November 30, 2007 - A no brainer for Christmas arrived yesterday, The Sweet Riot Santa Gift Bag. Three tins of Sweet Riot Chocolate
Covered Cocoa Nibs in a nice little Santa Bag. If you haven't tried these yet they are great, sweet and crunchy. The bag is a quality item and
at $16.99 you can't beat the price. If you're looking for something a little different this year for the office Christmas Party we heartily
recommend taking a look at the catering services provided by Trois Crepes Patisserie. Their retail location on East 75th is on the small
size but when it comes to catering and serving up some great eats they do a tremendous job. We spot them all over town, a set up at the
French Institute, making crepes at The Chocolate Show etc. For the service and quality they provide the prices are extremely reasonable.
John & Kira's has a sweet little deal. Order more than $75 worth of chocolate, per address, and you can get free shipping through
December 4th. The price of cocoa went down a bit in October, about $23 a tonne, with an influx of beans from the Ivory Coast. The market
is still volatile with high demand and uncertainty in some bean producing countries. A unique opportunity has presented itself for the
serious chocoholic. Katrina Markoff from Vosges Haut - Chocolat will be leading a cruise tour through the ports of Greece and Turkey. She
will be conducting on board chocolate making classes as well as leading a Turkish Chocolate & Greek Pastry tasting excursion. Blommer
Chocolate is launching a sustainable cocoa farming programme in the Ivory Coast. They had success with a program in Indonesia and
found that as farmers incomes grew crop yields grew. This created a win win situation for both sides. Increased income for the farmers
and an increased supply for Blommer.
November 29, 2007 - Hershey's Cacao Reserve has some new interesting products for the Holiday season. One item of note is The
Holiday Collection Gift Bags which have 35% Cacao Holiday Spice Milk Chocolate Truffles and 65% Cacao Mint Dark Chocolate tasting
squares. They also are producing Truffle Sharing Boxes and Holiday Gift Boxes. The Cacao Reserve products we've tried in the past have
been pretty tasty so even though we've yet to try these we feel they're worth picking up if you see them. In Canada the country's Competition
Bureau has received documents from Nestle, Hershey, Cadbury and Mars explaining their respective pricing strategies. The Bureau has
not accused the companies of colluding in pricing but is investigating complaints they've received. While the investigation is currently
focusing on chocolate bars it could be expanded in the future to include other confectionery products. In the race to increase market share
in the fast growing eastern European market Nestle has purchased Ruzskaya Confectionery Factory. The company is one of Russia's
leading chocolate companies and produces chocolate under the Comilfo and Ruzanna brands. Nestle already has 13 factories and
10,000 employees in Russia as well as other operations throughout Eastern Europe. Longtime visitors to our site know we are big fans of
DeBrand chocolates. We've sampled them a few times and found them to always taste fresh. This year for Christmas they have an
interesting item - The Chocolate Truffle Wreath. This looks like a great centerpiece or a nice item to place on a buffet table. It's a box,
circular and wreath shaped composed of chocolate. Open it and it contains 19 truffles. Eat the truffles then eat the container, it couldn't get
any greener than that for Christmas.
November 22, 2007 - Happy Thanksgiving - Now on to the news. Credit Suisse has studied the situation and in a research note issued
recently has announced that Cadbury by decoupling its beverage and confectionary businesses will see margins in the confectionary end
grow 4.6%. The company will have to absorb almost 2 billion US Dollars in initial costs but overtime the deal will be a good one for the
company. A study from the University of North Carolina of post menopausal women who are diagnosed with breast cancer has found
those with the highest intakes of flavones and isoflavones have the highest rates of survival. With chocolate being loaded with flavones it's
just more good news for chocoholics. Cargill is expanding its production in Brazil. With the growth in chocolate consumption in the country
and the region Cargill is ramping up output in its Sao Paulo plant. Nestlé, Bunge, Danisco, Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, and Tyson
Foods are joining together to create a program of reporting on sustainability in conjunction with Global Reporting Initiative. Joseph Schmidt
has announced their 2007 Holiday Truffle Collection. The lineup looks both interesting and promising. Flavors include Sea Salt Caramel.
Premium milk chocolate , organic caramel and sea salt. Mexican Chocolate, dark chocolate ganache with Mexican cinnamon, allspice
and a hint of habanero. Mandarin Zest. A combination of sweet and tart tangerine zest and dark chocolate. Vanilla Cognac. Real vanilla
and cognac with a dark chocolate center surrounded by a milk chocolate shell. Meyer Lemon. A dark chocolate ganache is paired with
Meyer lemon and surrounded in dark chocolate. Pomegranate. Pomegranate blends with a dark chocolate ganache and a rich dark
chocolate shell. For those of you with leftover turkey Hershey has provided an interesting recipe at their site allchocolate.com. The recipe is
for Enchiladas with Chocolate Mole Sauce. Another recipe they've recently posted is for Bittersweet Chocolate Pecan Pie. I like to whip up
a Pecan Pie around Christmas every year so there is a good chance I'll be reviewing this recipe in about a month but it does look
promising. Barry Callebaut has announced it has finalized their sale of Brachs, their American subsidiary, to Farley's & Sathers. Brachs
never performed in the way that Callebaut had hoped for.
