Some people are worried that in the not too distant future, chocolate could become much more rare and expensive... and it's not because of global warming (at least not for the most part). In fact, John Mason, of the Nature Conservation Research Council (based in Ghana), says that "in 20 years chocolate will be like caviar."

This terrible fate is possible mostly because of poor farming practices in Western Africa, where most of the world's chocolate is grown. According to this article from CNN online, farmers clear cut sections of rain forest and work that land to death. The problem with that method of farming is that it is not sustainable: cacao trees (from which chocolate is ultimately produced) on the clear cut land live about 30 years, compared to 75-100 years in the regular rain forest. The farmers would have to then clear another section of rain forest to grow trees on.

There may be hope, though. A handful of different groups have come together to try and solve this problem, including farmers, environmental groups and Cadbury, the British chocolate maker. The interests of each group intersect, and so they've created a scientific research unit to study ways to farm cacao trees sustainably. There may be hope for humanity (and chocolate) yet.

I used to drink Kahlua a lot many many years ago, but as I've gotten older I've gotten away from Kahula/chocolate/mocha/whatever flavored drinks and more towards gin and wine. However, that doesn't mean that I'm against using Kahlua in dessert recipes.

This delicious-sounding recipe for Kahlua Brownies comes from Garrett McCord over at Simply Recipes. It uses 1 1/2 pounds of 60% cacao chocolate, though I wonder how the brownies would taste if you used something even higher (say, 70%) or another type of chocolate?

Tomorrow is Valentine's Day, my least favorite holiday (if you can call a day created by greeting card companies a "holiday"). And it's not just because I don't have a honey to share it with. I've always hated it.

But I do know that you're supposed to take a bath or a shower that day. Well, you should take a bath or shower every day, but on Valentine's Day in particular you don't want to smell. Don't take an ordinary bath though, take a chocolate bath. A hot springs spa/resort in Japan offers such a bath. The water in the tub is mixed with cacao and fragrance, then liquid chocolate is poured over the people in the tub.

But I'm confused by the picture. If this is for Valentine's Day, I assume it's for couples. What's with all the people in the tub? Is this the family version?

Related:

Yunessun Spa for food lovers

Let's face it: if you take a glace at the rapidly expanding chocolate section of almost any store, there is bound to be at least one product that needs a second (and much closer) look just to figure out the label. In this case, I'm not referring to products with unusual flavor combinations, but to those marked with a cacao percentage.

Consumers and manufacturers alike have gone crazy over chocolates labeled with their cacao percentage in the last year or so, and even though the numbers themselves are clear, not everyone understands what those numbers mean. Often, the percentages are equated with the quality of the chocolate, leading to the idea that the darker the chocolate, the better it will be in spite of the fact that the darkest chocolate - usually unsweetened, 99% cacao- is actually quite unpalatable.

The cacao percentage indicates how much of a given product, by weight, is made up of cocoa solids from the cocoa bean (cacao), like cocoa butter and cocoa powder. The rest of the bar is made up of sugar, vanilla and/or other ingredients, including milk and the occasional emulsifier. This basically means that a bar of chocolate with a higher cacao percentage will usually have more chocolate in it and a stronger cocoa flavor (i.e. it will be more bitter) than one with a lower percentage, but that doesn't necessarily mean that bars of equally high percentages will taste alike.

Caviar seems to represent luxury and good taste, both in food and in life, so caviar fans can rejoice that the global ban on caviar is being lifted this year as stocks of sturgeons are up and caviar-producers can start exporting their wares again. Farmed caviar, and American caviar in general, is still an outstanding alternative for a caviar fan because it is often a good value and seems to be improving in quality every year.

If you're not a fan of the fish eggs, you're not alone. There is an alternative to them that will give you the same classic look, but with a much improved texture and flavor: Chocaviar. This caviar is made with chocolate from the Italian chocolate-maker Venchi, which has been expressing "chocolate's soul" since 1878. Each little piece of chocolate is dusted with unsweetened cocoa powder, which intensifies the flavor (something you might not want with the fishier caviar) and makes the product slightly reminiscent of tiny chocolate truffles.

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.

According to their mission statement, sweetriot's goal is to "create a more just and celebrated multicultural world for our next generation." A fine mission, to be sure, but what they actually do is sell a line of chocolate covered cacao nibs. Appropriately named "peaces", all of their products are all-natural, gmo-free, dairy-free, kosher, gluten-free and feature only fair trade chocolate. In addition to carrying a social cause, they also taste great. The nibs come in three primary flavors, divided and named by the cacao content of the chocolate that enrobes the nibs. Flavor 50 is a mild dark chocolate and almost similar in flavor to milk chocolate, though it is dairy-free. Flavor 65 is a classic dark chocolate and flavor 70 (pictured) is extra dark and boosted with a bit of espresso.

