| June 2007 News |
| Any comments or suggestions, contact us and let us know what you're thinking. |
June 29, 2007 - Elena Ruiu, a Euromonitor analyst, has issued a report about Cadbury's future. Cadbury has been divesting itself of certain
assets, soft drinks in the USA for example while adding other companies to their portfolio. They have been trying to take advantage of niche
markets and the increase in chocolate consumption in Asia while simultaneously dealing with the damage to their reputation over the
salmonella situation in the United Kingdom and the desire to fight obesity in some markets. Although there are many disadvantages to
having chocolate companies consolidate there certainly are advantages. A check of Scarffenberger's website has shown how Hershey
has combine Scharffen Berger with Joseph Schmidt rather nicely. They plan on having Dagoba join the site sometime in August. Three
excellent companies brought together under one roof by Hershey. Swiss, chocolate manufacturer, Barry Callebaut is reporting a healthy
increase in sales over the last nine months. Even with Brachs, a Calleabaut susidiary, doing poorly, recent agreements with both Hershey
and Nestle have allowed the company to boost sales over the last three quarters. Private label brands, store brands, are growing in
popularity in Europe. Neilsen studied the matter for the Private Label Market Association and found that in 15 of 18 European countries
studied Private Labels were growing. The largest growth was taking place in Eastern Europe.
June 28, 2007 - DeBrand Chocolates is offering jars of chocolate fondue. No more melting your own chocolate for dipping now you can just
heat and eat. Indonesia, the worlds third largest cocoa producer, has been plagued this year with adverse weather. Still as world demand
increases Indonesia feels they can meet the marketplace's demand and can increase production over the next few years. Coca-Cola has
been expanding its partnership with Campbell Soup lately. Campbell and Coke hope to launch a beverage based on Godiva chocolate
which is a Campbell company. The New York Times takes a look at the FDA's possible changing of the definition of what can be sold as
chocolate. They examine the controversy and take note of Gary Guittard's battle to maintain the status quo. Jack In The Box is introducing a
new product Chocolate Overload Cake. In the early 1980s, Frank Crail started his own chocolate business in the Furango, Colorado area.
Today that company, Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory, has grown to 325 stores in 44 states. The story of the companies phenomenal
growth is an interesting story.
Chocolatier in New Jersey is dipping the state's fruit, blueberries, in chocolate in celebration of blueberry season. last week and all of their
chocolate desserts are made on premises. Santa Ana, California is the home of a Rocky Armstrong Hotel in Ft. Collins, Colorado is the
home of a new chocolate shop, The Chocolate Café. They opened last week and all of their chocolate desserts are made on premises. is
the home of a Rocky Mountain Chocolate Santa Ana, CaliforniaMountain Chocolate Factory store on Main Street. Outside sits Truffles the
bear. Since 1992 a is the home of a Rocky have sat outside the store. Each 4.5 feet and weighing 10 pounds. Every six to nine months
Mountain Chocolate Factory store on Main Street. Outside sits Truffles the bear. Since 1992 a succession of bears and Truffles is quite
popular among the local kids.
have sat outside the store. Each 4.5 feet and weighing 10 pounds. Every six to nine months the bear is replaced
and Truffles is quite popular among the local kids.
June 24, 2007 - In Naples, Florida Laurie Rose, of Olde Naples Chocolate held a seminar, “How to Taste Chocolate,” at the local library.
She instructed the crowd in how to identify different characteristics of chocolate and how to enhance their enjoyment of chocolate. Michelle
Ryan has gotten into trouble for sneaking chocolate onto the set of the Bionic Woman. She says she doesn't worry about her weight or
clothes size. In Mumbai, India police have made an arrest and hopefully broken up a ring that was making money by buying discarded
chocolate that had passed its expiration date and then erasing the date and redating the chocolate somewhere in the future allowing it to
be sold again in stores but of course providing a health and freshness problem. Unfortuantely even though Canadian Police have made
two arrests in the missing salmonella tainted Hershey chocolate case some of the product has shown up for sale in a store, Kawartha
Lakes Food Mart in Kawartha, Canada. A customer noticed the bars and notified health inspectors who quickly seized the rest of the
product. Hopefully no more of the bars will appear for sale. The closing of the Oakdale, California Hershey plant has led to an internal
battle in the Teamsters local that represented workers in the industry. Losing 500 dues paying members forced Teamsters Local 386 to
cut staff which has caused hard feelings among some of the local's members. Dirol Cadbury plans on moving up in the Russian chocolate
market from its current position at #7 in market share to one of the three largest companies in the market in the next five years according to
their marketing director for Eastern Europe Jesus Ramos. They plan on acquiring some firms and merging with others. It looks like that in
Norway there may be a repeal of a tax on chocolate that was first started in 1922. Ending the tax may lower the price of some chocolate
products up to 30%. The taxes structure is a bit convoluted, chocolate inside a product is not taxed the same as chocolate covering a
product. It looks like The United Confectioners Holding Company may be acquiring Russian Chocolate (Russky Shokolad). United
Confectioners makes such products as Babayevsky, Rot Front and Krasny Oktyabr and has 17,000 employees. Russian Chocolate has a
plant in Moscow. The Nichol's family of Gloucester, Massachusetts has been operating Nichol's Candies for 75 years. The company has
set up a scrapbook where customers can write about what the families products have meant to them over the years.
