July 25, 2008 - Harrods and Patchi have teamed up to produce a box of chocolate that sells for 5,000 pounds, around $10,000 here in the
USA. The box contains 49 chocolates. Each has been hand wrapped and is placed on suede that has been partitioned by gold and
platinum. Each chocolate has a Swarovski crystal and silk rose. The whole thing is then packaged in a box made of leather and wrapped in
silk.
July 24, 2008 - Due to differences in the pricing of cocoa beans between the Ivory Coast and Ghana, in the Ivory Coast price fluctuates in
accordance with the futures market and Ghana's is announced and stays stable before the season begins, smugglers have begun to
smuggle the lower price beans out of Ghana for sale in the Ivory Coast. Prices are up 53% from 2007 in New York, topping out at $3150 a
ton. New data shows that sucralose is slowly closing in on Aspartame as the number one artificial sweetener in Europe. In 2005 746 new
products were released in Europe using Aspartame. In 2007 the number was down to 663. Meanwhile sucralose laden products
numbered 134 in 2005 and were up to 234 in 2007. European manufacturers are responding to the feeling among some consumers that
Aspartame is an unhealthy ingredient. Lotte, South Korea's largest confectionery firm is entering the European market by purchasing
Guylian the Belgian chocolate company. They paid 105 million Euros for the company. Last year they announced a 50 million Euro deal to
operate a chocolate factory with Hershey outside of Shanghai, China. Nestle has announced they will be changing the packaging on the
Aero line of candy bars to update the design and to increase shelf life. Here's an interesting recipe from the San Mateo Daily Journal.
Using marshmallow cream to make a faux buttercream frosting you then sprinkle shaved dark chocolate on top and are ready to go.
Sounds great. Who would have thought that Missoula, Montana was the home to high end chocolate. Apparently that's the case as Jason
and Ana Willenbrock, the owners of Posh Chocolat of Missoula, went to the International Chocolate Salon Show in Seattle earlier this
month and walked away with eight awards. They took top prize in the “Best Truffle,” “Best in Salon” and “Best Flavored Chocolate Food”
categories and also picked up a second place and four honorable mentions. Chocolate Bar's new East 7th street location has finally
opened up and it is a nice, light, airy shop. In other Chocolate Bar news the shops owner Alison Nelson has announced her company in
partnership with Dubai-based HFK General Trading will be opening ten shops in India and Pakistan. We wish her well in both of her new
endeavours. Mont Blanc Gourmet has partnered with Omanhene Cocoa Bean Company to release a new chocolate sauce, single
sourced, from Ghana.
July 23, 2008 - Deborah Markus Of Bellaonline has a article and review of Montale Chocolate Greedy Perfume. Of course we here at
eChocolateNYC prefer our chocolate in our bellies not on our skin but then again there's nothing like the smell of a room full of fresh
chocolate. Janet Hogarth, the owner of The Chocolate Shoppe in Fairfield, Connecticut , will be closing her shop for good on Monday. The
store had been in business since 1994. Betty Hallock of the L.A. Times has a piece on some of the higher end producers, DeVries, Patric,
Amano, of chocolate bars in the United States. If you are mapping out your August activities keep in mind that August 10th is national
S'Mores Day. Hershey provides an informative website that has many S'Mores ideas for the Holiday. If sleep deprived rats brains are any
guide it seems the aroma of fresh roasted coffee has a calming effect. The study was carried out by researchers at Seoul National
University, South Korea and has been published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.
July 18, 2008 - In local chocolate news the Michel Cluizel space in the back of ABC Carpets has been renamed the Dessert Studio. They
still have some Cluizel product for sale and are branching out into other brands and have a nice selection of the harder to find Amedei
bars. They also are serving truffles and brownies that they are making themselves. We will post more information as it becomes available.
