April 30, 2006 - A new study finds chocolate consumption enhances cognitive performance. An article from Display And Design Ideas on the growth of the gourmet chocolate market. April 29, 2006 - A photo of a bunch of chocolate chips that were recovered from a Texas overturned trailer. 17,000 pounds were spared melting by cool weather. Chef David Laris is leaving his base in Shanghai , China to spend 12 days in Brunei where he hopes to meld local flavors with chocolate to create new some new chocolate items. April 28, 2006 - Ghirardelli Chocolate Company’s “Is Your Dessert Intense Enough?” recipe contest winner Gigi Burton from Plainsboro , NJ recipe for Triple Chocolate Truffle Cake looks like a winner. April 27, 2006 - In Arizona a freshly dipped in chocolate banana will run you $1.85. Out of Blue Mountains , Australia Leura's Cafe chocolatier Jodie Van Der Velden has been winning prizes for her chocolates. The Czech Parliament has cut the VAT rate on chocolate from 19% to 5% making alcohol the only remaining item taxed at 19%. An Australian courts ruled yesterday that Cadbury does not own the color purple when it comes to chocolate packaging and dismissed Cadbury's lawsuit against Australian candy maker Darrell Lea. Speaking of Cadbury a nice photo of a bar of Cadbury chocolate. Cadbury which already owns 45% of the Dr Pepper/Seven Up Bottling Group plans on purchasing the other 55% to add to its US bottling holdings. April 26, 2006 - A nice article about DeBrand Fine Chocolates in Fort Wayne , Indiana. Chocolate soup shot recipe from Terrence Crandall, executive chef at the Peninsula Chicago hotel, the picture looks great. An interesting recipe for Chocolate mousse with olive oil and flaky salt. If you're in Richmond , Virginia the third annual Chocolate Festival, in which area chefs showcase and share chocolate masterpieces, will be held 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday at the University of Richmond Robins Center. April 25, 2006 - Chocolat Moderne has announced what looks like a nice new addition to its line. The Kimono collection which is a combination of Japanese tastes , soy and Japanese mint, and chocolate. The packaging also looks great. The Glenwood-Lynwood Indiana library has a neat little program involving Chick Lit books and eating chocolate at the library. A press release from Scharffen Berger about their production methods from bean to chocolate bar. Nestle First-Quarter Sales Rise 14% as European Demand Revives and sales increase in Spain and France. April 24, 2006 - A review of the Massillon Museum’s second annual Cocoa Buffet & Cookbook Day. The 6th annual Le Bal au Chocolat, hosted by The Friends of the Mary C. O'Keefe Cultural Center of Arts & Education, takes place 6-10 p.m. Saturday at the cultural center (1600 Government St., Ocean Springs Mississippi.). Hershey announced a 7% increase in profits even though sales had decreased. Nestle has concluded discussions for the creation of a new fund to be called W. Health. April 23, 2006 - Combining two of Americas current popular pastimes Google is now selling chocolate poker chips with the Google name on them. Dozens of Mississippi schools this fall may ban the selling of chocolate to raise money for schools and ma prohibit the giving of candy as a reward by teachers to students who excel. An interesting picture from Associated Press of two Syrian kids celebrating Orthodox Easter while playing with chocolate Easter eggs. April 22, 2006 - Victoria , Australia schools are the latest to ban soda and chocolate from the schools eating options. April 21, 2006 - With the European Union allowing chocolate to be 5% fat from Shea butter the Nigerian government is hoping to increase Shea butter production for export to the EU. CBS had a feature Chef On A Shoestring which had an interesting recipe for chocolate Zabaglione , basically custard. A 50 year old chocolate factory in Pasig City , The Philippines was forcibly closed after it failed to control emissions and broke numerous agreements with the government to do so. April 20, 2006 - Four Pittsburgh chefs try out recipes for chocolate dump cake from Martha Stewart , Nigella Lawson, Amanda Hesser and Shirley Corriher. They tweak as they go and it's an interesting read. Gourmet chocolate sales are once again up across the United States in 2006. April 19, 2006 - An very interesting article on the ongoing battle between the European Commission and Italian chocolate makers and the Italian Parliament. Nestle has found its credit rated graded upward by Standard and Poor from negative to stable. This will allow Nestle an easier time selling bonds and raising money. An easy to use recipe for basic chocolate sauce. In what appears to be a major coup, New York's own Marie Belle has begun supplying the Four Seasons Hotel George V. , in Paris , France with their Aztec hot chocolate. It's rare to see high end American food exported to France especially with so many world class chocolatiers operating out of Paris. Criollo a shot of hot chocolate from Brazil has just started to be imported into New Zealand. April 18, 2006 - In Australia Woolworths has been forced to recall a batch of chocolate covered Sultanas as they are mislabeled and may contain peanuts and be inappropriate for those with peanut allergies. A review of the store Chocolate Smiles in Cary , North Carolina. April 17, 2006 - Calgary Canada is home to a thriving chocolate scene including Tuesday night chocolate buffet. Forget the Peeps and jelly beans chocolate still rocks as the number one treat of choice on Easter according tho this survey. A fascinating article from Australia on why we give Easter eggs and the origin of the Easter bunny. Canadian troops serving in Afghanistan receive packages of chocolate and cards from school kids this Easter season. A photo of A Texas based Whole Foods employee dipping strawberries in chocolate. April 16, 2006 - Happy Easter. For the holiday we present links to Easter chocolate pictures from around the world. A Syrian Christian girl examining chocolate Easter eggs for sale in a sweet shop in Damascus Syria. A photo of the La Maison du Chocolat egg in their London stores window that is decorated with 100 .5 carat diamonds. Chocolatier Christophe Laurens putting the finishing touches on the La Maison egg. Belgian chocolate maker Lieven Burie put the finishing touches on his chocolate Easter bunnies. April 15, 2006 - Swiss environmentalists are upset with the Nestle company for its decision to relaunch Cailler chocolate in a new set of packaging composed of the same plastic resin that is used in drink bottles. Further raising the ire of environmentalists is that while the drink bottles are recyclable the Cailler wrappers will not be. Chocolate bunny sales are hopping in anticipation of Easter in Australia. April 14, 2006 - Fairtrade chocolate is growing in leaps and bounds according to this article. In what is news to the staff of echocolatenyc apparently Kinder eggs are banned for sale in the USA and have been since August 1997. This is due to the belief that small children could swallow some of the plastic toy pieces while eating the eggs. April 13, 2006 - An article that covers some of South Floridas chocolate shops including Krons, The Sweet Tooth and Le Chocolatier. An interesting article about cooking with chocolate with tips from Susan Westmoreland, Good Housekeeping's food director. With Easter coming up the Humane Society would like to remind you to keep the rabbits chocolate this Easter and not give live rabbits as pets. The Wichita Eagle has an article comparing different chocolate bunnies available for Easter. A recent study has shown that residents of the United Kingdom consume two kilograms more of chocolate than residents of any other European country. Out of Detroit a recipe for chocolate cream eggs. April 11, 2006 - The Pope receives a chocolate piano shaped birthday cake for his 76th Birthday. It looks like the saga of New York Chocolate & Confections Co is slowly winding down. The Morris Protective Service, Inc., a security agency headquartered in Syracuse has filed for a judgement for $95.000. A Sparks Nevada businesswoman has cracked Wal-Mart with her souvenir chocolate bars featuring photos of Nevada sites such as Reno and Lake Tahoe. April 10, 2006 - The BBC reports a hospital in London , England is attempting to start trials on heart patients where they consume dark chocolate to see if their heart disease improves. The gourmet chocolate market will grow to a $1.8 billion industry by 2010 according to some recent research. La Maison du Chocolat in London has a chocolate Easter egg on display that is covered in 100 half carat diamonds and is valued at $100.000. April 8, 2006 - We here at echocolatenyc receive quite a bit of chocolate for review purposes and have fallen behind in fulfilling this function of our site. Sometime in the next 30 days we will have a new products / review section up and running so if you are a producer of chocolate and would like to have it reviewed contact us and we'll send you shipping information. That being said we recently received a product that deserves a special mention. Sweetriot sent us all samples of all three of there currently available chocolates. We loved the packaging, nice sleek metal tins with attractive decorative artwork on the top and sides. Inside you find cacao nibs, roasted and encased in dark chocolate in 50 , 65 and 70% levels. A hastily convened tasting panel consisting of film maker Dennis B. , Artist and visual genius Nelson D. and artist / pirate Mika G. They found the earthy crunchiness of the nibs combined with the chocolate an interesting contrast. Dennis B. found the chocolate enchanting and Mika G. was impressed with the whole packaging concept. Three thumbs up from three very demanding chocolate consumers and hats off to the folks at Sweetriot who in this age of endless derivative chocolate have managed to create something new and different. In what looks like it might be the most interesting basket stuffer this holiday season Norm Thompson is offering a chocolate egg which when broken open is found to be housing a baby chocolate condor. 9.5 ounces of chocolate in total is comes boxed retails for $16.50 and $5.00 of every egg purchased will be given to a group fighting to save the condor from extinction. April 7, 2006 - In Wales, Great Britain a man caught in the act of stealing a cream filled chocolate Easter egg pulled a gun on the clerk when confronted. SKYY vodka founder Maurice Kanbar has launched the Dutch chocolate liqueur brand Vermeer in the United Kingdom. An article about the newly renovated Hershey Park tour. April 6, 2006 - In Murray Bridge Australia the kids compete to see who can eat the most chocolate. The New York Chocolate and Confections factory saga continues. The city of Fulton will cut off water to the factory on monday if financing isn't in place before then. April 5, 2006 - Some recipes for chocolate / orange combinations. For Passover a recipe for chocolate chip mandelbrat. A picture from Reuters of Pastry maker Bosch, posing next to his chocolate sculpture of FC Barcelona's Stadium, at Bosch Pastry Shop in Pineda de Mar, near Barcelona April 7, 2006. The chocolate works feature uses some 1500 pounds of chocolate. A couple of nice pictures of the new Hershey attractions at Hershey Park. April 4, 2006 - Business at Malley's Chocolates is so good that they've had to purchase a new chocolate bunny making machine. Carmex lip balm is now coming out with a chocolate flavored product. An Australian study has found that young drinkers can not tell the difference between vodka flavored chocolate milk and regular chocolate milk. Cadbury has reached an agreement to sell its South African drink division Bormor. A nice article about The Second Annual Northeast Chocolate and Flower Festival held at St. Sophia's Greek Orthodox Church in Albany. Greenpeace has issued a report to remind consumers that all chocolate is not the same. Some is genetically engineered some is not. April 3, 2006 - Dagoba is recalling 40,000 lbs. of chocolate as it has been found to have elevated levels of lead. April 2, 2006 - A chocolate marathon has been announced for Keene New Hampshire. On April 28 th two chocolatiers will make chocolates for twenty four straight hours in a bid to raise money for charity. Please remember to lock up the chocolate when dogs are around. April 1, 2006 - It looks like New York Chocolate may finally have its finances in place. There was an initial concern that the money available may have come from dubious sources but it now has passed muster and it looks like operations can commence. A chocolate sculpture of Jesus on the cross has sparked controversy and will be on display in England.
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