"chocolate bars" news and stories

We're almost to the night that brings mountains of candy and cavities -- whether you've got youngin's in the mix or just a few bags of tasty treats for visiting trick-or-treaters. The question becomes: What do you do with it all?

Do you find a drawer you can lock and fill it with your bags of treats?

Do you hide it throughout the home so that no one can find your stash and steal it?

Do you put it out for everyone and share, without the slightest murmur of stinginess?

Or do you succumb to the pressure of tons of candy and devour it before you have a chance to store it?

If you're the latter, or anyone else looking for some way to use up your candy without going into a chocolate coma, check out Recipe Goldmine's candy bar recipe list. You might as well let the treats work double duty -- not only depleting your stash, but also flavoring your next baked good.

Question: what if Hershey went from using cocoa butters in their chocolate to using vegetable fats and artificial sweeteners?

That's what might happen. They're asking the Food and Drug Administration to change the standards in which chocolate is made and classified, to "modernize" the making of chocolate. Hershey isn't the only company asking the question, it's everyone.

This is sacrilege! We all know that chocolate, even when its high in fat and calories, has a lot of health benefits too. And if people want to have diet chocolate or a chocolate substitute, there are plenty of products already on the market. Changing the taste of Hershey chocolate would be like changing America, damn it!

Check out this site to record your protest.

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.

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.

Source

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.

Source