June 23, 2007 - M&Ms is once again attempting to raise money for the fight against breast cancer. You can order pink and white M&Ms
online and a portion of what you spend, 10%, will go to the Susan G. Komen Foundation. Mars is guaranteeing they will contribute at least
$550,000 to the Foundation. The weather in Tehran has been so hot that it threatens to melt a chocolate statue of an Achaemenid soldier.
The statue is being built by a team of 25 sculptors and will weigh somewhere between 300 and 400 kg. The statue has been
commissioned by Iran Cultural Heritage And Handicrafts and Tourism Organization. It will be displayed July 14th at the World Handicrafts
Day exhibit. The San Francisco Chocolate Salon, July 14 & 15 at Fort Mason has quite a line up of chocolate companies lined up. Among
others there are NEWTREE Gourmet Belgian Chocolate, Lillie Belle Farms Artisan Chocolates, Theo Chocolate, San Francisco Chocolate
Factory, XOX Truffles, Grand Avenue Chocolates and MarieBelle Fine Treats and Chocolates. You can read the Salon's Press Release
here. Speaking of San Francisco - The San Francisco Chocolate Factory has released a chocolate syrup and an instant chocolate drink
mix. They also have the rights to use the saying "Got Milk" from The California Milk Processor Board. In England Sophi Tranchell of Divine
Chocolate has won a Real Business/CBI First Women Award for her achievements as a woman in business. Her company has been in
the forefront of the Fairtrade movement.
June 20, 2007 - Cadbury Schweppes has been hard at work expanding their portfolio of companies. They've announced their purchase of
Sansei Foods. Sansei manufactures gum in Japan and will help Cadbury increase their market share in the country. Dutch candy producer
Leaf International has begun production at their new plant in Levice, Slovakia. The plant will supply candy to markets all over Western
Europe as well as provide a foothold in the growing Eastern Europe market. The Archer Daniels Midland Company (ADM) has announced
they are opening a new processing plant in Kumasi, Ghana. The plant will allow the company the opportunity to offer their customers cocoa
products from a single source. Cadbury has announced they will be restructuring their activities in Great Britain and Ireland and has
dismissed several senior executives in the process.
June 19, 2007 - Salon.com has an informative article about the Grenada Chocolate Company. The company has a small factory on the
West Indies island. The beans are grown organically and processed in small batches which makes the chocolate a bit difficult to find
outside of Grenada. In 2006, they received a World Chocolate Award from London's Academy of Chocolate and we have sampled their
wares in the past and can testify to the smoothness of the resulting product. Cadbury Schweppes is hard at work on perfecting a low sugar
or sugar free milk chocolate. They are also hoping the product will be low fat. Although low sugar chocolate represents less than 1% of the
chocolate market in Europe its sales have grown by 52% over the last five years. In Malaysia K.C. Ch’ng, quit his job in 2003 as a regional
sales manager for a construction firm and turned to making chocolate. His company Chocolate Chapter makes chocolates for special
occasions. Some of his creations look stunning and it is worth taking a look at his dragon. Diva Chocolates has introduced two new
products into the marketplace. Kickin' Cocoa Bean Beef Jerkey and Mocha Java Beef Jerky are a combination of chocolate and beef jerky.
The International Finance Corporation (IFC), of the IMF is providing $360,000 to Mozambican chocolate production company, "Deja Vu
Chocolat e Cafes". It is hoped that this will allow the company to increase its current production from 13 to 44 tonnes a year. The company
based in Mozambique will increase its work force from 22 to 25. On June 15th we reported that a shipment of chocolate which Hershey
Canada had sent to be destroyed at a recycling center because it was possibly infected with salmonella has been stolen. Fortunately
police have made two arrests and recovered the missing chocolate before it had reached the public.
June 16, 2007 - The British based advocacy group Global Witness has been pressuring chocolate companies to stop doing business with
the Ivory Coast to help slow the spread of violence in the country.
