Chocolate University Online Blog
The Festival of Chocolate, Florida’s only all-chocolate event and the grandest celebration of everything chocolate in the Southeastern United States, will be taking place on January 14-16, 2012 at the Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI).
Local and regional chocolate and confection companies will be featuring and selling treats such from truffles and cupcakes to ice cream and chocolate drinks.
Guests and patrons can also participate in fun chocolate competitions conducted for the young and the young-at-heart. Go nuts in piling a skyscraper of cookies or in their signature “Face the Cookie” contest.
If you’re a chocolate geek, eat your heart out as you learn about the history of chocolate and the process it undergoes from tree to treat. Fulfill your fantasies about becoming a detective in a hunt where you’re supposed to uncover fun chocolate facts in the Chocolate Museum.
Chocoholics of all ages will surely have fun creating chocolate lip balm and armpit fudge. Get to witness models in “Yum-way” as they strut their stuff made out of candy bar wrappers. The tasteful (pun intended) and artsy creations will be displayed at 2:30pm on Saturday, January 14.
Renowned pastry chefs and chocolate makers will be sharing some chocolate treat creation tips. You can do this at home whether you are a chef looking to master your skills in working with chocolate, or a die-hard chocolate fanatic on the lookout for new, creative, and interesting chocolate treat recipes to whip up for yourself or for people in your life. Also, you’ll get to see these experts in the flesh and live in action as they compete with another.
As you may have seen in previous blog posts, wine and chocolate pairing is becoming all the rage. We know for a fact that chocolate per se is a pleasure, and so is wine. Get down to details to know how to match these two properly as you take part in interactive classes hosted by a professional wine and a chocolate expert.
Head to Tampa, Florida, to experience the Festival of Chocolate and have the sweetest three days of your life!
Time: January 14, 2012 at 9am to January 16, 2012 at 5pm
Location:
Museum of Science And Industry
4801 E. Fowler Avenue
Tampa, Florida 33617
http://tampa.festivalofchocolate.com/
Categories: chocolate in the news
Tags: chocolate celebrations, chocolate companies, chocolate destinations, chocolate exhibit, chocolate facts, chocolate museums, working with chocolate
I have mentioned in one of my previous blog posts about a new experiment conducted that involved chocolate in weight-loss diets. Well, this one might just up any chocoholic’s excitement just a little bit more.
 The holidays are just around the corner. And we all know what’s in it during this anticipated time of the year… food, lots of it. Eating and drinking just can’t get any better when done with the most special people in your life around. And since it happens only once in a year, most of us tend to go overboard and end up gaining unwanted pounds.
The company True Healthy Products is presenting the Simple Chocolate Diet. It may seem confusing and dishonest if you have never seen chocolate and diet mix up before, but such thing actually exists. This particular diet is suggested to those who might want to lose some weight, and chocolate enters the scene primarily as a stress-buster. Chocolates are known to help manage stress so you don’t go gaga over the Holidays’ extensive meals.
The particular diet uses a simple numbering system as a means to sort out food into groups to come up with varying results. These antioxidant rich chocolates are used in the diet to basically help in losing and maintaining weight, but working out and eating healthily are still in the equation.
The specific chocolates used are the company’s own, “The Doctor’s Chocolate” and “True Healthy Dark Chocolate” which are both dark chocolates. They are sweetened with xylitol instead of regular sugar and so they are safe even for diabetics. Plus, they are supposedly appetite suppressants. They even pointed out that unprocessed dark chocolate is proven to contain antioxidants even more than green tea. Also, it is said to have amazing benefits to your heart as well as the ability to lower sugar cravings.
The Doctors Chocolate is a raspberry-filled dark chocolate that contain “L-Theanine” which is a known de-stressing agent to help you relax and have better mental focus. The True Healthy Dark Chocolate, on the other hand, is a dark chocolate made up of herbal formula with strong antioxidants.
