So, if you saw my post about mobilizing folks to respond to the FDA about changes in the definition of Chocolate and you want to help, here are some little pretty images you can post on your site or blog or use in your sig line on forums. Link to the www.dontmesswithourchocolate.com site to spread the word.

Please download the images to your computer and place them on your own server. Hotlinking to my site will not work.

Tall Images

Cacao Pod: 250 pixels wide - 313 pixels high (right click above)

Cacao Pod: 150 pixels wide - 187 pixels high
Cacao Pod: 150 pixels wide - 49 pixels high
Cacao Pod: 125 pixels wide - 156 pixels high
Cacao Pod: 125 pixels wide - 44 pixels high

Keep it Real: 240 pixels wide - 209 pixels high (right click above)
Keep it Real: 500 pixels wide - 436 pixels high
Keep it Real: 150 pixels wide - 130 pixels high

Keep it Real (Wide) - 400 pixels wide - 128 pixels high (right click above)

Keep it Real (wide) - 500 pixels wide - 160 pixels wide
Keep it Real (Wide) - 150 pixels wide - 48 pixels high

You’re welcome to link to them from this Photobucket Gallery.

I’m not sure if you’re aware of this, but the FDA controls what fits under the definition of chocolate for sale in the United States. They want to make MOCKOLATE into CHOCOLATE.

As it is, chocolate is not an unhealthy treat. Cocoa Butter, which is composed of stearic acid, has been found to have no effect on blood lipid levels (cholesterol). Cocoa solids have been shown to have a positive effect on our bodies because of the high levels of antioxidants, insulin-like and anti-inflammatory compounds.

The new rules would completely obliterate the current definition, basically making any concoction containing cocoa solids and a fat into Chocolate. Like magic!

The rules currently state (basically) that chocolate must contain cocoa solids and cocoa butter. Other things can be in there, like milk fat and milk solids to make milk chocolate and a small amount of milk fat can be added to dark chocolate as well. The new proposal would allow products that contain NO COCOA BUTTER to be called chocolate.

We all know that these mockolate products are crappy. They don’t taste the same ... they feel oily or greasy on the tongue and don’t have the smooth buttery melt. What’s worse? They usually contain partially hydrogenated oils (trans fats) or tropical oils (saturated fats) ... these fats raise our cholesterol levels.

Why is the Chocolate Manufacturers Association pushing for this? Because it’s more cost efficient.

There’s no reason that consumers want this dilution of the standards for chocolate!

It’s all for the chocolate companies to be able to make a cheaper product, an inferior product. Think about it, have you ever picked up a mockolate product and thought, “Goodness, that’s better than real chocolate!” Have you? I thought not. There will be a few holdouts that will continue with the tried and true traditional formulations of chocolate and they’re going to be the losers. Sure, the high end companies will do okay, because they’ve always had consumers with deeper pocketbooks. But the big chocolate companies that want to make this cheap mockolate will flood the market and confuse consumers ... ultimately just frustrating us with bad experiences and wasted money (and possibly a fatter belly and clogged arteries).

You know what? The FDA doesn’t have to give the CMA what they want. You have the power to reject this ... but you have to tell the FDA!

It’s never been easier ... just visit the FDA’s public comment portion of their website and tell them that you don’t want to lose real chocolate in a sea of wax and tropical oils. You can fill out the form, or send them a letter or a fax. Here’s what you’re commenting on:

2007P-0085 - Adopt Regulations of General Applicability to all Food Standards that would Permit, within Stated Boundaries, Deviations from the Requirements of the Individual Food Standards of Identity

Just visit this page for a tutorial and some talking points ... or read through the issues and draft your own letter. The important thing to do is to tell them that this change does NOT PROTECT CONSUMERS. The use of alternate fats not only makes for crappy chocolate, it’s not good for us.

The deadline for public comment on this is

April 25th, 2007

June 25, 2007.

Resources:
The FDA’s current Standards of Identity for Chocolate (not easy to read as a layperson).
The Chocolate Manufacturers Association Glossary (pretty easy to understand definitions)
Don’t Mess with our Chocolate “How To Help”
Current FDA Food Labeling Guide (they don’t have to say “imitation chocolate” any longer!)
Here are some little graphics I made that you can display on your site!

Last month’s search string are obviously focused on Easter. What I found rather funny was the number of people who found the site while looking for Cadbury Mini Eggs ... why aren’t people going to the Hershey site? What are they finding here that they’re not getting from the site set up by the manufacturer? Is it the opportunity to offer comments, the photos or just because they want more.

1. cadbury mini eggs
2. maya gold
3. mini eggs
4. japanese candy
5. oriental trading
6. easter candy
7. kinder bueno
8. choxie
9. trader joe’s
10. starburst candy

The other thing I found interesting about the search listing is how many people came to the site in search of info about Barnegat, Hometown Candy or Jordan Almonds dot com. About 150 people came to read the post I wrote last year, and plenty more are still adding their comments to the thread with their experiences.