June 15, 2007 - Barry Callebaut has announced the opening of its new North American office in Chicago, Illinois. The office will be staffed
by a senior management team and Callebaut hopes to become the major supplier of industrial chocolate in the Western Hemisphere. The
company hopes to grow at twice the rate of growth in the chocolate market which seems a tall order. Callebaut already operates five
production facilities in North America and has a new plant coming on line in Mexico next year. Between January and March of last year
Cadbury did not follow EU hygiene rules and released salmonella tainted chocolate onto the market in England. Thirty seven people fell
sick. You can check our news archives for that period for the ongoing story. Cadbury pleaded guilty this week to three charges and awaits
what the court imposed sanctions will be. The sanctions will come down on July 20th. Hershey has a tough situation in Canada. Eight
skids of product that is potentially infected with salmonella was stolen from a recycling center. The chocolate was put together as part of a
recall and had been shipped off to be destroyed but was stolen in the process. Health authorities and Hershey are both concerned that the
stolen chocolate may end up on store shelves if purchased by unscrupulous or unknowing retailers. We here at eChocolateNYC figure to
live to be 100 with the ever accumulating evidence of the health benefits of cocoa. A just released study from Japan has found the
polyphenolic substances in coca may lead to a lowering of LDL the bad cholesterol and an elevation of HDL the "good" cholesterol.
June 13, 2007 - Cadbury Schweppes has bought a 93.32% stake in Romania’s number two chocolate maker Kandia-Excelent. Kandia-
Excelent has a 20% share of the Romanian market. Moonstruck Chocolate opened its first chocolate café in Portland in 1996 and has
been expanding slowly ever since. The company has signed leases for 8 more of their chocolate cafes which will expand the line to 17
locations. Tristar Food Wholesale of Jersey City, New Jersey is recalling boxes of Ferrari Chocolate. The boxes contain undeclared
peanuts which is a danger for those allergic to peanuts and Aflatoxins which are by products of certain fungi and can be carcinogens in
elevated levels. Cadbury keeps expanding. They've purchased the Turkish gum business Intergum for $450,000,000. File this one under
only in New York. Five Boroughs Ice Cream is releasing five flavors one for each borough. The Bronx flavor is Cha Cha Chocolate,
Manhattan is Rich White Vanilla etc. Staten Island's flavor is Landfill a jab at the borough's Fresh Kill's landfill. Local politicians are furious
and the Borough President is calling for a boycott until the company changes the name. He has suggested Ferry Berry a play on the
Island's famed ferry. The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation of Atlanta will be holding a chocolate fund raiser. Tickets are $65 and the event will be
held the evening of June 21st. There will be twenty local pastry chefs each of whom will be bringing their A Game. Many people don't realize
this but chefs can be a competitive group and you know each will be looking to make an impression. A few weeks back Masterfoods
backed off of a scheme to add animal rennet to their candy bars, Mars, 3 Musketeers etc., in England. They backed off after a public outcry
and now are trying to get accredited by The Vegetarian Society which will allow them to put a green V on their candy bars. The Vegetarian
Society is studying the issue but has not accredited any chocolate in the past as they are trying to encourage "healthy eating".
June 12, 2007 - The Associated Press has a nice piece on regional variations in Ice Cream. Whether it's red bean, popular in Hawaii and
by the way available here in NYC at the Chinatown Ice Cream Factory, or Grape - Nuts popular in New England, throughout the United
States different areas of the country have developed their own local Ice Cream traditions. Food Fete, a company that puts together press
events, will be holding a chocolate event in San Francisco, California October 30, 2007. You can read the Press Release here. What to do
with the former Elizabeth Shaw chocolate factory in Bristol, England has been a question puzzling local residents since the over a 100 year
old factory closed its doors in September 2006. Some developers would like to tear the factory down and develop the land whereas others
would like to maintain the building and convert it to housing. In a case of wow we can't believe it apparently Willy Wonka star Gene Wilder
doesn't like chocolate. He liked it as a child but over the years lost the taste for it. A Cadbury commissioned survey of British women has
found that 52% of women would prefer a chocolate bar to sex. 87% of men prefer sex to chocolate. Cadbury, quoted one women as saying
"chocolate provides guaranteed pleasure". Asheville, North Carolina was the home to its third annual Chocolate Festival. More than a
dozen local vendors served hundreds of visitors and the day raised money for Project Access, a Buncombe County Medical Society
Foundation. In 2003 Alex Marangoni, a food chemistry professor at the University of Guelph, Canada developed CoaVel. CoaVel is a
shortening replacement that is transfat free and with all of the negative attention transfat has been getting lately CoaVel is looking more
promising as a baking ingredient.
