| December 2006 News December 1 - 15, 2006 |
| Any comments or suggestions, contact us and let us know what you're thinking. |
December 15, 2006 - Italian chocolate maker Ferrero has been engaged in lengthly legal action in China to protect its brand. Ferrero
entered the Chinese market in 1984 but after they found local confectionary companies were copying their product designs they scaled
back and pursued legal remedies. Ferrero lost their first action but in January of this year the court in Tianjin found that the Montresor
company had "adversely affected" Ferrero's sales by selling similarly packaged product. The nations retailers are moving more towards
carrying candy at the cash registers to grab a few extra dollars from consumers. The Hershey Company and Masterfoods both have sales
forces to convince non traditional retailers Staples, Auto Zone etc. to carry their products. South Korea's Orion Corporation, the makers of
ChocoPies, has opened its first confectionery plant in Vietnam. The plant will cost $40,000,000 (US) to build and will produce chips and
chewing gum as well as ChocoPies. Buhler has been increasing their machinery in the Tema region of Ghana in a quest to increase it's
share of Ghana's growing cocoa production. They help to process cocoa mass into cocoa butter and powder. Here is a nice recipe for a
Dark Chocolate Mint Drink. Neuqua Valley High School in Illinois will be the site of the NCO Youth and Family Services' yearly Chocolate
Festival. The Festival will take place January 13th and the theme is "Childhood Dreams." The City of New York's Department Of Education
has started a pilot program banning chocolate milk in 55 Bronx schools. The goal is to eventually end the sale of chocolate milk in all New
York public schools. A neat picture of a 100 diamonds that encase a chocolate cake seen on display at a department store in Osaka,
Japan. People dressed as Santa Claus distribute pieces of fair-trade chocolate during a party congress of the environmental German
Greens party (Buendnis 90 Die Gruenen) in the western German city of Cologne.
December 13, 2006 - Kraft Foods has partially sold off its Sugus and Silvana brand of candies which are produced for the Romanian
market. Kraft has been moving away from its sugar based confectionary companies and towards its chocolate confectionary companies.
They had previously sold off Altoids and Life Savers but have held onto Milka and Toblerone. For the Holiday Season we are going try to
clue you in to some great gift ideas available locally. Today we're going to take a look at two favorites Vosges Haut Chocolat and 3 Crepes.
At Vosges Haut Chocolat they're offering their Hatbox collection. The Hatboxes come in three different sizes. "The Comfort Food Hatbox"
includes Caramel Marshmallows, Cocoa, 1/2 lb. Toffee and an Exotic bar. "La Petite Hatbox' which includes 9 pieces from the Exotic
Truffle collection, a box of Parisienne Cocoa, 1/2 lb. of Caramel Toffee and 2 Exotic Candy Bars. The biggest of the three is the "La Grande
Hatbox " which sells for $199 (25% of the profits go to V-Day, the international movement to end violence against women. The La Grande
includes 16 pieces from the Exotic Collection, 9 piece Aztec Truffle Collection, Exotic Caramel Collection, 1/2 lb. of Caramel Toffee, a box of
Parisienne Cocoa and 3 Exotic Candy Bars. Although the fine folks at 3 Crepes don't have a retail shop they are located in New York City
and can get your merchandise to you in time for Christmas. One item that the average chocoholic might find desirable are chocolate
pearls (drop them into some boiling milk for instant hot chocolate) from Chocolat Weiss. They also offer Chocolate Twigs, we love these by
the way, which are produced by Mademoiselle de Margaux made with 52% cocoa and have a light taste of bitter orange. If you are in the
candy or chocolate business and can make it to Chicago, September 17 th - 19th The All Candy Expo is being held at McCormick Place.
Scientists from UC Davis Sports Medicine Program have conducted a study using enhanced jelly beans from the Jelly Belly Candy
Company. The Jelly Beans are loaded with electrolytes and vitamins and improved athletic performance in the experiments.