Another year has gone by and once again we are reporting on the Annual Dunedin, New Zealand, Chocolate Festival. The highlight of the
festival is the rolling of the Jaffas down the world's steepest street, Baldwin St. The Jaffa is an orange covered ball of chocolate and a
Cadbury product and you can see a video report of the race here and you can see the results of the race, which raises money for local
charities here. A fun review of the TasteTV's Chocolate Salon that was held in Seattle this weekend from the Seattlest which is published
by The Gothamist, one of our favorite sites for New York City news. It looks like the exhibitors were being creative with offerings such as the
crunchy white chocolate oatmeal stout/potato chip truffle from Grendelsweet and the Kalamata olive truffle from Fiori. This article has
definitely given us food for thought, pardon the pun, as to how we will be planning our next trip to the Pacific Northwest. We've written in the
past about how the combination of increased energy costs and the increased costs of raw cocoa are going to put chocolate manufacturers
in a difficult place, either raise prices or eat the increases and cut profits. Now Thomas Hoenig, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of
Kansas City is in agreement. He recently toured the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory Inc., Durango, Colorado, factory accompanied by
company CFO Bryan Merryman. He expressed concern about how inflation was making operating more difficult for companies while he
watched workers at the plant make Rocky Pop caramel corn and raisin clusters. The Redcastle Furze Primary School in Thetford, Norfolk
England, took some heat in September, 2005 when the school pledged to give each child a bar of chocolate, if they made it to the half time
break without getting an exclusion day. In the previous two years the children had racked up 65 exclusion days. The school was criticized for
encouraging bad eating habits etc. Surprise, surprise the scheme worked out so well it has been extended to include handing out Easter
eggs and holding discos and picnics. In a continuation of the visit to the Durango, Rocky Mountain plant USA Today has also covered the
story and has found that Rocky Mountain has had to lay off some workers to deal with the effects of the current recession as well as
increased costs. In what can only be described as a "Willy Wonka" moment Mathilde Epron, a French airline hostess, purchased a Kit Kat
bar and won a very special prize, a trip into space. The contest winner gets a ride on a four-seater, fighter-sized aircraft built by Rocketplane.
The plane the Rocketplane XP will reach an altitude of 60 miles and she will experience 5 minutes of weightlessness. She will first have to
undergo four days of astronaut training in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. To make the story even better she initially threw the wrapper in the
trash and then curiosity got the better of her and she fished it out two hours latter to check to see if it was a winner. Students at Penn will
be happy to know that local chocolatiers Naked Chocolate Cafe will open a store at 34th and Walnut streets right in the heart of University
City. In Europe, Kraft Foods, is adding a limited edition bar to the Terry's Chocolate Orange lineup. The new bar will debut August 1st and is
called the Terry's Chocolate Orange Cosmic Toffee Crunch and contains milk chocolate flavored with real orange and toffee-flavored
crunchy pieces. The Los Angeles Times has a very informative and definitely must read article about some of the newer players entering
the chocolate business. They cover everyone from Timothy Childs of TCHO to the Mast Brothers here in Brooklyn. These new
entrepreneurs are tweaking their production methods constantly looking for better ways to raise the quality of their chocolate. L.A. Burdick
has an easy way for you to vote this Election year. Vote with your stomach and buy either the Barack Obama assortment , ( Hawaiian
Pineapple, Kenyan Coffee, Kansas Corn Crunch and Tennessee Sour Mash ) or the John McCain assortment ( Arizona Citrus, Hot Pepper
Tequila, Peanut Butter, and Kentucky Rye ). We're not all that sure how the Sour Mash and Rye are connected to the two candidates but we
think the other bon bons make sense. So far the online tally for boxes sold is Obama 8,300 and McCain 3,700.
July 16, 2008 - With a smaller than expected cocoa harvest coming out of the Ivory Coast and demand for chocolate products steadily
increasing the price of cocoa in New York has hit $3,150 a ton. This is 53% ahead of 2007 and chocolate consumers can expect to see
higher prices in the stores reflecting the higher cocoa prices and increasing energy costs.
July 15, 2008 - Apparently Summertime is zucchini time in Iowa which has led the Daily Iowan to print a recipe for chocolate zucchini
bread that looks promising. Please always be aware that feeding your dog, chocolate, grapes or raisins can be very dangerous. In the
United Kingdom dog "poisoning cases" are up almost 50% in the last two years. Endangered Species has been successfully pursuing a
counter intuitive business model. As most American companies have been belt tightening in these tough economic times. Endangered
Species has been searching for more expensive raw materials and has been donating more of their profits to charity. The company has
seen sales grow from $3,000,000 in 2004 to a projected $17,000,000 this year.