June 11, 2007 - This looks like an interesting recipe for Disney's Grand Floridian Resort & Spa's Chocolate Crusted Key Lime Pie.
Warren, Michigan is the home of The Chocolate Gallery Café. On the breakfast menu is The Chocolate Buckingham Torte which has to be
seen to be believed as a breakfast food. In a factory in Pokrov, Russia once owned by Stollwerck, Kraft Foods is adding a new
manufacturing line, a $12,000,000 investment. Kraft took over the factory in 2002 and has used it to produce the Alpen Gold, Milka and
Vozdushny (Airy) chocolate bars and Barkhat (Velvet) and Chudny Vecher (Wonderful Evening) chocolates among other products.
June 10, 2007 - In California a panel of experts convened to taste an assortment of store available semi sweet chocolate chips. Working
their way through 14 different chips they sampled them raw and then baked into cookies using the classic Tollhouse recipe. Their
conclusion at #1 the Guittard Real Semisweet. Second place went to Nestle Chocolatier Dark chips. Third was a tie between Trader Joe's
house brand and Ghirardelli's chips.
June 7, 2007 - Flavanols found in cocoa and blueberries have been found to help the memories of mice. The research was published in
the Journal of Neuroscience. NorthJersey.com has a neat item about Craig Growney and the career he is trying to carve in the world of
baking. The article also has a recipe for making and assembling a chocolate Napoleon. Bozeman, Montana is becoming the home for
"high end" chocolate. La Chatelaine Chocolat Co.'s shop is owned by partners Jean-Pierre Wlady Grochowski and Shannon Hughes
Spratt. They are somewhat nervous that people might balk at the higher prices necessary that they can stick to using quality materials.
Vista the Northern California town held it's Vista Village Chocolate Festival last Sunday. A crowd of approximately 10,000 flocked to the
town and enjoyed a day of chocolate eating. Northern Michigan is the home of Grocer's Daughter Chocolate. The shops owner Mimi
Wheeler made her first truffle in Denmark as a child in 1960, She opened her shop in 2004 and uses Rainforest Alliance-certified
chocolate from Ecuador along with many local ingredients including fruits and herbs from her own garden.
June 6, 2007 - Cadbury has sold off a handful of companies they own in three different countries raising almost $400,000,000. Some of
the companies that were sold were Cadbury's Australian jams and jellies business, Cadbury Italia their Italian outpost and Allan Candy
one of the companies they own in Canada. John & Kira's has what looks like a super item available for Father's Day. They are chocolate
covered figs. We here at eChocolateNYC have sampled some chocolate covered figs in the past and the were pretty good and these look
like they blow them away. The ones we sampled were coated with milk chocolate and the figs were a bit on the dry side. Still the
combination was awesome and these from John & Kiras appear much better. These figs are stuffed with 64% Valrhona ganache and
coated with a layer of dark 54% chocolate. Like we said they look great. DeBrand has a few nice Father's Day items for sale. They always
make a nice piece of chocolate and this year they are offering a tower with an assortment of chocolates for $42.50 wrapped in a nice
masculine deep brown with a nice ribbon. If you want to pick up some interesting items for Father's Day take a look at England's Hotel
Chocolat. Nice high quality chocolate and highly recommended by the staff at eChocolateNYC. If you've enjoyed the new M&Ms TV
commercial with the Addams Family you can watch it again at mms.com.
June 3, 2007 - Julie Pech the author of "The Chocolate Therapist: A User's Guide to the Extraordinary Health Benefits of Chocolate" ate
chocolate every day for 18 straight months doing research. She also teaches a course at Colorado Free University as well as running her
own chocolate web site www.thechocolatetherapist.com.
June 1, 2007 - For those of us here in New York who have been able to sample the chocolate bread at Balthazar we've always known we
were eating something a little special. Scharffen Berger has put on their website the recipe for the bread. No one has ever accused Katrina
of Vosges Haut Chocolat of playing it safe or lacking imagination. This week Vosges is releasing Mo's Bacon Bar. The bar is a
combination of Applewood smoked bacon + Alder smoked salt + deep milk chocolate. A 3 oz. bar runs $7 which seems fair for something
this complex, especially since you know Vosges will do it right. Bioversity International has begun a project funded in part by the Austrian
Development Agency. They hope to help increase cocoa yield and quality in parts of Nicaragua. The project hopes to bring together local
farmers with scientists and chocolate company representatives in an effort to create organic, high quality cocoa that can then be marketed.