November 5, 2007 - Prestat out of the United Kingdom is releasing a new chocolate bar Choxi+. The company claims the bar has more
flavonol antioxidants than any other food source and that two squares have more anti oxidants than 1lb of Brussels sprouts or over 5lb of
apples. Divine Chocolate has been named The Best Social Enterprise at the Enterprising Solutions Awards in the United Kingdom. The
company is a partnership of Ghanaian cocoa farmers. The $20,000 prize will help the company further its goals and raise awareness of the
plight of small producers. The Jamaican Cocoa Industry Board has created a chocolate bar that can either be eaten as a chocolate bar or
put in hot water to make hot chocolate.
November 4, 2007 - The Sainsbury stores in the United Kingdom have issued a recall of their Belgian Chocolates. The chocolate was
improperly labeled and contains casein which could be a problem for anyone with a milk allergy. A new company Crummy Brothers has
announced that their organic chocolate chip cookies will be sold in Whole Foods in four different flavors Original Chocolate Chip, Lemon
Ginger Chocolate Chip, Orange Blossom Chocolate Chip, and Chocolate Chocolate Chip. It has been two months since Cadbury
announced they would be bringing back the Wispa Bar after a campaign was launched on peer to peer site Facebook. Now a new
campaign has begun on the same site for Wispa Gold. The growth of these sites has allowed an avenue for disgruntled consumers to let
companies know how they really feel about a product.
November 3, 2007 - Skittles, those hard chewy little candies, is expanding from just fruit flavors to chocolate flavors. They will be the same
price as regular Skittles but will be chocolate inspired flavors. An Australian paper has an article about the possible human cost of cocoa
production that may employ child labor. The children are enslaved and worked hard. The industry has been banding together to try to
eradicate these practices but are not moving fast enough for some. Tonight In North Tahoe there will be crowned a new People's Choice
Award winner for Chocolate. The winner the last two years, Aaron Zendner, owner of Mr. Z's Candy Co., is not defending his title so six local
chocolatiers are vying for the honor. The event raises money for local charities. In what seems like a bit of heavy handed police work in
Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, England six police officers were sent to arrest a local boy, 15, who had vandalized a local community center
by writing his name on it with a Twix bar. After he cleaned up the mess he had made charges were eventually dropped.
Covered Cocoa Nibs in a nice little Santa Bag. If you haven't tried these yet they are great, sweet and crunchy. The bag is a quality item and
at $16.99 you can't beat the price. If you're looking for something a little different this year for the office Christmas Party we heartily
recommend taking a look at the catering services provided by Trois Crepes Patisserie. Their retail location on East 75th is on the small
size but when it comes to catering and serving up some great eats they do a tremendous job. We spot them all over town, a set up at the
French Institute, making crepes at The Chocolate Show etc. For the service and quality they provide the prices are extremely reasonable.
John & Kira's has a sweet little deal. Order more than $75 worth of chocolate, per address, and you can get free shipping through
December 4th. The price of cocoa went down a bit in October, about $23 a tonne, with an influx of beans from the Ivory Coast. The market
is still volatile with high demand and uncertainty in some bean producing countries. A unique opportunity has presented itself for the
serious chocoholic. Katrina Markoff from Vosges Haut - Chocolat will be leading a cruise tour through the ports of Greece and Turkey. She
will be conducting on board chocolate making classes as well as leading a Turkish Chocolate & Greek Pastry tasting excursion. Blommer
Chocolate is launching a sustainable cocoa farming programme in the Ivory Coast. They had success with a program in Indonesia and
found that as farmers incomes grew crop yields grew. This created a win win situation for both sides. Increased income for the farmers
and an increased supply for Blommer.
November 29, 2007 - Hershey's Cacao Reserve has some new interesting products for the Holiday season. One item of note is The
Holiday Collection Gift Bags which have 35% Cacao Holiday Spice Milk Chocolate Truffles and 65% Cacao Mint Dark Chocolate tasting
squares. They also are producing Truffle Sharing Boxes and Holiday Gift Boxes. The Cacao Reserve products we've tried in the past have
been pretty tasty so even though we've yet to try these we feel they're worth picking up if you see them. In Canada the country's Competition
Bureau has received documents from Nestle, Hershey, Cadbury and Mars explaining their respective pricing strategies. The Bureau has
not accused the companies of colluding in pricing but is investigating complaints they've received. While the investigation is currently
focusing on chocolate bars it could be expanded in the future to include other confectionery products. In the race to increase market share
in the fast growing eastern European market Nestle has purchased Ruzskaya Confectionery Factory. The company is one of Russia's
leading chocolate companies and produces chocolate under the Comilfo and Ruzanna brands. Nestle already has 13 factories and
10,000 employees in Russia as well as other operations throughout Eastern Europe. Longtime visitors to our site know we are big fans of
DeBrand chocolates. We've sampled them a few times and found them to always taste fresh. This year for Christmas they have an
interesting item - The Chocolate Truffle Wreath. This looks like a great centerpiece or a nice item to place on a buffet table. It's a box,
circular and wreath shaped composed of chocolate. Open it and it contains 19 truffles. Eat the truffles then eat the container, it couldn't get
any greener than that for Christmas.