My favorite way to eat them is to mix the three different peace mixes - 50, 65 and 70 - together. The sweeter 50 takes the edge off the dark 70, while leaving a nice espresso taste. Basically, they all just get along - and there's no need to overthink it because it tastes so good.

If you want to give them a taste, the Happy holly-days pack and Hanukah packs deliver one tin of each flavor and also make great little gifts. You can also try the newest flavor, 70cinn, which is a limited edition flavor released just for the holidays.

Fans of Scharffen Berger Chocolates will appreciate this cookbook by John Scharffenberger and Robert Steinberg, the founders of the company. Working with food writer Susie Heller, the pair put together the Essence of Chocolate: Recipes for Baking and Cooking with Fine Chocolate, a cookbook that is devoted to chocolate for those who really appreciate it. Even though Scharffen Berger is now owned by Hershey's, the chocolates are still produced to their original, gourmet specifications and these recipes reflect that attention to detail. The more than 100 recipes are arranged according to their cacao content and, unlike more generic recipes that just call for "milk" or "dark" chocolate, these are specifically tweaked to work best with the individual chocolates called for. This strategy is a good way to sell more chocolate and a bit of a PITA if you aren't really a chocolate connoisseur, but if you already buy your chocolates this way (and many of us do), this cookbook should give you much better than average results and the recipes will require no tweaking. Recipes include White Velvet Cake with Milk Chocolate Ganache, Chocolate Chocolate Cupcakes, Chocolate Ginger Pots de Crème and even a couple of savory recipes that primarily use cocoa powder, like Chile Marinated Flank Steak and Vegetarian Chili.

Dark chocolate seems to be more popular than ever before, but are you eating more of it? For all the statistics that indicate consumers are switching to dark from milk chocolate, it still seems that many - if not most - people will choose a piece of milk chocolate over a piece of dark when offered.

Milk chocolate may be slightly less popular than it once was, but it is still a huge favorite with chocolate lovers. It tends to be creamier and sweeter than dark chocolates, and the milder flavor plays a big role in why people love it; it is the same reason that many choose to have cream and sugar in their coffee. Some will say that "graduating" to a higher cacao percentage, to a darker chocolate, is a sign of a more refined palate, but it is really just another indicator of personal preference. Quality chocolates can be found in milk and dark varieties, mild and strong. Even the cacao percentages, which are definitely more commonly seen on dark chocolates, are being added to milk chocolate labels.

Which do you prefer - the trendier dark chocolate or the much-loved milk chocolate? Are you opting for dark more often now than, say, a few years ago?

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.

Ad Age reports (subscription) that sales of dark chocolate are up 40% this year, in increase leading to $1.62 billion in sales, after only a 29% increase from 2003-2005. One of the reasons for the increase is the fact that this past year has seen many reports that dark chocolate and cocoa are good for your health, in addition to chocolate bars promoting themselves as health foods. All the media coverage of the subject, on top of companies continually rolling out new dark chocolate products, has really made consumers more aware of dark chocolate and more willing to try it.

Any health benefits aside, consumers are learning to appreciate chocolates in the same way that they learned to appreciate different coffees so many years ago. Chocolate has nuances and the fact that people want to taste and learn about them is evidenced by the fact that more and more chocolates are stating their cacao percentages and countries of origin on the label.

Cacao trees have been grown in southern Vietnam for a good six years. Now the Mekong Delta has joined the country's other provinces. Ben Tre province recently began exporting processed cocoa with a whopping 12-ton shipment to the U.K. And it plans to keep up the pace with another 12-ton batch next month.  
The province has 5,000 acres of cacao trees and plans to expand to 25,000 by 2010. That's a lot of processed cocoa. I'm all for the economic development of Vietnamese agriculture, but my secret hope is that the Brits start doing some really interesting things with chocolate now that they have all that cocoa.

[photo: Thanh Nien News]

Ghirardelli has been making delicious dark chocolates since the company opened more than 150 years ago, but to meet growing consumer demand, they have introduced some new, gourmet chocolates. Intense Dark Gourmet Chocolate Bars are blends of unique Ghirardelli dark chocolate with new flavors and varying cocoa contents, designed to appeal to a wide variety of chocolate lovers. The four flavors include:

Twilight Delight - 72% cacao smooth dark chocolate
Citrus Sunset - 60% cacao dark chocolate with orange and caramel crunch
Espresso Escape - 60% cacao dark chocolate with finely ground espresso beans
Toffee Interlude - 42% cacao dark chocolate with toffee and carmelized almonds

Ghirardelli hosted an event with chocolate experts including Alice Medrich and Elizabeth Faulkner to determine the best food and drink pairings with these chocolates, all of which can be viewed here. My favorite suggestion is to pair Espresso Escape with marshmallows to make "adult" s'mores. Yum! The 3.5 ounce bars should be in stores around the country by now, but I have only seen them online so far.