Ukranian sweets manufacturer Roshen produced more than 80,000 tons of sweets in the first quarter. Not only does the company have
30% of Ukraine's market but they also exported $41,000,000 worth of product. Some of the companies brands are
assets, soft drinks in the USA for example while adding other companies to their portfolio. They have been trying to take advantage of niche
markets and the increase in chocolate consumption in Asia while simultaneously dealing with the damage to their reputation over the
salmonella situation in the United Kingdom and the desire to fight obesity in some markets. Although there are many disadvantages to
having chocolate companies consolidate there certainly are advantages. A check of Scarffenberger's website has shown how Hershey
has combine Scharffen Berger with Joseph Schmidt rather nicely. They plan on having Dagoba join the site sometime in August. Three
excellent companies brought together under one roof by Hershey. Swiss, chocolate manufacturer, Barry Callebaut is reporting a healthy
increase in sales over the last nine months. Even with Brachs, a Calleabaut susidiary, doing poorly, recent agreements with both Hershey
and Nestle have allowed the company to boost sales over the last three quarters. Private label brands, store brands, are growing in
popularity in Europe. Neilsen studied the matter for the Private Label Market Association and found that in 15 of 18 European countries
studied Private Labels were growing. The largest growth was taking place in Eastern Europe.
June 28, 2007 - DeBrand Chocolates is offering jars of chocolate fondue. No more melting your own chocolate for dipping now you can just
heat and eat. Indonesia, the worlds third largest cocoa producer, has been plagued this year with adverse weather. Still as world demand
increases Indonesia feels they can meet the marketplace's demand and can increase production over the next few years. Coca-Cola has
been expanding its partnership with Campbell Soup lately. Campbell and Coke hope to launch a beverage based on Godiva chocolate
which is a Campbell company. The New York Times takes a look at the FDA's possible changing of the definition of what can be sold as
chocolate. They examine the controversy and take note of Gary Guittard's battle to maintain the status quo. Jack In The Box is introducing a
new product Chocolate Overload Cake. In the early 1980s, Frank Crail started his own chocolate business in the Furango, Colorado area.
Today that company, Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory, has grown to 325 stores in 44 states. The story of the companies phenomenal
growth is an interesting story.
Chocolatier in New Jersey is dipping the state's fruit, blueberries, in chocolate in celebration of blueberry season. last week and all of their
chocolate desserts are made on premises. Santa Ana, California is the home of a Rocky Armstrong Hotel in Ft. Collins, Colorado is the
home of a new chocolate shop, The Chocolate Café. They opened last week and all of their chocolate desserts are made on premises. is
the home of a Rocky Mountain Chocolate Santa Ana, CaliforniaMountain Chocolate Factory store on Main Street. Outside sits Truffles the
bear. Since 1992 a is the home of a Rocky have sat outside the store. Each 4.5 feet and weighing 10 pounds. Every six to nine months
Mountain Chocolate Factory store on Main Street. Outside sits Truffles the bear. Since 1992 a succession of bears and Truffles is quite
popular among the local kids.
have sat outside the store. Each 4.5 feet and weighing 10 pounds. Every six to nine months the bear is replaced
and Truffles is quite popular among the local kids.
June 24, 2007 - In Naples, Florida Laurie Rose, of Olde Naples Chocolate held a seminar, “How to Taste Chocolate,” at the local library.
She instructed the crowd in how to identify different characteristics of chocolate and how to enhance their enjoyment of chocolate. Michelle
Ryan has gotten into trouble for sneaking chocolate onto the set of the Bionic Woman. She says she doesn't worry about her weight or
clothes size. In Mumbai, India police have made an arrest and hopefully broken up a ring that was making money by buying discarded
chocolate that had passed its expiration date and then erasing the date and redating the chocolate somewhere in the future allowing it to
be sold again in stores but of course providing a health and freshness problem. Unfortuantely even though Canadian Police have made
two arrests in the missing salmonella tainted Hershey chocolate case some of the product has shown up for sale in a store, Kawartha
Lakes Food Mart in Kawartha, Canada. A customer noticed the bars and notified health inspectors who quickly seized the rest of the
product. Hopefully no more of the bars will appear for sale. The closing of the Oakdale, California Hershey plant has led to an internal
battle in the Teamsters local that represented workers in the industry. Losing 500 dues paying members forced Teamsters Local 386 to
cut staff which has caused hard feelings among some of the local's members. Dirol Cadbury plans on moving up in the Russian chocolate
market from its current position at #7 in market share to one of the three largest companies in the market in the next five years according to
their marketing director for Eastern Europe Jesus Ramos. They plan on acquiring some firms and merging with others. It looks like that in
Norway there may be a repeal of a tax on chocolate that was first started in 1922. Ending the tax may lower the price of some chocolate
products up to 30%. The taxes structure is a bit convoluted, chocolate inside a product is not taxed the same as chocolate covering a
product. It looks like The United Confectioners Holding Company may be acquiring Russian Chocolate (Russky Shokolad). United
Confectioners makes such products as Babayevsky, Rot Front and Krasny Oktyabr and has 17,000 employees. Russian Chocolate has a
plant in Moscow. The Nichol's family of Gloucester, Massachusetts has been operating Nichol's Candies for 75 years. The company has
set up a scrapbook where customers can write about what the families products have meant to them over the years.
