A recent article mentions that the once thought-to-be-immune chocolate market is taking a hit from the weak economy.
It cites the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory in Colorado as its main source, who says they’ve had to cut nearly 60 employees from their already modest workforce.
Have your chocolate buying habits changed? I can tell you mine haven’t! I have noticed some favorites have gone up a little in price but as long as it doesn’t get ridiculous I feel good chocolate is worth a little more anyway. What do you think?
[image: flickr]

Scientists are still spending time on chocolate, except this time around it’s not to tell us that it’s bad this week, good the next! Apparently they’re analyzing the more than 400 million parts of the cacao bean in an effort to help diminishing crops and possibly make chocolate taste better.
The dissection of the genome began this past Thursday and is expected to last five years. Mars, Inc. is funding the program by more than $10 million which doesn’t seem like much when you learn that fungal diseases cost the farmers approximately $700 million annually.
The research will allow them to …read more

I was contacted last week about trying out a new bar from Lindt, the Lindt Excellence Chili Bar. I excitedly responded that I’d love to, and then sat back and thought about it. I realized I had never tried a chili-infused chocolate of any kind – solid or liquid – even though it’s said to be one of the oldest ways of consuming chocolate. I anxiously awaited my sample, which showed up quickly.
The packaging of the bar is a lightweight cardboard that folds over in the back like an envelope so you can easily store any chocolate left over (does …read more

This just is not the week for Oreos.
(Before I go on, let me reassure you that the driver escaped unharmed and there were no other injuries reported.)
So that being said, what a tragedy. As you can see, a semi hauling 20,000 pounds of ill-fated Oreos overturned on a freeway in Illinois yesterday morning.
They’re not sure yet what caused the accident (they think the driver fell asleep), but I know where they can send the damaged packages!

I am so amused by this story: The Oreo – an American treat staple since 1912 – has just this month been launched in Great Britain, and some Brits don’t know what to make of it!
Apparently it’s too sweet, doesn’t hold up well in tea (most Brits have never seen a biscuit [cookie] dipped in milk before!), the cream filling is too toothpasty, and the color of the cookie is too dark.
In fact, the tea dipping is such an important part of biscuit enjoyment that one British author says:
“Our love of tea-dipping has influenced the selection of flour …read more

Everyone remembers the red dye cancer scare from the early 90’s and the subsequent bags of redless M&M’s or cans of cherry-less fruit cocktail.
It was found that large amounts of it caused cancer in lab rats, but as more research was done it was determined that small amounts of it were safe and the health risks were small, though certain uses are still banned today. Many manufacturers switched to a different red dye anyway.
However, a recent study has found that some dyes might be good for you and could actually protect against cancer!
A researcher in Oregon added aflatoxin …read more

The Second Annual AirBake Extreme Cookie Challenge, sponsored by Wearever, was at FAO Schwarz in New York City last week, with a “Cookie-Off” hosted by Heroes actor Noah Gray-Cabey. The five finalists have been chosen and two of their recipes were sent to me to share with you!
Extremely Chocolatey Beaver Huts
by Jessie Grearson & Eleanor Sapat from Falmouth, ME
1/2 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup white sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1/3 cup Quaker instant oats
1 Tbsp. cream or half and half
½ tsp. baking soda
¼ tsp. salt
¼ cup white chocolate chips
¾ cup dark chocolate chips
¼ cup …read more

The Consumerist had a great article yesterday on how to determine if M&M’s, Mars or Hershey candy is expired:
“For M&Ms and Mars candy, there’s usually a 10 digit code of numbers and letters, but you only need to worry about the first three. The first number is the last number in the year (8 means 2008, 7 means 2007, etc) and the next two numbers stand for the week of the year (so, a number like 804 would be the fourth week of 2008: February 2008).
“For Hershey’s candy, there’s a 2 character code for the month and year. The year …read more

Harry and David are voluntarily recalling 66,500 8 oz. bags of their Covered Select Blend Espresso Beans because they may contain milk not declared on the ingredient label.
The bags affected have “Best if used by” dates after 8/28/05, sold prior to April 5th, 2008. Bags subject to this recall do NOT have a “Contains milk, soy” statement on the nutrition label and are packaged in 8 oz. clear plastic bags, tied at the top with a tan ribbon.
Consumers with product can return it to any Harry and David retail store for a full refund.
[image: stock.xchng]

American Idol judge Paula Abdul has apparently shelled out $3000 for a dress made for the reality show Project Runway a few months ago. It’s no ordinary dress though – it was made out of Hershey chocolate wrappers! Hershey and Project Runway teamed up this week to auction off all the dresses used in the candy wrapper competition, which came to approximately $7,583.98.
She says she plans to wear it for Halloween this year. Check out a projection of what she’ll look like here.
[image: stock.xchng]