Jan Hrkach, CEO of True Healthy Products said, “Our chocolates are more than just a tasty chocolate – it’s an important part of your daily diet during the Simple Chocolate Diet. Our chocolates will keep the hunger pains away and give your body an extra boost – just when you need it!”
The free download of the diet plan is available at www.simplechocolatediet.com. You can also visit the corporate site at www.truehealthyproducts.com.
Categories: chocolate in the news
Tags: chocolate companies, dark chocolate, healthy chocolate, weight loss
Detroit’s darling candy maker, Sanders Candy, has been around for 136 years already. They are known for their delectable treats namely chocolates, cakes, ice cream, among others. Now, they have ventured into adult treats and partnered with another Detroit classic, Detroit Brewing Co., to come up with a refreshingly unique beer, Sanders Chocolate Stout.
Sanders is reportedly arranging for a huge introduction of this 1-year-old Chocolate Stout into the market later this month and is also planning to make a chocolate-based dessert wine.
“Craft beers are becoming more popular as consumers look for local, authentic, handcrafted foods and beverages with passionate food artisans and entrepreneurs behind them,” said a spokesperson for the National Association for the Specialty Food Trade, Louise Kramer. Additionally, “chocolate is hugely popular with consumers of specialty foods.” True enough, chocolate was named as 2011’s top specialty food.
Sanders Chocolate Stout is combination of Sanders premium chocolates and Detroit Brewing Co.’s Pub Classic Smooth Cream Stout. The fine Stout Ale has a dark and pleasing aroma matched with the chocolatey yet not overwhelming flavor coming from hand-picked cocoa.
“We were skeptical at first,” said Brian Jefferson, the chairman of the group that owns Sanders, in regards to the brewer’s proposal to team up. “We weren’t going to make a decision until we tasted it. We weren’t selling our brand just to sell our brand and put a few pennies in our pocket. It had to be really good.”
6,000 cases were quickly sold out last year so Sanders is producing at least six times as many cases this year. The Chocolate Stout won’t be sold in Sanders stores, though, since they don’t have liquor license. They will be retailed by merchants–Hiller’s Markets, Meijer, Whole Foods, Nino Salvaggio, Hollywood Markets, and Holiday Market.
It may not tickle a little kid’s fancy that much, but the kid inside an adult beer drinker will surely have a reason to down more bottles. However, moderate drinking is still recommended.
Categories: chocolate in the news, fine foods & beverages
Tags: beer, chocolate companies, chocolate drinks, chocolate novelties
Event International is presenting a show that would make any chocophile’s heart melt. The 14th Annual New York Chocolate Show, the largest event solely dedicated to chocolate, started yesterday November 10th and will be taking place until Sunday November 13th at the Metropolitan Pavilion on 125 W 18th St.
More than 65 national and international chocolate companies are gathering to offer their finest chocolates and chocolate-inspired products to entice all the chocoholics who will pay a visit.
Hurry up and get to the show! You don’t want miss the chance to treat yourself to different head-tilting good chocolates in this once a year event. If you have any self-control remaining, you can even buy chocolates for the self-confessed chocoholics you may personally know.
The show assures visitors that they don’t only get to eat chocolate, but they’re also in for other interactive and fun-filled activities. Little kids will have a shot at creating chocolate-themed arts and crafts in the Kids Zone.
Renowned and award-winning cookbook authors will be present for book signings and there will also be culinary demonstrations from the expert chocolatiers and pastry chefs. Be there and get to witness chocolate-inspired theatrical performances! Bravo’s Top Chef: Just Desserts and Food Network’s The Next Food Network Star are also participating. Yes, you read right. It’s that fun, educational, and entertaining all at the same time.
“Visitors can expect to taste a lot of good chocolates, but, more than that, to be able to buy a lot of really good chocolates for a very cheap price,” said Rotem Lichak, the event coordinator.
Cut yourself some slack and sync your cheat day with this event! People of all ages will surely enjoy this family-friendly experience.