I went off to another trade show on Sunday. Luckily it was practically in my own back yard (well about 40 miles away, so my only expense was gas and parking).

It’s called ExpoWest and focuses on Natural Products. This covers a huge range, from nutritional supplements to beauty products to foods & drinks and of course some sweets. While the candy content at this show as rather small, I couldn’t resist going and checking out the products from the chocolatiers and confectioners.

What’s also fun is stumbling across product lines I had no clue about ... and then letting you know about them.

I got to check in with some of the companies I’ve already covered here and see their new products:
Pure Fun  - they have some new hard candies, lollipops and candy canes. I also finally got to try their spicy cinnamon cotton candy ... yum!
New Tree - they have a few new bars since the last time I tried them (and I still haven’t tried the full line), so picked up some.
Sweetriot - they have a “cherry” version of their nibs and from my little taste test, they were pretty tasty, so they gave me a tin for later review. They’re also selling straight cacao beans (not nibs) for the really adventurous.
Terra Nostra/Bon Bona - I already have some of their new single origin truffles to try, and they have some exciting new “candy bars” coming out.
Endangered Species - I picked up their Zebra Bar (orange) and the Eco Rounds (dark chocolate and nibs).
College Farm Organics - they have some nice new hard candies (I really liked the coffee candy!) plus new Halloween packaging for their organic lolliops that should make it shelves this fall.
Scharffen Berger - new Milk Nibby Bar.
CocoaVia - the Mars “healthy chocolate” line. They’ve introduced a few new bars and milk chocolate covered raisins. I actually had a really nice chat with them and got samples of just about everything they’re making right now.
Newman’s Own - they had many of their chocolate items out for sampling and it confirmed for me that their chocolate is very sweet. They also have a new line of mints in tins (ala Altoids) but they weren’t sampling those.

New to me are:

St. Claire - mints and sour pastilles (they gave me a tin of their mints for “tummy upset” which I’ll boat test next weekend)
Seeds of Change - fair trade chocolate
Sjaak’s Organic Chocolate - actually not completely new to me (I’ll get into that in the review), but this is the first time I stopped and talked to them (I did visit their shop in Eureka last summer but it was mobbed and I left).
Tubi Licorice - makers of Tire Tread Licorice

I spent the whole day there and barely covered the whole show floor. As I got to the far corner Scharffen Berger was already closing down, so I didn’t get to chat with them much about their new products, but I did pick up the Milk Chocolate Nibby Bar. I also popped in and sampled some Green & Blacks (I just felt like a little dose of their white chocolate bar at that moment). I completely missed the Theo Chocolate booth, but I have a full set of their bars, so I’m good to go on them anyway.

I also missed the Divine Chocolate booth, which I didn’t realized until I was driving back. I’ve already sampled their bars, but I really wanted to talk to them about their kids bar in the UK, called the Dubble.

Since I was walking the floor anyway, I picked up just about every snack bar that was available ... I have about 20 pounds of them. This morning I ate something called an Attune Bar (Lemon Creme) which features 5 times the probiotics of yogurt. They also have a line of chocolate bars with similar virtues that I’ll review. The only one I missed was Lara Bar - they were all packed up when I got to their corner. Too bad, I think their new Jocolat line might actually qualify for a Candy Blog review (I haven’t seen them in stores yet, but did try some at the Fancy Food Show in January). I also picked up some samples of different fruit snacks (fruit rolls and leathers). I might do a round up review of them just as a sort of “would kids eat this, and should they?” kind of thing.

Holy Moly! I just found this awesome post from last week about some truly inventive Limited Edition candy bars. Go see what Stephen at Cotton & Sand has been up to.

(There’s a world where I could actually believe a Snickers with Bacon and a Crunch with Ketchup.)

If you like that, you really need to order one of his tees ...

Here’s what others observed at the show:

SFGate noticed the salty side of things, and I’m not just talking about the sea salts.

C(h)ristine has a great photo array that captures things far better than words (well, not better, but it sure takes up less space) as well as her observations. Pay careful attention to those “collagen marshmallows.”

Bay Area Bites covered the keynote by Eric Schlosser of Fast Food Nation fame (I think Michael was sitting in front of me at the keynote). Take special note of the mackerel in a tube photo later in the post. See, being so focused on candy means I don’t have to give those things a second thought!

Elise has a fantastmic photo of Mashti Malone’s Lavender Ice Cream ... love their stuff! She also profiles quite a few other items I missed and links to even more coverage.

Dvorak was even there, with some video of the Whiffle machine - which makes these puffed tortilla shaped waffley things. I didn’t eat them and the machine scared me (seriously, it SHOT those things out with a bang all day every day).

If you want more video, definitely check out YumSugar (they have a lot of coverage) and their video from the floor.

Anna’s Cool Finds mentions things on the savory end but covers the Monkey Treats which were frozen fruit covered with chocolate - I had the banana and it was very tasty, something I’d buy in the summer. YummySF covered the tea scene (there was a LOT of tea) and finally, as I mentioned on Tuesday, there’s a lot of trading and giveaways at the very end of the expo, Jalepeno Girl, who worked the show as a “booth babe” has the goodies to prove it (and some fun rules for attending food shows).

