Category: News

A DARK, HANDSOME RIVAL PLANS TO MUSCLE IN ON NUTELLA

QZ.com

It’s being called the jar wars. For decades, the Italian spread known as Nutella has sat placidly upon its throne—the undisputed queen of the chocolate (and chocolate-hazelnut) spreads, with 54% of global market share. Now there’s a pretender looming in the wings. Pasta manufacturer Barilla—you know them by their blue boxes—is formulating a rival chocolate spread that aims to knock Nutella from its lofty shelf. The spread is to be called Crema Pan di Stelle—a liquid form of the famous, star-studded chocolate cookies.

Five Steps to the Ultimate Chocolate Experience

ABS-CBN.com

One does not need to be an expert to fully enjoy fine chocolates, or know how to distinguish single-plantation from single-origin chocolates. Chocolate-tasting is a far more informal affair, guided by one’s own personal preference and palate. Some may prefer the strong bitter taste of pure dark chocolate while others might lean towards creamier, lower-percentage chocolate confections.

Good chocolate, when savored properly, allows you to appreciate subtleties of flavor and tones that you would not want to miss out on. The key thing to remember is to engage all your senses to make it truly an ultimate sensorial experience. The following are a few guidelines.

Chocolate flows down German street after factory accident. Willy Wonka couldn’t be reached for comment

USA TODAY

A ton of chocolate hardened on a German street, leaving 25 firefighters to clean it up using hot water, shovels and blow torches. German newspaper, Soester Anzeiger, reported that a “small technical defect” involving a storage tank caused the liquid chocolate leak from a DreiMeister chocolate factory in Westoennen on Monday night. It apparently overflowed. Quite a bit. Onto nearly four miles of a nearby street.

Mum makes reward chart with chocolate prizes – and one big twist parents love.

MIRROR UK

Parenting is tough – so a mum has developed a chocolate-based reward system for herself. Lots of mums and dads like to encourage their kids’ good behavior by rewarding them with sweets or gold stars. One mum has totally flipped this on its head and created a system to treat herself for her patient parenting – and it’s brilliant. Maralee Bradley, a blogger from Nebraska, has created a chart where she gets a different kind of chocolate snack for being a good mum.

EATING CHOCOLATE COMBINED WITH ZINC COULD HELP YOU ‘LIVE LONGER,’ STUDY SUGGESTS

INDEPENDENT

 

Eating chocolate and drinking coffee and tea may help you live longer, according to a new study. To reap the benefits of the treats, however, they must be consumed with zinc supplements – which together activate a compound that slows down aging. According to the researchers from the University of Erlangen in Nuremberg and Auburn University in Alabama, the combination can lengthen life by protecting against naturally-occurring “oxidative stress” – a gas that leads to aging and other illnesses such as cancer, inflammation or degenerative diseases.

Eating Three Bars of Dark Chocolate a Month Cuts the Risk of Heart Failure by 13%

Indiatimes.com

 

For all those chocoholics who have been wondering if there is any truth to what the naysayers have to say, it turns out that chocolate can benefit your health more than it can harm it. Eating up to three bars of dark chocolate a month can lower the risk of heart failure, claims a recent comprehensive study. However, indulging in such treats on a daily basis may increase the risk of heart failure by 17%, according to researchers from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in the U.S. They also found that people who ate up to three bars a month had a 13% lower risk of heart failure compared to those who ate none.

Utah State University Opens USU’s Aggie Chocolate Factory

Cache Valley Daily

 

The long awaited USU Aggie Chocolate Factory has its grand opening! Although the factory will serve many purposes, first and foremost will be a laboratory in the food science program. This is the only university that has a bean-to-bar processing facility that can be used for teaching and research. The chocolate factory will introduce Aggies to high cacao content chocolate bars, as well as dark, frozen hot chocolate and pastries at the factory’s cafe.

Giant Chocolate Waterfall Comes to Union Square in NYC

The New York Times

 

An Italian sweets shop claiming to have the “largest chocolate waterfall in North America” recently opened. Venchi, an Italian chocolate store has a 45-foot long, 10-foot high, chocolate waterfall within the store. Other than gourmet chocolates, Venchi also sells gelato, crepes, and coffee.

So What is “Ruby Chocolate”?

THE DALLAS NEWS

 

Pink isn’t a color that comes to mind when we think of chocolate. But a new, smoky rose-colored variety called “ruby chocolate” made its U.S. debut in Dallas, this summer, selling a ruby chocolate line from Prestat, the London chocolatier favored by Britain’s royal family. As described in THE DAILY MEAL, Chicago-based Vosges haut-Chocolat will start shipping orders this month. Also check out DAME CACAO for what ruby chocolate is and where to buy it.

Hershey Fights Higher Costs by Charging More for Chocolate

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

Chocolate maker Hershey says price increases, ‘hot cocoa’ Kisses and a thinner Reese’s peanut butter cup will help boost sales next year.

Chocolate has been around for millennia. New research suggests it’s even older than we thought.

Vox.com

As archaeologists have generally understood it, chocolate goes back to the Aztec and Mayan people, who first domesticated cacao in what’s now Central America about 3,900 years ago. But new research suggests it’s older than that — about 1,500 years older. And it didn’t originate in Central America, either.

Cadbury Stockpiling Chocolate in Advance of Possible Brexit Creme Eggs Shortage

The Takeout

Good news, English chocolate fans: Cadbury CEO is looking ahead to the future in advance of possible food shortages associated with Brexit.

White Chocolate Peanut M&M’s Finally on Shelves

CBS Philly

The company says the M&M’s White Chocolate Peanut will feature peanuts surrounded by rich white chocolate and wrapped in the brand’s signature colorful shells.

Wine, Beer and Chocolate, Eating and Drinking These Foods Linked to Living Longer

Newsweek

Consuming food and drink with anti-inflammatory properties could lower a person’s risk of dying, according to a study. Anti-inflammatory food and drink highlighted by researchers included vegetables, fruit, whole-grain bread, breakfast cereal, low-fat cheese, olive and canola oil, nuts, chocolate, tea and coffee.

Makers of Healthier Chocolate Look to Challenge the Industry

Food Dive

At Expo East, founders at organic chocolate companies said their better-for-you treats are beginning to take a bite out of the traditional industry.

93 Year Old Iowa Man Gives to His Community One Chocolate Bar at a Time

WQAD.com

LONG GROVE, Iowa — Bob Williams has spent the last 10 years connecting to strangers, one chocolate bar at a time. To date, Williams has given out almost 6,000 Hershey’s bars to people in his community. His reason is simple – to bring the people around him closer together.

STUDY SHOWS DARK CHOCOLATE COULD HELP VISION

CBS Sacramento

A new study is showing there’s a reason to indulge in some chocolate.

SEARCHING FOR CHOCOLATE’S ROOTS AND ENEMIES IN COLUMBIA’S WILDERNESS

Scientific American

Each cacao pod usually encases about 40 beans—the source of cocoa powder and chocolate. But these pods, on Gildardo Ramirez’s farm in Columbia, will never make chocolate. The healthy white, sweet pulp that normally encases the beans are diseased and infected. It’s just one of many threats that plague the region’s chocolate farms – and chocolate.