July 11, 2008 - Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory has reported their results for the First Quarter of Fiscal year 2008. Things didn't go that
well as same store sales at franchised retail outlets decreased 2.5%. Net earnings dropped 2.6% in the same period. The Coboss brand
No Sugar Added Dark Chocolate Bar has been voluntarily recalled in Canada by its distributor as it may contain milk which is not listed as
an ingredient on the label and could be harmful to those with allergies to milk proteins. A new weight losing diet in England calls for
consuming 700 calories of carbs every morning. The diet calls for 30 grams of chocolate which strikes us as a good idea but we find hard
to believe will lead to actual weight loss. If you are in Seattle, Washington this weekend you might want to drop by Bell Harbor's Elliott Hall
at Pier 66 on Sunday. $20.00 will get you into The Seattle Luxury Chocolate Show. Some of the exhibitors will include Poco Dulce, Guittard,
Petits Noir, Kekau Chocolatier, Cocoa Chai Chocolates, Amano Artisan Chocolate, Island Angel Chocolates and many others. A must read
article from the Times in The United Kingdom. As competition heats up in the United Kingdom and European chocolate markets all sense
of proportion has been forgotten. When Kim McCulley, the manager of the Hotel Chocolat store, in Nottingham, found someone had gone
from box to box of her stores truffles, and crushed them making them unsalable. She sent the stores closed circuit security tape to
company headquarters to help track down the perpetrator, a well dressed gentleman and a female companion. It turned out the gentleman
was none other than Barry Colenso, the master chocolatier for Thorntons. Thorntons is one of Englands largest retailers of chocolate with
hundreds of stores throughout the country. This happened last August but Colenso stepped down after the episode. The article then goes
on to give an excellent overview of the current chocolate scene in the country which is primarily based in and around London. A nice looking
recipe for chocolate chip cookies from the New York Times. Dark Chocolate sales have been soaring in The United Kingdom. Recent
research from the UK claims sales of Dark Chocolate have increased 96% between 2005 and 2007. With good news about the health
benefits of dark chocolate crossing our desk on an almost daily basis there is no reason to believe sales wont continue to trend upwards.
July 6, 2008 - Teresa Wall of 42nd Street Candy Co., Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, sat down for an interview with Carrie Coppernoll of newsok.
com. Read the article here. Sydney, Australia was the sight of a truck hiest. The truck was loaded with $50,000 AU worth of chocolate
awaiting delivery when it was stolen. When cooking and sharing our handiwork always remember to keep food allergies in the back of your
mind. A man taking a bite out of a chocolate chip cookie collapsed 90 seconds later in Seattle's Magnuson Park. He was rushed to
Everett's Harborview Medical Center where he passed two days later. The cookie had been prepared with some peanut butter which set off
an anaphylactic shock reaction. The strange saga of New York Chocolate in Fulton, New York continues to unfold. Hausmann A. Banet the
owner of 20% of the companies shares was forced to sell his stake. The remaining investors believe this will allow the company to move
forward. Mr. Banet had accused the company of being a money laundering operation and had withheld a check for $565,000 from the state
of New York that was property of the company. CNN.com has a must read article about the future of cocoa production and the sustainability
of West Africa's growing land comes into question. Crop yields have been diminishing in recent years as the land and soil is degraded.
Cadbury has partnered with the group Earthwatch to help stem the tide of soil erosion and other problems associated with cocoa
production. Trident will be launching its chocolate gum on July 14th in the United Kingdom. The gums packaging was designed by the firm
Coley Porter Bell and it is hoping its "Tempt me, treat me… do it sweetly" tagline will appeal to women.
July 3, 2008 - With Starbucks cutting back by closing 600 stores in the USA the inevitable question becomes will the coffee industry see
an across the board curtailment or is the closing of the 600 stores due to Starbucks aggressively over expanding ? European coffee
professionals see no lessening of demand in their markets according to Roel Vaessen, director general of the European Coffee
Federation. Barry Callebaut has opened an innovation center in their manufacturing facility in Pennsauken, New Jersey. With divergent
regional tastes in the USA Callebaut hopes the center will allow them to produce products tailored to the tastes of the US consumer.
Givaudan, the ingredients producer, is looking
July 1, 2008 - Barry Callebaut AG, on the strength of orders from Hershey and Nestle has seen a 13% growth in third quarter sales.
Shares rose 4% in trading in Zurich.
| July 2008 Chocolate News Archive |
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