December 12, 2006 - The Alden Lane Nursery in Livermore , California was the scene of a decadent chocolate therapy party for about two
dozen area women. Dressed in pajamas and slippers the women sampled chocolate and engaged in chocolate based crafts. In Portland,
Oregon drinking chocolate has taken off. Cacao Drink Chocolate and Sahagun are two shops where the concoction is available. Unlike hot
cocoa drinking chocolate is actual melted chocolate. We've had it in Italy and we are glad to see it drinking chocolate become more
available here. With chocolate interest at an all time high Quaker Oats will launch Life Chocolate Oat Crunch a high fiber cereal flavored
with chocolate. In January Kellog's will release Special K Chocolatey Delight. Selfridges department store in London is offering a gold
plated chocolate fountain this year for Christmas. For 5,000 English pounds you can be the proud owner of one of only four of these custom
made machines. Whereas every state has a motto or state bird only two have state cookies. One is New Mexico the "bizcochito" a
shortbread cookie flavored with anise and topped with cinnamon sugar and the other is Massachusetts the birthplace of The Tollhouse
Cookie, the precursor of the chocolate chip cookie. The Times of London has an excellent article about corporate social responsibility and
the concept of fair trade and organic production. Divine Chocolate, a fair trade chocolate produced by farmers from the Kuapa Kokoo
cooperative in Ghana' has a recipe for chocolate peppermint bark. You can read the Press release which explains Divines mission as well
as take a look at the recipe here.
December 11, 2006 - The US based Chocolate Manufacturers Association (CMA) has released a guide to cacao content labels. As more
is written about the health benefits of flavanols and other possible benefits of dark chocolate consumption consumer education becomes
more important. Scharffen Berger presents a good looking recipe for Holiday Chestnut Cake. Lets hear it for Pauline Krakowsky, of
Passaic, New Jersey, who is 102 years old. She eats a bit of dark chocolate everyday. She prefers the bitter to the sweet. The M&Ms World
Store has opened in New York City. At 25,000 square feet the store carries everything with the iconic M&M image upon it as well as a 21-
foot Miss Green M&M's version of the Statue of Liberty. Chocolate maker Hershey Co. said Monday it signed a five-year credit agreement to
borrow up to $1.1 billion. The funds would be available for general corporate purposes and the agreement replaces a previous line of credit
for 900 million dollars.
December 10, 2006 - In Salem , Oregon the local paper, The Statesman Journal, has an article that gives a helpful overview of different
types of chocolate as well as a fairly simple recipe for those who want to make some truffles at home. German President Horst Koehler
distributes Christmas chocolate gifts to children during his visit to a nursery in Berlin. Try to remember during the holiday season that
chocolate is harmful to dogs and if your dog is the type to rummage about unattended food you might want to keep this in mind. Katherine
Duncan makes sandwiches during the day and in her spare time has started her own chocolate company. The 22-year-old operates out of
a north side of Chicago kitchen and has seen some early success in her venture. She sells her truffles through her own website and at
the Heartland Cafe general store, Muse Cafe and the Artisan Cellar wine shop in the Mechandise Mart.
December 8, 2006 - It's currently 18 degrees here in New York and our thoughts turn to hot chocolate. The Street.com has an article
posted by Althea Chang which has a bit of useful information about hot chocolate. USA Today also has an interesting article about hot
chocolate which covers local favorites Max Brenner, Vosges and 'wichcraft. One out of town place that we'll have to check out is Zafra in
Hoboken a place we've not yet heard of but which sounds interesting. If you've tried Zafra please let us know what you thought. Lake
Champlain has released a Press Release detailing their offerings for Easter, Administrative Professionals' Day, and Mother's Day 2007.
We checked their website and didn't find any pictures yet, lots of great Christmas offerings though, . We'd like to take a look at The
Treasure Surprise Egg which cracks open and is filled with chocolates. John & Kiras have a fascinating partnership with the student
gardeners at Drew Elementary and UC High School in Philadelphia. The students provide John & Kiras with Garden Mint which is used to
make mint chocolates. To read about this go to John & Kiras site and click on where it says click here in the article. Steven Hunter from the
Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast is the lead researcher on a new study that finds no correlation between sugar intake and Type 2
diabetes. Two groups of subjects were placed on equal calorie diets one group just had a higher percentage of calories composed of
sugar. The study concluded being overweight and physical inactivity were more likely to contribute to Type 2 diabetes.