I have a huge pile of chocolate and candies and I’ll have lots to write about for the next month or so. Stay tuned.

Related Candies

1. Show Notes - Fancy Food Show - Tuesday
2. Show Notes - Fancy Food Show - Monday
3. Show Notes - Fancy Food Show - Sunday
4. Fancy Food Show

I made it about 3/4 of the way through the show floor today. It’s a huge show with 22 million square miles of booths (okay, I have no clue how big it is, but it covers the north and south hall of the Moscone Center if that means anything to anyone). Though some of the booths were grouped by region of origin, there wasn’t much else to help navigate through the show. Lots of sampling and I have to say that I was pleased that the reception I got at every booth, including the ones where it was obvious I was there as a consumer, not a member of the press. Here are my notes, in no particular order.

- Figs are great. I enjoyed many figgy things such as Orchard Choice dried figs, several different fig pastes and a fig jam.

- Caffarel (represented in the States by Daprano.com) has some new products, including a chili pepper gianduia.

- Lara Bar has reformulated their chocolate bars, now called Jocolat. I didn’t like them the first time around (they were called Maya the nibs were intensely bitter and acrid for some reason) but the new ones are fantabulous and sure to be one of my new faves for snacking.

- Terra Nostra has come out with a new Robust Dark & Roasted Almonds (60% cacao) bar - all organic and with a new package design.

- Jelly Belly has come out with a bunch of new stuff, but the thing that interested me most was their new lollipop which reminds me of Linda’s Lollies. They’re big, very sold and in true Jelly Belly fashion come in oodles of flavors. I picked up Tangerine, Root Beer. Cotton Candy and Lemon. (I might go back for seconds & thirds this week.)

- Jelly Belly was also really pushing their new acquisition of Sunkist Fruit Gems from Ben Meyerson. The best part? I picked out a handful of just the grapefruit from the samples bin. You think I’m alone? I watched two other people pick through the sampling tub and choose the grapefruit and other citrus over the cherry.

- Choco-luxe had an amazing white chocolate/matcha truffle. I’ll have to swing by there again and try some of their other truffles.

- Honey is great. Honey from the Leatherwood Tree in Tasmania is awesome.

- My prediliction for nougats precedes me. Larry from Tassie Naturals actually had a huge handful of the stuff for me (both hazelnut and chocolate covered hazelnut) with some exciting news about a pepper and hazelnut version to come soon. I can’t wait!

- Peanut Butter and Curry is an awesome combo. I could definitely eat that slathered on a piece of bread.

- Awesome chocolates I need to learn more about:
Art Bars from Ithaca Fine Chocolates
Santander single origins from Colombia
Valrhona - I really need to explore their whole line
Alter Eco - fair trade chocolate bars from Bolivia and Ghana - no emulsifiers and made in Switzerland

- The Ginger People have come out with a super-charged Gin-Gin (their ginger hard candy) with TWICE the amount of ginger in it (just in time for Whale-Watching season).

- Carica is a fruit from Chile that I hope gets wider distribution - it’s like a mango, apricot and honeydew melon all in one. Right now it’s being distributed in jars of lightly sweetened syrup.

- Lillie Belle Farms was one of those cool finds on the floor. I had no idea they existed, but now I know that they’re toiling away in Oregon growing their own berries and making organic chocolates by hand in inventive flavor combinations. Though the Black Pepper Ganache didn’t do anything for me, I really enjoyed the Lavender Caramel and the simplicity of the caramlized Nibs (Lillie Rocks).

- BruCo has some awesome new “Salt Tasting Chocolate”, Mole Chocolate and something else that’s slipped my mind but was also spicy.

- Chocolove has a Chilies & Cherries in Dark Chocolate they’re pushing for Valentines Day as a limited edition item. 55% cocoa content, it’s dark and fruity with a pretty good, long burn. Not really my thing (with the cherries) but a good bar overall.

- Hawaii has some pretty good honey with light yet complex flavors. My favorite from Big Island Bees was the Wilelaiki Blossom.

- Sensible Foods has something called “Crunch Dried Snacks” which I could really see myself getting into. They’re completely dried fruits and vegetables yet instead of being leathery and chewy, they’re rather crunchy and retain all the flavors. The bananas in their Tropical Blend are insanely crisp and tasty. (Some are even organic.)

I didn’t take any photos. Trade shows are exhausting but it’s nice to know that food is never far away. I’ll have lots more to report tomorrow!

Guess what? I snuck out of town to San Francisco for a few days to attend the Fancy Food Show.

Unlike the All Candy Expo, this trade show is devoted to all things tasty from olive oils, honey, flavored waters, cheeses, sauces, and dressing but includes a fair amount of sweet treats. In fact, candy and chocolate is well represented on the show floor ... from high end chocolatiers like Charles Chocolates & Chuao to the fun and mass-manufactured fare from Jelly Belly & Gimbals.