I might not be the best person to talk about chocolate. Growing up, my favorite candies were generally the tart, fake-fruit flavored ones, like Smarties, Sweet Tarts, Lemonheads, Runts, and certain Jolly Rancher flavors. However, even in the midst of my deepest obsession with the sour side of the candy chain, I still had a special place in my heart for a few chocolate treats. Reese's cups, Caramello, and Chunky bars have always held a strange power over me and I've never been able to walk past a bowl full of M&Ms without grabbing a handful. After I got married, my wife dragged me over to the dark side, and I discovered the wonders of dark chocolate, particularly when paired with red wine. Even now, though, I will sometimes indulge my deep appreciation of plebian chocolate treats, especially when my wife isn't looking.

Recently, though, I came across an article that makes me a little worried about the future of my favorite mass-market chocolate goodies. Some candy companies, including Hershey's and Nestle, are substituting cheap vegetable oils for cocoa butter in their chocolate bars. While this saves a lot of money, it also reduces the creaminess and flavor of the chocolate; some consumers have described the new products as tasting "waxy and artificial."

On the bright side, the FDA has ruled that products which do not contain cocoa butter cannot refer to themselves as chocolate. Consequently, many former "chocolate bars" now boast that they are "made with chocolate," are "chocolate candy," or have "chocolate coating." Most of the major candy companies have unsuccessfully fought this, while smaller manufacturers are desperately supporting the labeling restrictions.

While Nestle and Hershey's try to decide if they're willing to spend a few more pennies to ensure a top-quality chocolate experience, you might want to take a long, hard look at your candy bar. After all, if you're willing to splurge on calories and cash, shouldn't you get the best possible chocolate experience?

Over the last few months, the intrepid editors over at Consumerist have done an outstanding job of tracking the trend of smaller sizes for the same price. They call it the Grocery Shrink Ray and they've seen it hit everything from coffee, to peanut butter to yogurt (it also strikes non-edible products such as toothpaste and contact lens solution).

One of the debates that occurs around this topic of shrinking package sizes is whether it would be more honest for companies to simply raise the prices on their products instead of charging the same for a smaller amount. In the face of rising costs, Turkey Hill Dairy has decided to succumb to the dreaded shrinking size trend for their ice cream packages, as prices for ice cream's have risen dramatically in recent days. They announced this size reduction with a heart-felt letter penned by company President, Quintin Frey that was posted on their blog.

On the other side of the coin is Hershey's, who announced recently a price hike of 10-11% across their entire product line. This comes on the heels of a 13% increase last February.

These days, rising prices are an inevitability. Do you prefer to experience it through higher prices or lesser amounts for the same price?

Reese's has really been going crazy with new versions of their classic peanut butter cups. Sometimes the experiment is successful (Nutrageous, Caramel) and sometimes it's just so-so (Mixed Nuts, the Elvis edition). Now they've gone all the way to ... gah.

The new Reese's Whipps is a candy bar that features peanut butter flavored nougat and has 40% less fat. It also has at least 40% less taste than a regular Reese's Peanut Butter Cup. Or maybe I should say more taste, just different. In fact, it's kinda hard to eat because it tastes like someone took nougat and dipped it in sugar. There's hardly any peanut butter or chocolate taste the nougat is so overpowering.

The original Reese's is still my favorite candy bar, so I'll be sticking with that.

If you are tired of buying the same flavors of ice cream all the time, this could possibly shake things up a little for you. Baskin-Robbins has teamed up with Hershey to create Candy Bar Madness ice cream treats - nine different treats that mix various Hershey candy bars (Heath, Kissables / Kisses, and Reese's Peanut Butter Cups) into ice creams, shakes, sundaes, and ice cream cakes.

A typical example? The Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Sundae is made from a triple layer of Reese's Peanut Butter Cup ice cream, hot fudge, Reese's Peanut Butter Sauce, and chopped Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. I think I gained five pounds just typing that. Decadent, indeed.

As good as it all sounds though, I'm not really sure how different this is from what Dairy Queen is already doing, and I can't help but feel that the last thing we all need is to not just have one dessert or treat, but add another one on top of it at the same time. That said though, I'm willing to bet they sell like crazy.

Hershey's brand new, limited edition Dark Chocolate Raspberry Kisses are clearly intended to be for Valentine's Day, as the little red hearts decorating their wrappers are a reliable indicator of the holiday that they are affiliated with, despite the fact that they aren't mentioned on the Hershey's Valentine site. When I first saw them, I expected these candies to be a dark chocolate shell with a raspberry filling of some kind, either a jam or a cream. The combination of raspberries and dark chocolate is right up there with strawberries and chocolates, so the prospect seemed promising and I hurriedly opened the bag when I got home.

We first heard about Cacao Reserve chocolates, the new premium line from Hershey's, a couple of weeks ago. It is the first Hershey's-branded premium chocolate line, since up until this point, all of the gourmet products from the company have been produced by Scharffen Berger or Joseph Schmidt Confections, the two luxury chocolate brands that Hershey's acquired. Cacao Reserve is all-natural and, like so many other new chocolates, is categorized by cacao percentage, not just "milk" or "dark." They seem to carry the full line, although I did not see the "country of origin" bars (with beans from specific countries, at Target and I picked up a couple bars to try.