December 7, 2006 - When the Belgian chocolate maker Isis Luxury approached the staff of Addict Creative Lab hoping to find new ways to
present chocolate. Designers came up with a bunch of really great ideas some of which are illustrated here and they are currently on
display at Interieur 06 design biennial in Kortrijk. Cocoapelli Chocolates the brainchild of Jonathan Spillane opened for business last
September. Mr. Spillane had worked a carpenter for 22 years before he heard the call of chocolate. Taking an online course from Ecole
Chocolat in Vancouver, British Columbia he soon felt ready to convert his garage into a kitchen and start producing his own brand of
chocolate. Some of the the ganache fillings range in flavors from raspberry , kona coffee , hazelnut and key lime.
December 6, 2006 - Gold and Silver futures were down yesterday but cocoa was up $15 a ton a 1% increase over Monday's close.
DeBrand Chocolates has a lot of nice looking chocolates for the Holiday Season but we here at echocolatenyc are most interested in is the
chocolate wreath box. The box has 19 truffles in it and is made of chocolate and wreath shaped. We haven't actually seen the box, only
pictures of it but we have sampled DeBrand's chocolates, found them fresh and tasty and enjoyed them immensely. In July to mark the
30th Anniversary of the death of Elvis Presley Reese's Peanut Butter Cup will be released in a limited edition Peanut Butter and Banana
Creme version. Elvis was famous for eating peanut butter and banana sandwiches frequently with bacon added. The New York Time's
Samurai Shopper weighs in with a rundown on New York's better chocolate and some out of town favorites that are available on the
Internet. Cadbury shares were up 2% Monday on the FTSE. The 1st Salon du Chocolat took place in Moscow November 30th - December
3rd. Reuters has a bunch of nice photos posted. Some of them include a chocolate statuette of a man skiing. A model wears a costume
partially made of chocolate. Another model wears a costume made of chocolate that looks pretty wild. Yet another costume partially
composed of chocolate. A really cool picture of a model in a pirate costume partially made of chocolate. How about a chocolate vampire ?
The last photo of the series , a model wearing a chocolate costume with a candelabra atop her head. Out of India Newkerala.com has a
little video with footage from the Moscow Chocolate Show that is worth taking a look at. UBS has cut its prediction for the Hershey share
price from $60 to $56 a share. Haven's candy factory in Westbrook, Maine, was recently visited by two children who took a tour. The
company has been around for 91 years and makes all sorts of goodies. Located on The Hill, St. Louis, Missouri, Moss' Organic Sweets &
Stuff makes a variety of baked goods that organic in nature. You can watch a segment from local TV station KMOV about the shop.
December 5, 2006 - Autumn Martin, 25, head chocolatier at Theo Chocolate Factory, keeps on experimenting with different combinations
of tastes to create new items for the Theo Chocolate line. Theo Chocolates prides itself on using all Free trade ingredients to make their
wares. They are located in Fremont, Washington and offer twice daily tours. Ms. Martin's fig and fennel truffle took home second place at
the London-based Academy of Chocolate's annual awards. Her yellow-curry and roasted-coconut chocolate bar is selling quite well at the
moment and if we make it out to Washington next summer we will definitely drop by and give you a fuller report.Deborah Markus of
BellaOnline has posted an article on choosing the right chocolate for a gift. She takes a look at Choxie, New Tree, The ChocolateSmith
and some others. The International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology took a look at different factors that improve fetal health and can
lead to a decreasing in chances of a miscarriage. The study found morning sickness and body mass play a part. Also playing a part is
chocolate which can help to lower blood pressure which is important. Charles Chocolates is setting up to open their first permanent retail
site in Emeryville, California according to bizjournals.com. Here's a recipe that's nothing to sneeze at. Chocolate - Pepper cookies.
Wrigley is releasing a new Altoid Mint product this month peppermint, cinnamon and ginger flavored mints covered with dark chocolate.
This is Wrigley's first foray into the chocolate business and the product will be a bit of a departure for Altoids who Wrigley acquired from
Kraft Food last year. If you happen to be visiting Malta, yes Malta that lovely island in the Mediterranean , from December 8th - 10th take a trip
to Mosta for their first ever Chocolate Festival. By the way for those of you who collect chocolate advertising art from around the world you
should definitely click on the Malta Festival's site as the image is pretty neat. The first results are in on the experiment using the scent of
chocolate chip cookies at five San Francisco bus shelters. Some liked it and others didn't. Read about it here. A picture of a chocolate
sculpture named 'Cosi fan tutte' , named after a Mozart opera that was on display as part of the 250th Anniversary of Mozart's birth.