Categories: chocolate in the news
Tags: chocolate celebrations, chocolate companies, chocolate exhibit, chocolate show
York Technical College’s Baxter M. Hood Center (South Carolina) was jam-packed with people last Sunday afternoon to celebrate Keystone Substance Abuse Services’ third annual Decadent Dreams Chocolate Festival.
With tickets on hand, people could purchase samples of cookies, cupcakes, and truffles, among many others. They even offered a trip to a tall chocolate fountain. Additionally, they were able to stop over at a chocolate spa and get pampered with a massage using chocolate cake-scented oil.
Those people didn’t only get to satisfy their sweet-tooth cravings but were also able to help a cause. The affair is a fundraiser for the non-profit Keystone, which offers treatment and prevention services for substance abuse in York County.
Monica Hanna, head of marketing and events for Keystone, said the festival has captivated about 800 people and made about $10,000 in the past two years and looked forward to a much better outcome this year. It involved three times as many vendors and had at least 1,000 visitors. Among the list of vendors are Periwinkle Café and Bakery, Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory and Jazzy Cheesecake Company. The chocolate festival is two-fold, said Hanna. “It’s chocolate, but you’re helping a good cause,” she said.
Like most nonprofits, Keystone has been affected by the poor economy. Some two years back, they thought of potential fundraisers to catch the attention of people, and they immediately leaned towards chocolate.
“Who doesn’t love chocolate?” asked one of the attendees, Holly Winn. “And it’s a great cause.” One of Winn’s children, whom she brought along with her to the event, was a judge for the cupcake wars that afternoon. Just last year, she won the said contest herself with her own homemade chocolate chip cupcake. According to her, the perfect cupcake would taste like a brownie with nuts and some type of filling.
It’s just good to know that participating in this kind of events, you are enjoying yourself in a not-so-selfish way.
Categories: chocolate in the news
Tags: chocolate companies, chocolate destinations, chocolate exhibit, chocolate fountain
Neighborhood Cats has been chosen as the Charity of the Month for November 2011 by Rescue Chocolate, a Brooklyn NY-headquartered chocolatier which was founded in January 2010. 100% of the net profits from each handcrafted, all-natural vegan treats are donated to animal welfare organizations across the country.
The Neighborhood Cats are aiming to encourage humane measures to lower the feral cat population in the country. The particular measure they are taking is called TNR (trap-neuter-return). TNR engages trained volunteers to gather the feral cats that they can find, getting the cats spayed or neutered, and then returning them to their colonies to peacefully live out their lives. Also NY-based, Neighborhood Cats is well-known in the feral field as developers of educational materials including books, videos, and online courses that tackle TNR.
“I’ve lived with dogs all my life and never with cats,” said Rescue Chocolate Founder Sarah Gross. “But I’m certainly aware of the problems that cats face on the streets. I’m really honored to be able to be a small part of the solution.”
The chocolate company offers an array of kosher and vegan chocolate bars and truffles. Each of the flavors is named after a subject significant in the animal rescue world. The products include Peanut Butter Pit Bull (inspired by Gross’ own rescued pit bull, Mocha), Foster-iffic Peppermint, Mission Feral Fig, Pick Me! Pepper, The Fix, Fakin’ Bacon, Wild at Heart, and Bow Wow Bon Bons.
However, Gross warns that even though profits eventually help the animals, her chocolate treats are for human consumption alone.
The more treats you purchase, the more you’ll be increasing the company’s donation. It is absolutely a win-win, indeed, “the sweetest way to save a life!”
These goods are sold in retail outlets across the country and also online. Go visit www.RescueChocolate.com to learn more about Rescue Chocolate or to order treats that will help Neighborhood Cats. For more information on Neighborhood Cats, visit www.NeighborhoodCats.org.
Contact information:
info@RescueChocolate.com
(917) 767-7283
Categories: chocolate in the news
Tags: chocolate, chocolate bars, chocolate companies, chocolate truffles
It’s not very often that you get to devote one whole week just for a particular food. Suffice it to say, if the subject is chocolate, we get all the more devoted, and craving, so to speak.
