taste samples. One-hour tours available; $20, children free. Call 895-6600; www.konasharkscoffee.com.
» Menehune Mac: One-hour tours of the Honolulu factory are held at 10 a.m. Saturdays. Cost is $10, which includes the making of a six-piece box of candy to take home. Reservations required; 841-3344; www.menehunemac.com. Best times to view the production process are 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. Mondays and Tuesdays.
» Original Hawaiian Chocolate Factory: Located on the slopes of Hualalai Volcano on the Big Island. One-hour "Bean to Bar" tour covers the process from growing cacao trees to molding candy bars; includes samplings. Tours at 9 a.m. Wednesdays and 9:30 a.m. Fridays. Cost is $10 for ages 12 and older. Reservations required; 888-447-2626; www.ohcf.us.
» Sweet Paradise Chocolatier: See chocolates being made in the open kitchen of this shop at 75 Kupuohi St. in Lahaina, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. weekdays. Tastings of Hawaiian chocolates held at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. Cost is $20. Reservations required; 661-4764; www.sweetparadisechocolate.com.
Monday, February 21, 2011
Experience Chocolate in Dublin
Tourists and chocolate lovers will get a taste of the chocolate-making business when Butlers opens a visitor centre at its Dublin headquarters in Clonshaugh tomorrow. Called the Butlers Chocolate Experience, the new centre will provide group tours and demonstrate how the Irish brand makes its famous chocolates.‘‘We have a great factory for the past six years. It has always lent itself to visitors but we never got around to opening it up to the public," said Aisling Walsh, marketing director of Butlers Chocolates. ‘‘Now more than ever it is important to have a deeper connection with our customers. It offers another way to do that in addition to our cafe network around the country."Established in Dublin in 1932, Butlers Chocolates opened its first cafe on Wicklow Street in 1998. There are now 15 such cafes in Dublin, Cork and Galway, as well as one in London and franchises in Pakistan and New Zealand. Walsh said that Ireland has one of the highest rates of chocolate consumption in the world but that while the market was recession resistant, it was not recession-proof. ‘‘We have extended the range of price points so people can buy a box of chocolates for less. We are very conscious of that and €10 is now quite a critical price point," she said.Walsh said Butlers had expanded into many more markets over the past year and exports had grown dramatically and compensated for the challenging business environment in Ireland. ‘‘We have doubled the number of countries we export to last year, and now export to over 25," she said. The 90-minute Butlers Chocolate Experience, which costs €12.59 per person, will include a film on the history of Butlers, a tour of the factory in Clonshaugh, and an opportunity for visitors to decorate their own personalised Butlers chocolate bear to take home. The company employs 250 people in Ireland and the firm is owned by the Sorensen family. The firm is now an unlimited company and does not file accounts.
Friday, February 18, 2011
Wholesale Chocolates
Buying in bulk is the key to getting the most for your buck from wholesale chocolates. This is perfect for the holiday season. It is an affordable way to give the gift of chocolate and keep some chocolate for yourself to enjoy. Wholesale chocolates are available from some of the best-known chocolate brands from around the world. There is Amedei from Italy, Lindt from Switzerland (including Ghirardelli, the company's American division) and Michel Cluziel from France. Chocolate connoisseurs will appreciate the many ways wholesale chocolates are packaged.
Buy Chocolates Online
Parties should be fun. However, if you are the person organizing the party, you may find the planning process somewhat hectic or stressful. You can simplify a portion of the planning process by shopping for chocolates online. There are numerous online sites that offer personalized chocolates. You have a multitude of candy types to select from. You can buy chocolates online wrapped in colors to match your party theme.
Valentine Chocolates
Most people love receiving Valentine chocolates. They have been the tradition of giving at Valentines Day for decades. But the chocolates have changed over the years, getting better in taste than ever before.
Christmas Chocolates
Even if you limit your indulgence in chocolates during the year, the holidays seem to the perfect time to lessen the restrictions you've placed on yourself. It's fun to place some nostalgic holiday chocolates on the dessert table of a holiday party. It's also a wonderful feeling to watch someone open a gift of Christmas chocolates that instantly ignites memories of childhood Christmases.
Sugar Free Chocolates
If you are on a diet or if you are a diabetic, you do not have to deprive yourself of the pleasure of enjoying chocolate candy. There are many varieties of sugar free chocolates readily available. If you know someone who is watching calories, giving them a gift of chocolate candy could be unkindly tempting.
Nut Free Chocolates
If you are a nut allfery sufferer you know you have tight restrictions. That goes to say you are prohibited from the largest commercial chocolate availibility. Fortunately this inconvenience is being catered for by a few dedicated manufacturers. One nut free chocolate manufacturer is Vermont Chocolate company amongst others. These cater specifically for nut allergy sufferers.
Wedding Chocolate Favors
Chocolate has formed part of our daily lives and found its place in special occasions like weddings. Wedding favors have evolved in every shape and form from traditional to wacky, fun and adorable. Chocolate giving at weddings is a sign of appreciation from the couple to their guests. Chocolate is a sign of love.
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Chocolate shop owner creates beer-flavored marshmallow
We’ve all enjoyed s’mores and drinks around a fire, but until now, the dessert and the beverage have stood alone.
But the day has come to welcome a new kind of marshmallow.
Nicole Greene, owner of Truffle Truffle, a Chicago-based online chocolate shop, has invented the beer marshmallow.