December 4, 2006 - Christmas Candylane is up and running at Hershey Park. The set up includes over 2,000,000 lights. You can ride the
Twilight Express an open air train and of course gorge on Hershey product at every turn. It's $9.95 to get in. The Rebecca Ruth Candy
Factory in Frankfort , Kentucky has suspended tours for the Holiday season as they need the time to produce about 1,000 pounds of candy
every day in preparation for the holidays. The company was started in 1919 by Rebecca Gooch and Ruth Hanly (later Ruth Booe). The
company is in the hands of the Booe family today and going strong. Being located in Kentucky their signature piece is the Bourbon ball, 100
proof Evan Williams mixed with chocolate and topped with a pecan. The California Milk Processor Board "Got Milk" has managed to stir
up a bit of controversy in San Francisco with their latest advertising campaign. Starting today five bus stops will have placed in their shelters
the scent of chocolate chip cookies. Of course this has set off a mini firestorm as everyone to advocates for those with chemical allergies to
those who oppose the idea because some San Franciscans can not afford to purchase cookies and milk. Of course personally I think the
smell of cookies would set me off on a search for baked goods not milk but it is an intriguing idea. David Bradley Chocolatier has
completed the sale of their first franchise which is set to open in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. With a handful of stores already open they hope to
expand through franchising. You can read their Press Release here. Chocolography™ is a firm that provides you with the opportunity to
print your personal photograph directly onto chocolate. Chocolate coins and CDs are just some of the items the firm produces. You can
read their Press Release here. Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts is the home of Kathleen Cowley who from time to time turns her kitchen
into a small scale chocolate factory and produces confections which she sells under the name Hilliard's Candy. The fruits of her labor can
be purchased at New Moon Magick, an antique store, located at 4 Chapman Avenue, Oak Bluffs. The Hershey plant in Smiths Falls,
Ontario, Canada looks like it will finally reopen next week after being closed for close to a month during the plant's recent salmonella
investigation. The plant was contaminated when a bad batch of soy lecithin was received. The plant's workers have sterilized all the
equipment and a new vendor for soy lecithin has been found. Hats off to Hershey by the way. They did an excellent job of working hand in
hand with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and it looks like nobody was taken ill by any contaminated chocolate.
December 3, 2006 - New York can be a small town indeed. We were at The Bastille Day Celebration held by the Alliance Francaise in July
and we purchased a handful of Pistachio Madelines from the fine folks at 3 Crepes. Taking a card from Frederique Henriot, one of the
partners, we soon longed for more Madelines and gave her a call. One thing led to another and we found ourselves ordering a couple of gift
baskets. The baskets are stunning, 3 Crepes carries a nice line of better French products and will customize the baskets towards the
tastes of the individual recipient. We were quite pleased with the way things worked out and kept them in the back of our mind for future gift
giving. Then The New York Chocolate Show rolled around and we met again. They were producing out of this world crepes and selling
some of the wide variety of imported goods they carry. A week later we were at The Lycee Francais Fall Festival and there they were again
and this time with great news. They will be opening a Cafe inside the French Institute / Alliance Francaise at 22 E 60 St (between Park &
Madison). They'll be serving Breakfast and Lunch along with some snack foods. They'll be opening December 4th and we plan on being
there. Executive chef, Utpal Mondal of The Hotel Hindustan International, Calcutta, India has created a chocolate paan. No longer will
diners in his restaurant have to chose between paan or chocolate for dinner. By reconfiguring some of the traditional ingredients and
coating the paan with chocolate he has created something new that is selling quite well out of the Hotel's Pastry Shop. This Cherry-
Covered Chocolate Pie is another recipe-contest winner from the 2006 Minnesota State Fair. Topps Confections, the baseball card
people, have brought a new product to the marketplace. It is the Vertigo Pop , a hard candy coated with chocolate and it comes in three
flavor combinations. The flavors are Chocolate/Caramel, Chocolate/Strawberry and Chocolate/Cookies and Cream. For last year's Los
Angeles premiere of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Warner Bros. executives wanted the air filled with the rich fragrance of Wonka bars.