November 22, 2007 - Happy Thanksgiving - Now on to the news. Credit Suisse has studied the situation and in a research note issued
recently has announced that Cadbury by decoupling its beverage and confectionary businesses will see margins in the confectionary end
grow 4.6%. The company will have to absorb almost 2 billion US Dollars in initial costs but overtime the deal will be a good one for the
company. A study from the University of North Carolina of post menopausal women who are diagnosed with breast cancer has found
those with the highest intakes of flavones and isoflavones have the highest rates of survival. With chocolate being loaded with flavones it's
just more good news for chocoholics. Cargill is expanding its production in Brazil. With the growth in chocolate consumption in the country
and the region Cargill is ramping up output in its Sao Paulo plant. Nestlé, Bunge, Danisco, Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, and Tyson
Foods are joining together to create a program of reporting on sustainability in conjunction with Global Reporting Initiative. Joseph Schmidt
has announced their 2007 Holiday Truffle Collection. The lineup looks both interesting and promising. Flavors include Sea Salt Caramel.
Premium milk chocolate , organic caramel and sea salt. Mexican Chocolate, dark chocolate ganache with Mexican cinnamon, allspice
and a hint of habanero. Mandarin Zest. A combination of sweet and tart tangerine zest and dark chocolate. Vanilla Cognac. Real vanilla
and cognac with a dark chocolate center surrounded by a milk chocolate shell. Meyer Lemon. A dark chocolate ganache is paired with
Meyer lemon and surrounded in dark chocolate. Pomegranate. Pomegranate blends with a dark chocolate ganache and a rich dark
chocolate shell. For those of you with leftover turkey Hershey has provided an interesting recipe at their site allchocolate.com. The recipe is
for Enchiladas with Chocolate Mole Sauce. Another recipe they've recently posted is for Bittersweet Chocolate Pecan Pie. I like to whip up
a Pecan Pie around Christmas every year so there is a good chance I'll be reviewing this recipe in about a month but it does look
promising. Barry Callebaut has announced it has finalized their sale of Brachs, their American subsidiary, to Farley's & Sathers. Brachs
never performed in the way that Callebaut had hoped for.
November 5, 2007 - Prestat out of the United Kingdom is releasing a new chocolate bar Choxi+. The company claims the bar has more
flavonol antioxidants than any other food source and that two squares have more anti oxidants than 1lb of Brussels sprouts or over 5lb of
apples. Divine Chocolate has been named The Best Social Enterprise at the Enterprising Solutions Awards in the United Kingdom. The
company is a partnership of Ghanaian cocoa farmers. The $20,000 prize will help the company further its goals and raise awareness of the
plight of small producers. The Jamaican Cocoa Industry Board has created a chocolate bar that can either be eaten as a chocolate bar or
put in hot water to make hot chocolate.
November 4, 2007 - The Sainsbury stores in the United Kingdom have issued a recall of their Belgian Chocolates. The chocolate was
improperly labeled and contains casein which could be a problem for anyone with a milk allergy. A new company Crummy Brothers has
announced that their organic chocolate chip cookies will be sold in Whole Foods in four different flavors Original Chocolate Chip, Lemon
Ginger Chocolate Chip, Orange Blossom Chocolate Chip, and Chocolate Chocolate Chip. It has been two months since Cadbury
announced they would be bringing back the Wispa Bar after a campaign was launched on peer to peer site Facebook. Now a new
campaign has begun on the same site for Wispa Gold. The growth of these sites has allowed an avenue for disgruntled consumers to let
companies know how they really feel about a product.
November 3, 2007 - Skittles, those hard chewy little candies, is expanding from just fruit flavors to chocolate flavors. They will be the same
price as regular Skittles but will be chocolate inspired flavors. An Australian paper has an article about the possible human cost of cocoa
production that may employ child labor. The children are enslaved and worked hard. The industry has been banding together to try to
eradicate these practices but are not moving fast enough for some. Tonight In North Tahoe there will be crowned a new People's Choice
Award winner for Chocolate. The winner the last two years, Aaron Zendner, owner of Mr. Z's Candy Co., is not defending his title so six local
chocolatiers are vying for the honor. The event raises money for local charities. In what seems like a bit of heavy handed police work in
Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, England six police officers were sent to arrest a local boy, 15, who had vandalized a local community center
by writing his name on it with a Twix bar. After he cleaned up the mess he had made charges were eventually dropped.
| November 2007 News |
| Any comments or suggestions, contact us and let us know what you're thinking. |