September 30, 2007 - With Halloween just a month away we here at eChocolateNYC have some information for
you. Chocolat Moderne is offering a selection that combines spookyness with what appears to be an excellent
blend of ingredients. The assortment is called pumpkins and spider webs and there are six different pieces. They
include Gory Green Apple ( green apples and Calvados ), Extra Sensory Espresso ( Illy espresso and salted
caramel in dark chocolate ), Spooky Spices ( burnt caramel and chinese Five Spices ), Pumpkin Panic ( toasted
pumpkin seed with pumpkin pie spices, milk chocolate, and carmelized sugar ), Headless Hazelnut ( roasted
hazelnut paste with milk chocolate and caramelized sugar) and Open Sesame ( toasted sesame with milk
chocolate and caramelized sugar ). We've yet to sample any of these but we always find Moderne's products top
notch and we're willing to go out on a limb and recommend these. We were in NOHO yesterday and came across a
new store, Spirit Of Halloween. They are located at 4th and Lafayette. You can sum up this store in one word "cool".
The place is huge and has a great selection of costumes. They also have life sized robotic monsters including
Jason from Friday the 13th which are operational and fun for the kids to try out. The staff was great. They helped us
try on a bunch of costumes and were filled with helpful tips. They let us actually try on costumes, a first for us in New
York. We guess this shop will up the stakes in New York's Halloween game, a good thing in our opinion and we
wish them well in their short run as they are only open through early November. We were at Dean and DeLuca and
we picked up a chocolate skull made by Valerie's Confections composed of burnt caramel. It was a bit pricey at $40
and we cant tell you how it tastes as we have grown fond of it and have been reluctant to actually eat it. It's a dramatic
piece and comes in a nice black box. They also have two others, a Vietnamese black chili pepper and a white
chocolate candy silk cherry. You can buy the three piece set for $100. Everyone is piling into Eastern Europe. As we
reported on the 25th Callebaut has opened a new factory in Russia and now Nestle has announced they are
making a $6,000,000 + commitment to their Perm factory. The Landrin Group is pumping 15 million Euros into their
Pushkino factory. Things are also heating up in Poland. A Polish paper is reporting that Cadbury plans on making a
sizable investment in a factory in either Poland or Slovakia.
September 25, 2007 - The Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) is investigating a complaint about Nutella's
advertising campaign in the United Kingdom. The company trumpets their hazelnut composition which has some
healthful benefits. The consumer groups are not happy that Nutella doesn't mention the high sugar and fat content
of their products. Nutella claims that their product is actually healthier than jam and marmalade and is actually not
that bad as a breakfast spread. You can take a look at the presentation made by Paul Polman, Nestlé CFO, at the
Sanford Bernstein Strategic Decisions Conference 2007, London, September 25, 2007. Barry Callebaut opened
their new factory in Russia on the 19th and hope to stake a claim to a share of the growing Russian market. It's not
only the small players in the chocolate industry that are hoping to get the FDA not to reclassify chocolate. Mars
claims allowing vegetable oil to replace cocoa butter would change the taste and texture of chocolate. Mars has
announced they will not be replacing cocoa butter with vegetable oil.
September 23, 2007 - Innovative Life Sciences is releasing a new product "Heart Chocolate" which they claim has
an ingredient CM-X which is a combination of cinnamon and bitter melon. They also claim CM-X helps to lower
blood sugar and lower cholesterol. The chocolate was launched at the Toronto Film Festival.
Spiral Biotech is bringing a new product to market. They are bag filters that make pipeting easier which will save
chocolate manufacturers time when testing product.