So they called on Neal Harris of Harris Fragrances. Mixing together 40 different ingredients including cocoa, vanilla extracts and nutmeg
and then using a scent diffuser he was able to fill the premiere with the smell of chocolate. Julie Hasson's 300 Best Chocolate Recipes
(Robert Rose, $19.95) certainly has its work cut out for it. If you've ever tried to narrow anything down into a list even 300 deep you know
what a daunting task that can be. This is an interesting review of the book. Chris White and Floery Mahoney seem to have something
special going on at Daily Chocolate located in Vergennes, Vermont. Producing their own chocolates they seem to have a sense of
imagination. We would love to try the lemon-lavender-almond white chocolate bark.
December 2, 2006 - Michael Recchiuti Confections got a nice mention on the Today Show Friday when they did a segment on Christmas
gifts and talked about Chocolate-of-the-Month Club packages. Chase Candy Co., out of St. Joseph, Missouri is adding to the Cherry Mash
line for the first time since 1918. The Mash is a cherry fondant center covered in chocolate and peanuts. They are adding two new flavors
where the cherry is replaced by vanilla and chocolate. Luv's Brownies CEO Aundrea Lacy has had a busy month. The month of November
had her celebrating her firm's 10th Anniversary, her appearance on the cover of Black Enterprise Magazine, hosting a demonstration at The
Chocolate Show and receiving the news that her brownies will be featured in Pastry Art & Design Magazine. Blending palm kernel oil,
extracted by supercritical carbon dioxide, and palm oil leads to new cocoa butter replacers (CBR), which are being looked at by the mass
market chocolate companies. As cocoa butter gets more expensive companies are looking at vegetable fat replacers for part of their
product lines. While most would argue consumers who can taste the difference will refuse to buy the reconfigured products others argue
that if the price at the retail level is attractive enough consumers will accept the change. With Harvard Business School and Oxford
University's Saïd Business School, among others, having departments specializing in socially-conscious entrepreneurship some recent
MBA grads are starting to gravitate towards the Fair Trade end of business. Guillaume Hermitte, a 2006 MBA graduate from ESSEC, has
launched Puerto Cacao, a Fair Trade company that works with cocoa producers offering them a higher price for their crop. Barry Callebaut
has produced a new website entirely devoted to promoting the nutritional benefits of cocoa . The site www.acticoa.com is a compilation of
positive cocoa news and has a goodly amount of information.
December 1, 2006 - Armada, Michigan is the home of the Achatz Handmade Pie Co. Wendy and Dave Achatz started the business,
making a hundred pies a week for flea markets in their kitchen after closing down their restaurant 14 years ago. The business has kept
growing and the company constantly is upgrading technology but much of the baking is still hands on. Out of Australia comes a nice listing
of some of Paris's better pastry shops. Perennial favorites such as Brocco, Fauchon and Carton. Some of the shops such as Carton and
Debauve and Gallais also make their own chocolates. The Debauve and Gallais shop here in Manhattan is a must visit for anyone
interested in great chocolates. The Star Tribune out of Minneapolis - St. Paul, Minnesota has just announced the winners of their
Christmas cookie baking contest. The winner was Mary Eckmeier for her Karova cookies. The article has recipes for the winners and we
plan on trying out the Karovas for sure, we're suckers for anything that combines chocolate and sea salt Knipschildt makes a nice piece of
chocolate that combines those two ingredients, and one or two others in the next few weeks. Debora Markus of BellaOnline has a new
column where she examines chocolate products from companies she considers socially-responsible such as Newman's Own, Green &
Black, Sunspire and Endangered Species. A few weeks back she also posted a column that functions well as a beginners tutorial to
Carob. We here at eChocolateNYC have a fondness for Carob. Used primarily as a substitute for chocolate for those with allergies and by
vegans in some baking. Over the years we've from time to time bumped into carob flavored cookies that worked out well although we've
also had the unfortunate experience of purchasing, usually in Health Food stores, Carob cookies that were dry and lifeless. If you are in the
New York City area and know of any Carob based cookies that you feel are exceptional let us know about them as they are a subject of
interest to us. If you are getting ready to do some holiday cookie baking then the Seattle Times has a good article with a bunch of usable
tips to making your baking experience more enjoyable. The nice thing about this list is that their are not just tips but explanations as to why
the tips are a good idea.