Chocolate Week, UK’s favorite themed week, or should I say, favorite week, is here again for its seventh consecutive year to celebrate the foodstuff that has its origins in ancient Aztec and Mayan culture. Even though we know we can enjoy it any time of day and any day of the year, it’s the time of year when we can ultimately celebrate chocolate… for a week! Imagine that.
Chocolate week 2011, starting October 10, has a plethora of events lined up for everyone, over 350 events happening across the whole of Britain, from chocolate art workshops and tasting to hot chocolate sampling and dessert-making demonstrations, indulge yourself in chocolate madness.
The UK’s renowned chocolatiers and chocolate companies celebrate Chocolate Week by hosting the said events, as well as producing exclusive products, new launches, offers, chocolate meals, cocktails and recipes.
The events include:
- Chocolate Unwrapped – a chocolate exhibition in London on the 15th & 16th October. Over 4000 visitors and 40 exhibitors are expected to come. It showcases top British chocolatiers and chocolate companies along with chocolate makers from France, Italy, Switzerland, Hungary, Holland and Germany. Patrons get a shot at viewing chocolate art, meeting the chocolatiers, taste the top-of-the-line chocolate, watching chocolate being made in the tiniest chocolate factory in the world, and the list goes on.
- The Great Chocolate Cake-Off – a hunt for the best-tasting amateur chocolate cake.
- William Curley’s pop up shop on St Martin’s Lane, London
- Hotel Chocolat initiates its tasting adventures pack so visitors would be encouraged to do chocolate tastings at home.
- Paul A Young, one of the most popular chocolatiers in UK, teams up with another popular fusion chef Peter Gordon to make a 6-course chocolate dinner at Providores, don’t fret if you missed it yesterday, there will be another one on Friday, the 14th of October.
- Thorntons continues its 100th birthday celebrations by giving away a chocolate smile to their visitors.
Chocolate Week was intended to promote the world of fine chocolate, the independent artisan chocolatiers and the chocolate companies who work in direct partnership with the cocoa farmers. This is to encourage chocolate buyers to pay a fairer price for their chocolate.
For more details on the week and participants, visit chocolate week.
Categories: chocolate in the news
Tags: chocolate art, chocolate celebrations, chocolate companies, chocolate exhibit, chocolate party, chocolate week
In respect to Breast Cancer Awareness Month, the Ghirardelli Chocolate Company is supporting the National Breast Cancer Foundation (NBCF) through the program “Be an Intense Supporter”.
The Ghirardelli Chocolate Company is a producer and seller of premium chocolate products. It was founded by an Italian chocolatier Domingo Ghirardelli and derived its name from him. The company was is the second-oldest chocolate company in the United States, incorporated in 1852 and still going on.
National Breast Cancer Foundation or NBCF, on the other hand, is dedicated to spreading awareness and encouraging optimism in the battle against breast cancer. The foundation brings motivation to fight this dreaded big C by backing free mammograms for financially-challenged women as its main mission is to save lives through early detection. They also support research programs across the country. They are standing their ground in increasing awareness through education, providing diagnostic breast care services for those who could otherwise not afford them and giving nurturing support services.
Only in a limited time from September 15 through the end of December 2011, specially marked pink ribbon packages of Intense Dark™, which you can buy at the grocery store and specialty retailers across the country, will have a code inside the package exchangeable to a $1 donation to NBCF. For every Intense Dark pink ribbon code entered at www.intensedarkpairings.com, up to $100,000, a donation will be made by Ghirardelli in order to be of help to the Foundation’s mission.
Products that have the pink ribbon packaging in respect to Breast Cancer Awareness Month include: Evening Dream™ 60% Cacao, Twilight Delight™ 72% Cacao, Midnight Reverie™ 86% Cacao, and Toffee Interlude™. Over the past two years Ghirardelli has donated $200,000 to the foundation.