June 23, 2007 - M&Ms is once again attempting to raise money for the fight against breast cancer. You can order pink and white M&Ms
online and a portion of what you spend, 10%, will go to the Susan G. Komen Foundation. Mars is guaranteeing they will contribute at least
$550,000 to the Foundation. The weather in Tehran has been so hot that it threatens to melt a chocolate statue of an Achaemenid soldier.
The statue is being built by a team of 25 sculptors and will weigh somewhere between 300 and 400 kg. The statue has been
commissioned by Iran Cultural Heritage And Handicrafts and Tourism Organization. It will be displayed July 14th at the World Handicrafts
Day exhibit. The San Francisco Chocolate Salon, July 14 & 15 at Fort Mason has quite a line up of chocolate companies lined up. Among
others there are NEWTREE Gourmet Belgian Chocolate, Lillie Belle Farms Artisan Chocolates, Theo Chocolate, San Francisco Chocolate
Factory, XOX Truffles, Grand Avenue Chocolates and MarieBelle Fine Treats and Chocolates. You can read the Salon's Press Release
here. Speaking of San Francisco - The San Francisco Chocolate Factory has released a chocolate syrup and an instant chocolate drink
mix. They also have the rights to use the saying "Got Milk" from The California Milk Processor Board. In England Sophi Tranchell of Divine
Chocolate has won a Real Business/CBI First Women Award for her achievements as a woman in business. Her company has been in
the forefront of the Fairtrade movement.
June 20, 2007 - Cadbury Schweppes has been hard at work expanding their portfolio of companies. They've announced their purchase of
Sansei Foods. Sansei manufactures gum in Japan and will help Cadbury increase their market share in the country. Dutch candy producer
Leaf International has begun production at their new plant in Levice, Slovakia. The plant will supply candy to markets all over Western
Europe as well as provide a foothold in the growing Eastern Europe market. The Archer Daniels Midland Company (ADM) has announced
they are opening a new processing plant in Kumasi, Ghana. The plant will allow the company the opportunity to offer their customers cocoa
products from a single source. Cadbury has announced they will be restructuring their activities in Great Britain and Ireland and has
dismissed several senior executives in the process.
June 19, 2007 - Salon.com has an informative article about the Grenada Chocolate Company. The company has a small factory on the
West Indies island. The beans are grown organically and processed in small batches which makes the chocolate a bit difficult to find
outside of Grenada. In 2006, they received a World Chocolate Award from London's Academy of Chocolate and we have sampled their
wares in the past and can testify to the smoothness of the resulting product. Cadbury Schweppes is hard at work on perfecting a low sugar
or sugar free milk chocolate. They are also hoping the product will be low fat. Although low sugar chocolate represents less than 1% of the
chocolate market in Europe its sales have grown by 52% over the last five years. In Malaysia K.C. Ch’ng, quit his job in 2003 as a regional
sales manager for a construction firm and turned to making chocolate. His company Chocolate Chapter makes chocolates for special
occasions. Some of his creations look stunning and it is worth taking a look at his dragon. Diva Chocolates has introduced two new
products into the marketplace. Kickin' Cocoa Bean Beef Jerkey and Mocha Java Beef Jerky are a combination of chocolate and beef jerky.
The International Finance Corporation (IFC), of the IMF is providing $360,000 to Mozambican chocolate production company, "Deja Vu
Chocolat e Cafes". It is hoped that this will allow the company to increase its current production from 13 to 44 tonnes a year. The company
based in Mozambique will increase its work force from 22 to 25. On June 15th we reported that a shipment of chocolate which Hershey
Canada had sent to be destroyed at a recycling center because it was possibly infected with salmonella has been stolen. Fortunately
police have made two arrests and recovered the missing chocolate before it had reached the public.
June 16, 2007 - The British based advocacy group Global Witness has been pressuring chocolate companies to stop doing business with
the Ivory Coast to help slow the spread of violence in the country.