It looks like Hershey's has just rolled out a new limited edition chocolate for the upcoming Christmas season. Before I took a good look at the package, I momentarily thought that the Candy Cane Mint Kisses might be tiny mints that were shaped like Kisses, but it turns out that they are a white chocolate-based treat. The white kisses are flavored with mint and have red stripes on the outside. Embedded in the chocolate are tiny red nonpareils, which add a tiny crunch to the candy and look vaguely like bits of candy cane, though they actually have no discernible flavor of their own. The chocolate is very smooth and the mint is not so overwhelming that it would stop you from reaching for a second, but the Kisses seem to be slightly richer than average. Overall, these seem like a good holiday candy option to put out in a candy dish for occasional treat, but they're not so good that I would want to have a bowl all to myself. If they ever decide to put bits of candy cane in them, however, I might have to reconsider.

I'm not quite sure why this list is up at ESPN, though it's part of their Page 2 and pretty much anything goes there.

They want to know what your favorite Halloween candies are. Are you a chocolate person, or do you like things like Twizzlers and Air Heads? For the record, I checked off Almond Joy, Dots, Goobers, Heath Bar, Hershey Bar, Hershey Kisses, M&Ms, Milk Duds, Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, and Riesens.

Of course, this does have a sports twist to it: check out the Candy Bracket, various candies and candy bars going up against each other like it's March Madness. Call it Fall Madness. The candies are separated into four categories: Classic, Convenience, Movie Theater, and Trick or Treat.

Just over a year after buying California chocolate maker Scharffen Berger, Hershey's has decided to expand their premium portfolio to include Dagoba, an organic chocolate maker from Oregon. The purchase of the company for an undisclosed amount as announced this week.

Some fans of Dagoba might be concerned that there will be a decrease in the overall quality of the product following the acquisition, or a turn away from the goals of the company in supporting the organic farming of cacao, but Hershey's says that it will strongly support the company in the pursuit of its goals. As with Scharffen Berger and Joseph Schmidt, which are also owned by Hershey, the larger company has no plans to rework the operations of Dagoba. From the perspective of the consumer, the most significant change will be an increase in the availability of organic chocolates, since Dagoba will now be able to take advantage of the Hershey's distribution network.

Hershey's is really trying to expand their premium chocolate brands as consumer demand for different types of chocolate grows. The company already owns the high-end Scharffen Berger chocolate company, as well as Joseph Schmidt Confections, which is known for their truffles, but to bridge the gap between mass market Hershey bars and their high end lines, Hershey's is introducing Cacao Reserve this fall. Cacao Reserve is a line of all natural chocolates and cocoas that are designed to appeal to all levels of chocolate consumers, with an emphasis on those who want to learn about the "subtleties and intensities of chocolate" by tasting many slightly different varieties. In short, the company is taking their chocolate to the next level with some of the products:

• Premium Milk Chocolate (35 percent cacao) - premium European-style milk chocolate with a smooth texture.
• Premium Milk Chocolate with Hazelnuts (35 percent cacao) - carefully chopped hazelnuts for great taste and texture.
• Extra Dark Chocolate (65 percent cacao) - slowly-roasted beans and a higher cacao content bring out the rich, indulgent flavor of this selection.
• Extra Dark Chocolate with Nibs (65 percent cacao) - includes "the heart of the cacao bean" for crunch and a flavor that is truly unique.

Cadbury Mini Eggs are one of the best things about Easter, right alongside Peeps and Whopper Robin Eggs. The single bad thing about them, in fact, is that the are only for sale around the springtime holiday, so you have to stock up during the days after Easter Sunday when all the seasonal candies are on sale.

Just like the majority of non-imported Cadbury products sold in the US, the mini eggs are made on license by Hershey's. While Hershey's does a respectable job of replicating the taste of the milky Cadbury chocolates in their bars, in no single candy is the taste better than these chocolates. The mini eggs are coated in a thin, crisp candy shell. Unlike most candy-coated chocolates, the shell is delicate and not shined to a high gloss. Instead, the spotted pastel eggs have a matte finish that gives them a more egg-like appearance and a more textured mouth feel. The shell melts away quickly - if you can resist chewing it unlike me - to reveal the ultra-creamy milk chocolate center of the egg.

There are lots of excellent chocolate eggs to choose from, but I dare say that there is no better solid chocolate one than these.

I would like to thank Hershey's for finally deciding that filled Kisses were a good idea. Over the past year or so, they have released many varieties of the tiny treats, including Caramel and Dulce de Leche, in addition to special edition Kisses, which have included Cherry Cordial and the excellent Toffee and Almond. But I must say that the new Peanut Butter filled Kisses might just be the best of the bunch, particularly for peanut butter fans. The peanut butter is incredibly creamy, without being gooey or granular and overly sweet, as it is in Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. The ratio of chocolate to filling is just right and the size of the Kiss makes it perfect for grabbing by the handful for an afternoon treat. Overall, these are an exceptional variation of the original Kiss and I, for one, hope that Hershey’s keeps them around for a while.

[Photo by Nicole Weston]