September 13, 2007 - In England both Cadbury and Mars UK have announced that they are cutting the use of
artificial additives in their candy. Both companies are responding to a study from the University of Southampton that
links heightened hyperactivity in children to food additives. With the All Candy Expo taking place in Chicago from
September 17th to 19th the emphasis is on luxury, gourmet, fortified and organic products. The show's organizers
claim 2,000 or so new products will debut at the show this year. Chiquita has announced that they are raising the
price of bananas. Everything from the increase in oil prices to Hurricane Dean have played a factor in Chiquita's
costs increasing. A team at Washington University in St. Louis have released a report that postulates that peanut
butter can be a savior for the worlds malnourished children. The peanut butter is mixed with powdered milk,
vitamins, oil and sugar and is inexpensive to produce and in the study conducted in Africa 89% of malnourished
children recovered after being fed this mixture. The UK snack and candy maker Glisten has reported increased
sales and profits in the last year. They reported an increase of 18% in operating profit which is amazing. They have
also announced a new joint venture with Skinny Candy. The makers of isomalt, the German company Palatinit , is
experiencing growth for their product which is a low calorie sugar replacement which has been primarily used to
make diet and diabetic products. The company likes the long term situation as they feel as more people switch to
healthier diets they will switch to low calorie or sugar free as long as taste isn't compromised. In the UK Nestle
Rowntree has relaunched their Milkybar. This time around the bar will be made with all natural ingredients. The bar
will be the first UK major market bar aimed at kids that will be additive free. Barry Callebaut plans on finally selling
off its Brachs Candy division.
September 5, 2007 - The results are in from the Iowa State Fair and Karen Harshbarger of Mediapolis earned first
place overall with German Chocolate Cake in the German Chocolate Cake and Bars competition. Tiffany Melchers of
Urbandale won second place overall with German Chocolate Bars, and Janet Melchers of Fairfield finished in third
place with her version of German Chocolate Cake. Hershey has announced that they will be increasing their stake
in Godrej Hershey Beverages and Foods from 51% to 57.8%. Consumer Reports has taste tested 14 different dark
chocolate bars from Hershey, Valhrona and Lindt. In Greece the Food Control Agency has ordered the recall of
"Chocolate Soya Drink with Fytro-Calcium" because it contains dioxins and pentachlorinated phenol. Alan Hughes of
Thorp, Wisconsin has a great part time job. He is a chocolate judge at the Clark County Fair and enjoys it. In a recent
interview he said "As far as dream jobs, this ranks right up with shortstop for the New York Yankees or photographer
for Playboy." Bodega Chocolates of California is still displaying a small chocolate Virgin Mary that two of their
workers found under a vat of chocolate last year. Hundreds of people have visited the chocolate figurine over the last
year and one even offered $30,000 for it but it is not for sale.
you. Chocolat Moderne is offering a selection that combines spookyness with what appears to be an excellent
blend of ingredients. The assortment is called pumpkins and spider webs and there are six different pieces. They
include Gory Green Apple ( green apples and Calvados ), Extra Sensory Espresso ( Illy espresso and salted
caramel in dark chocolate ), Spooky Spices ( burnt caramel and chinese Five Spices ), Pumpkin Panic ( toasted
pumpkin seed with pumpkin pie spices, milk chocolate, and carmelized sugar ), Headless Hazelnut ( roasted
hazelnut paste with milk chocolate and caramelized sugar) and Open Sesame ( toasted sesame with milk
chocolate and caramelized sugar ). We've yet to sample any of these but we always find Moderne's products top
notch and we're willing to go out on a limb and recommend these. We were in NOHO yesterday and came across a
new store, Spirit Of Halloween. They are located at 4th and Lafayette. You can sum up this store in one word "cool".
The place is huge and has a great selection of costumes. They also have life sized robotic monsters including
Jason from Friday the 13th which are operational and fun for the kids to try out. The staff was great. They helped us
try on a bunch of costumes and were filled with helpful tips. They let us actually try on costumes, a first for us in New
York. We guess this shop will up the stakes in New York's Halloween game, a good thing in our opinion and we
wish them well in their short run as they are only open through early November. We were at Dean and DeLuca and
we picked up a chocolate skull made by Valerie's Confections composed of burnt caramel. It was a bit pricey at $40
and we cant tell you how it tastes as we have grown fond of it and have been reluctant to actually eat it. It's a dramatic
piece and comes in a nice black box. They also have two others, a Vietnamese black chili pepper and a white
chocolate candy silk cherry. You can buy the three piece set for $100. Everyone is piling into Eastern Europe. As we
reported on the 25th Callebaut has opened a new factory in Russia and now Nestle has announced they are
making a $6,000,000 + commitment to their Perm factory. The Landrin Group is pumping 15 million Euros into their
Pushkino factory. Things are also heating up in Poland. A Polish paper is reporting that Cadbury plans on making a
sizable investment in a factory in either Poland or Slovakia.