Wouldn’t it be nice to know that while enjoying yourself a chocolaty treat, you are contributing in the battle against breast cancer? A little piece of chocolate goes a long way. I really just had to say it.
Categories: chocolate in the news
Tags: chocolate companies, dark chocolate, Ghirardelli
The title is one of the advertising slogans of Thorntons, a household name in UK for chocolate retailing. The company was established in 1911 by Joseph William Thornton who eventually turned the business over to his sons, Norman and Stanley Thornton. Since then, it has always been Britain’s go-to store when it comes to high-quality chocolates. This year, it celebrates its Centenary birthday. And what better way to celebrate their 100th birthday than sharing it with their customers?
The first ever Thortons chocolate shop was opened in Sheffield in the year 1911 and it was called the Chocolate Kabin where you are magically transported into a chocolate heaven as you step inside the store. Today, as a Centenary birthday treat, Thorntons wants to give their customers a chance to experience such delight. They excitedly bring you the recreated Thorntons Chocolate Kabin where a Golden Key to the chocolate factory is hidden. And the lucky winner gets to be Willy Wonka for a day! Isn’t that such a sweet treat?
Go and grab the chance to experience the chocolate lucky dip, or see chocolates come plummeting down a truck directly to a super duper chocolate scooper, where you can also have yourself a chocolaty treat.
As you leave the delightful and almost enchanted Kabin, you can give donations to the Live Mechanical Chocolatier in exchange for chocolates. Such donations will be going to the NSPCC, Thorntons charity of the year.
One lucky customer who finds the Golden Key from each place the Chocolate Kabin visits will get a chance to see behind-the-scenes at Thorntons and visit their chocolate factory to take a look at how they have been manufacturing their chocolates for the past 100 years. You don’t get to experience this everyday, so for our readers in the U.K., try your luck and let us know how it goes!
The Thorntons Chocolate Kabin will be visiting:
- Covent Garden, London on Friday 2nd September
- Liverpool One Shopping Centre on Saturday 10th September
- Nottingham off Market Square on Saturday 17th September
- Edinburgh Castle Street on Saturday 24th September
- Sheffield Fargate on Saturday 1st October
For more info visit Thorntons Centenary website.
You can also find your local Thornton’s store or buy chocolates online when you click here.
Categories: chocolate in the news
Tags: chocola, chocolate celebrations, chocolate companies, chocolate destinations, chocolate history, chocolate manufacturing, favorite chocolate, Thorntons
I dislike grocery shopping. Yet, once in a while, I do have brief feelings of enjoyment when I discover something unexpected.
During my most recent trip to the store I found myself downright giddy. My thrill came from a new addition in the candy/chocolate aisle – a line of chocolate bars from Valrhona. It was like finding gemstones among rocks.
Valrhona is known as a top leader in the world of chocolate, Le Grand Chocolat. They were founded in 1922 in France. They have a reputation for supplying the finest chocolate ingredients to restaurants, bakeries, and chocolate shops.
Their retail chocolate bars are made exclusively from Grand Cru chocolates. Grand Cru, usually used in reference to wine, is a term in the chocolate industry which means the cacao beans come from specific plantations famous for their distinctive flavor characteristics.
The bar I especially enjoy is the Grand Cru Manjari with Orange. This chocolate originates in Madagascar and offers “a fresh, acidic, sharp bouquet with red fruit notes.” The natural terroir, another adopted wine term, of this chocolate (fruity and tangy notes) blends nicely with the “citrus sweetness of orange comfit.”
Yes, it does taste as good as it sounds! I bought mine for $4.49 at the nearby Pick ‘N Save grocery store. The price is twice as much compared to the surrounding chocolate bars, but a bargain in my eyes. This is top of line deliciousness!
Shopping for groceries may not be so bad after all. Next time I go, I will reward myself with a Grand Cru Caraïbe with hazelnuts!
Categories: chocolate review
Tags: chocolate bars, chocolate companies, favorite chocolate, flavors, grocery product
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