While she won’t be sharing the exact recipe for beer marshmallows anytime soon, Greene admits to combining Rogue Chocolate Stout beer with sugar and cooking it at a certain temperature and then combining it with a whipped egg-white meringue.
Her staff then “stands by to watch the magic happen in the mixer.”
She uses a cookie cutter to get the right shape and dips the marshmallows in milk chocolate.
She dusts them with beer and pretzel brittle bits for a salty, crunchy top.
Susan Percival, a UF food science and human nutrition professor, said she thinks there probably isn’t much alcohol in the marshmallow itself.
Alcohol evaporates quicker than water, she said, and with the intensity of the heat boiling the sugar, the process gives way to the beer flavor.
“I think people would buy the product for the flavor over the thought of an alcoholic dessert anyway,” Percival said.
Friday, February 11, 2011
Chocolate Beer ?
Matt Wiggins wasn’t sure if he wanted to say how many bottles of Boulevard’s new Chocolate Ale were in his fridge.
Wiggins, a 28-year-old from Fairway, didn’t want anyone to get jealous, or hate him, or accuse him of hogging an unfair share of the beer, which sold out within hours of its release Tuesday at liquor stores across the metro.
But OK, Wiggins said. He’s got eight. Eight bottles of cocoa bliss made sweeter by the fact that to get them, he drove to six liquor stores and called seven more.
As for those who tried but failed to buy Chocolate Ale, “I feel bad for them,” Wiggins said.
Boulevard’s Chocolate Ale isn’t just any beer. It’s the hyped-up brainchild of Steven Pauwels, the brewmaster behind Kansas City’s favorite beer, and Christopher Elbow, Kansas City’s best-known gourmet chocolate chef.
Boulevard produced just 19,200 champagne bottles and 350 one-sixth-barrel kegs of Chocolate Ale, a typical amount for beers in its limited-edition Smokestack Series line. And Boulevard owner John McDonald said that, for now, there are no plans to make more.
“I think we’ll probably talk about it,” he said. “Not this year, but maybe next year for Valentine’s Day.”
Chocolate Ale is cool, it’s rare and it’s got great timing on its side. The beer was released the week before Valentine’s Day, a day in which most of us want to consume chocolate or booze or a combination of the two.
All these factors brewed together to make Chocolate Ale one of the most coveted product in Kansas City. It’s like Beanie Babies all over again.
Stores can’t keep Chocolate Ale on their shelves. Mike’s Cut Rate Liquors in Waldo got three cases, or 36 bottles, at 3:45 p.m. Tuesday and was sold out within two hours. Tipsy’s Wine and Spirits in Mission sold out Tuesday afternoon too, as did Hy-Vee Wine & Spirits in Kansas City.
Consumers were thirsty for the ale. Maybe too thirsty. Some liquor stores imposed one-bottle or two-bottle limits. Others stashed their Chocolate Ale in the back room and only sold it to those who requested it by name.
Facebook, Twitter and beer blogs buzzed with Chocolate Ale fiends swapping information on where they found the beer and for how much.
The beer has been spotted for as little as $7.49 per bottle at Alvin’s in Lawrence to $16.99 per bottle at Grand Slam Liquors in downtown Kansas City.
Emily Hillman probably would have forked over $17 for a bottle of Chocolate Ale if she’d had the chance. Hillman, who lives in Waldo, called at least five stores on Tuesday asking if they had it. None of them did, and Hillman said half the clerks she spoke with told her they didn’t have any Chocolate Ale before she finished asking. It was frustrating, to say the least.
“I don’t think I’ve ever made this much effort to buy beer,” Hillman, 37, said, explaining that she really likes Christopher Elbow chocolates and just wants to find out what Chocolate Ale tastes like.
No one in Kansas City has tasted Chocolate Ale more than Pauwels and Elbow, who have sampled dozens of batches of the beer together. On Monday afternoon, Pauwels and Elbow met over glasses of their finished product in Boulevard’s tasting room and tried to remember how they first decided to collaborate.
Pauwels: “I eat his chocolate a lot.”
Elbow: “I drink his beer a lot.”
Pauwels tapped a keg of Chocolate Ale and poured two glasses. Each man dipped his nose into the cup and inhaled aromas of dark chocolate, vanilla and caramel.
“It smells like (cacao) nibs right off the bat,” Elbow said.
“Somebody told me that it smells like the chocolate flavor you have in coffee,” Pauwels said. “The cacao nibs, they’re a little burnt, right?”
“Roasted,” Elbow said.
Most chocolate beers are dark-colored stouts or porters light on cocoa flavor. Boulevard’s Chocolate Ale has a warm gold color and has an unmistakable chocolate flavor and aroma, thanks to rare cocoa beans from the Dominican Republic that Elbow selected and Pauwels added during the brewing process.
Those who haven’t tried Chocolate Ale yet still have hope. Those 350 kegs are being delivered to bars that sell Boulevard’s seasonal Smokestack Series beers on tap and should arrive today or early next week. Bottles and kegs of Chocolate Ale also are on their way to other states in the Midwest where Boulevard beer is sold.
To find out which bars might have Chocolate Ale on tap, use the “Beer Finder” tool on Boulevard’s website at boulevard.com. That will produce a list of bars that had, have or will have the beer. Call the bar to make sure it’s there before you go.
Or do what Hillman did. She found out from one of her neighborhood liquor stores that a shipment of Chocolate Ale bottles is expected today. She said she is watching 3-year-old son Oliver that day and doesn’t usually like to bring him on liquor store runs.
For a bottle of Chocolate Ale, she’ll make an exception.