September 25, 2007 - The Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) is investigating a complaint about Nutella's
advertising campaign in the United Kingdom. The company trumpets their hazelnut composition which has some
healthful benefits. The consumer groups are not happy that Nutella doesn't mention the high sugar and fat content
of their products. Nutella claims that their product is actually healthier than jam and marmalade and is actually not
that bad as a breakfast spread. You can take a look at the presentation made by Paul Polman, Nestlé CFO, at the
Sanford Bernstein Strategic Decisions Conference 2007, London, September 25, 2007. Barry Callebaut opened
their new factory in Russia on the 19th and hope to stake a claim to a share of the growing Russian market. It's not
only the small players in the chocolate industry that are hoping to get the FDA not to reclassify chocolate. Mars
claims allowing vegetable oil to replace cocoa butter would change the taste and texture of chocolate. Mars has
announced they will not be replacing cocoa butter with vegetable oil.
September 23, 2007 - Innovative Life Sciences is releasing a new product "Heart Chocolate" which they claim has
an ingredient CM-X which is a combination of cinnamon and bitter melon. They also claim CM-X helps to lower
blood sugar and lower cholesterol. The chocolate was launched at the Toronto Film Festival.
Spiral Biotech is bringing a new product to market. They are bag filters that make pipeting easier which will save
chocolate manufacturers time when testing product.
September 13, 2007 - In England both Cadbury and Mars UK have announced that they are cutting the use of
artificial additives in their candy. Both companies are responding to a study from the University of Southampton that
links heightened hyperactivity in children to food additives. With the All Candy Expo taking place in Chicago from
September 17th to 19th the emphasis is on luxury, gourmet, fortified and organic products. The show's organizers
claim 2,000 or so new products will debut at the show this year. Chiquita has announced that they are raising the
price of bananas. Everything from the increase in oil prices to Hurricane Dean have played a factor in Chiquita's
costs increasing. A team at Washington University in St. Louis have released a report that postulates that peanut
butter can be a savior for the worlds malnourished children. The peanut butter is mixed with powdered milk,
vitamins, oil and sugar and is inexpensive to produce and in the study conducted in Africa 89% of malnourished
children recovered after being fed this mixture. The UK snack and candy maker Glisten has reported increased
sales and profits in the last year. They reported an increase of 18% in operating profit which is amazing. They have
also announced a new joint venture with Skinny Candy. The makers of isomalt, the German company Palatinit , is
experiencing growth for their product which is a low calorie sugar replacement which has been primarily used to
make diet and diabetic products. The company likes the long term situation as they feel as more people switch to
healthier diets they will switch to low calorie or sugar free as long as taste isn't compromised. In the UK Nestle
Rowntree has relaunched their Milkybar. This time around the bar will be made with all natural ingredients. The bar
will be the first UK major market bar aimed at kids that will be additive free. Barry Callebaut plans on finally selling
off its Brachs Candy division.
September 5, 2007 - The results are in from the Iowa State Fair and Karen Harshbarger of Mediapolis earned first
place overall with German Chocolate Cake in the German Chocolate Cake and Bars competition. Tiffany Melchers of
Urbandale won second place overall with German Chocolate Bars, and Janet Melchers of Fairfield finished in third
place with her version of German Chocolate Cake. Hershey has announced that they will be increasing their stake
in Godrej Hershey Beverages and Foods from 51% to 57.8%. Consumer Reports has taste tested 14 different dark
chocolate bars from Hershey, Valhrona and Lindt. In Greece the Food Control Agency has ordered the recall of
"Chocolate Soya Drink with Fytro-Calcium" because it contains dioxins and pentachlorinated phenol. Alan Hughes of
Thorp, Wisconsin has a great part time job. He is a chocolate judge at the Clark County Fair and enjoys it. In a recent
interview he said "As far as dream jobs, this ranks right up with shortstop for the New York Yankees or photographer
for Playboy." Bodega Chocolates of California is still displaying a small chocolate Virgin Mary that two of their
workers found under a vat of chocolate last year. Hundreds of people have visited the chocolate figurine over the last
year and one even offered $30,000 for it but it is not for sale.
| September 2007 News Archive |
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