June 15, 2007 - Barry Callebaut has announced the opening of its new North American office in Chicago, Illinois. The office will be staffed
by a senior management team and Callebaut hopes to become the major supplier of industrial chocolate in the Western Hemisphere. The
company hopes to grow at twice the rate of growth in the chocolate market which seems a tall order. Callebaut already operates five
production facilities in North America and has a new plant coming on line in Mexico next year. Between January and March of last year
Cadbury did not follow EU hygiene rules and released salmonella tainted chocolate onto the market in England. Thirty seven people fell
sick. You can check our news archives for that period for the ongoing story. Cadbury pleaded guilty this week to three charges and awaits
what the court imposed sanctions will be. The sanctions will come down on July 20th. Hershey has a tough situation in Canada. Eight
skids of product that is potentially infected with salmonella was stolen from a recycling center. The chocolate was put together as part of a
recall and had been shipped off to be destroyed but was stolen in the process. Health authorities and Hershey are both concerned that the
stolen chocolate may end up on store shelves if purchased by unscrupulous or unknowing retailers. We here at eChocolateNYC figure to
live to be 100 with the ever accumulating evidence of the health benefits of cocoa. A just released study from Japan has found the
polyphenolic substances in coca may lead to a lowering of LDL the bad cholesterol and an elevation of HDL the "good" cholesterol.
June 13, 2007 - Cadbury Schweppes has bought a 93.32% stake in Romania’s number two chocolate maker Kandia-Excelent. Kandia-
Excelent has a 20% share of the Romanian market. Moonstruck Chocolate opened its first chocolate café in Portland in 1996 and has
been expanding slowly ever since. The company has signed leases for 8 more of their chocolate cafes which will expand the line to 17
locations. Tristar Food Wholesale of Jersey City, New Jersey is recalling boxes of Ferrari Chocolate. The boxes contain undeclared
peanuts which is a danger for those allergic to peanuts and Aflatoxins which are by products of certain fungi and can be carcinogens in
elevated levels. Cadbury keeps expanding. They've purchased the Turkish gum business Intergum for $450,000,000. File this one under
only in New York. Five Boroughs Ice Cream is releasing five flavors one for each borough. The Bronx flavor is Cha Cha Chocolate,
Manhattan is Rich White Vanilla etc. Staten Island's flavor is Landfill a jab at the borough's Fresh Kill's landfill. Local politicians are furious
and the Borough President is calling for a boycott until the company changes the name. He has suggested Ferry Berry a play on the
Island's famed ferry. The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation of Atlanta will be holding a chocolate fund raiser. Tickets are $65 and the event will be
held the evening of June 21st. There will be twenty local pastry chefs each of whom will be bringing their A Game. Many people don't realize
this but chefs can be a competitive group and you know each will be looking to make an impression. A few weeks back Masterfoods
backed off of a scheme to add animal rennet to their candy bars, Mars, 3 Musketeers etc., in England. They backed off after a public outcry
and now are trying to get accredited by The Vegetarian Society which will allow them to put a green V on their candy bars. The Vegetarian
Society is studying the issue but has not accredited any chocolate in the past as they are trying to encourage "healthy eating".
June 12, 2007 - The Associated Press has a nice piece on regional variations in Ice Cream. Whether it's red bean, popular in Hawaii and
by the way available here in NYC at the Chinatown Ice Cream Factory, or Grape - Nuts popular in New England, throughout the United
States different areas of the country have developed their own local Ice Cream traditions. Food Fete, a company that puts together press
events, will be holding a chocolate event in San Francisco, California October 30, 2007. You can read the Press Release here. What to do
with the former Elizabeth Shaw chocolate factory in Bristol, England has been a question puzzling local residents since the over a 100 year
old factory closed its doors in September 2006. Some developers would like to tear the factory down and develop the land whereas others
would like to maintain the building and convert it to housing. In a case of wow we can't believe it apparently Willy Wonka star Gene Wilder
doesn't like chocolate. He liked it as a child but over the years lost the taste for it. A Cadbury commissioned survey of British women has
found that 52% of women would prefer a chocolate bar to sex. 87% of men prefer sex to chocolate. Cadbury, quoted one women as saying
"chocolate provides guaranteed pleasure". Asheville, North Carolina was the home to its third annual Chocolate Festival. More than a
dozen local vendors served hundreds of visitors and the day raised money for Project Access, a Buncombe County Medical Society
Foundation. In 2003 Alex Marangoni, a food chemistry professor at the University of Guelph, Canada developed CoaVel. CoaVel is a
shortening replacement that is transfat free and with all of the negative attention transfat has been getting lately CoaVel is looking more
promising as a baking ingredient.
June 11, 2007 - This looks like an interesting recipe for Disney's Grand Floridian Resort & Spa's Chocolate Crusted Key Lime Pie.
Warren, Michigan is the home of The Chocolate Gallery Café. On the breakfast menu is The Chocolate Buckingham Torte which has to be
seen to be believed as a breakfast food. In a factory in Pokrov, Russia once owned by Stollwerck, Kraft Foods is adding a new
manufacturing line, a $12,000,000 investment. Kraft took over the factory in 2002 and has used it to produce the Alpen Gold, Milka and
Vozdushny (Airy) chocolate bars and Barkhat (Velvet) and Chudny Vecher (Wonderful Evening) chocolates among other products.
June 10, 2007 - In California a panel of experts convened to taste an assortment of store available semi sweet chocolate chips. Working
their way through 14 different chips they sampled them raw and then baked into cookies using the classic Tollhouse recipe. Their
conclusion at #1 the Guittard Real Semisweet. Second place went to Nestle Chocolatier Dark chips. Third was a tie between Trader Joe's
house brand and Ghirardelli's chips.
June 7, 2007 - Flavanols found in cocoa and blueberries have been found to help the memories of mice. The research was published in
the Journal of Neuroscience. NorthJersey.com has a neat item about Craig Growney and the career he is trying to carve in the world of
baking. The article also has a recipe for making and assembling a chocolate Napoleon. Bozeman, Montana is becoming the home for
"high end" chocolate. La Chatelaine Chocolat Co.'s shop is owned by partners Jean-Pierre Wlady Grochowski and Shannon Hughes
Spratt. They are somewhat nervous that people might balk at the higher prices necessary that they can stick to using quality materials.
Vista the Northern California town held it's Vista Village Chocolate Festival last Sunday. A crowd of approximately 10,000 flocked to the
town and enjoyed a day of chocolate eating. Northern Michigan is the home of Grocer's Daughter Chocolate. The shops owner Mimi
Wheeler made her first truffle in Denmark as a child in 1960, She opened her shop in 2004 and uses Rainforest Alliance-certified
chocolate from Ecuador along with many local ingredients including fruits and herbs from her own garden.
June 6, 2007 - Cadbury has sold off a handful of companies they own in three different countries raising almost $400,000,000. Some of
the companies that were sold were Cadbury's Australian jams and jellies business, Cadbury Italia their Italian outpost and Allan Candy
one of the companies they own in Canada. John & Kira's has what looks like a super item available for Father's Day. They are chocolate
covered figs. We here at eChocolateNYC have sampled some chocolate covered figs in the past and the were pretty good and these look
like they blow them away. The ones we sampled were coated with milk chocolate and the figs were a bit on the dry side. Still the
combination was awesome and these from John & Kiras appear much better. These figs are stuffed with 64% Valrhona ganache and
coated with a layer of dark 54% chocolate. Like we said they look great. DeBrand has a few nice Father's Day items for sale. They always
make a nice piece of chocolate and this year they are offering a tower with an assortment of chocolates for $42.50 wrapped in a nice
masculine deep brown with a nice ribbon. If you want to pick up some interesting items for Father's Day take a look at England's Hotel
Chocolat. Nice high quality chocolate and highly recommended by the staff at eChocolateNYC. If you've enjoyed the new M&Ms TV
commercial with the Addams Family you can watch it again at mms.com.
June 3, 2007 - Julie Pech the author of "The Chocolate Therapist: A User's Guide to the Extraordinary Health Benefits of Chocolate" ate
chocolate every day for 18 straight months doing research. She also teaches a course at Colorado Free University as well as running her
own chocolate web site www.thechocolatetherapist.com.
June 1, 2007 - For those of us here in New York who have been able to sample the chocolate bread at Balthazar we've always known we
were eating something a little special. Scharffen Berger has put on their website the recipe for the bread. No one has ever accused Katrina
of Vosges Haut Chocolat of playing it safe or lacking imagination. This week Vosges is releasing Mo's Bacon Bar. The bar is a
combination of Applewood smoked bacon + Alder smoked salt + deep milk chocolate. A 3 oz. bar runs $7 which seems fair for something
this complex, especially since you know Vosges will do it right. Bioversity International has begun a project funded in part by the Austrian
Development Agency. They hope to help increase cocoa yield and quality in parts of Nicaragua. The project hopes to bring together local
farmers with scientists and chocolate company representatives in an effort to create organic, high quality cocoa that can then be marketed.
Ukranian sweets manufacturer Roshen produced more than 80,000 tons of sweets in the first quarter. Not only does the company have
30% of Ukraine's market but they also exported $41,000,000 worth of product. Some of the companies brands are