The Chocolate Contest Continues!!!

Okay Gang - post those stories or recipes or whatevah!  The big Chocolate Week contest ends on Sunday at midnight!!!  I got my bag from the National Confectioners Association today and it is cool!!!

It has a great tag from the mysterious and all powerful Chocolate Council:

Looks like a bag of cacao beans:

And here are all the goodies - you could win!!!!  Come on - your odds are really, really good!

I've never seen these adorable mini Green & Black's bars:

This one was toffee and was so so delicious:

Now, remember, the actual contents may vary - but what the heck - it's free and it's chocolate!  Life is good!  Post an entry and you could be opening a great goodie bag like this one!

And don't forget to check out http://www.thestoryofchocolate.com/.  Here's a tidbit from the site:

There is no scientific evidence, however, that chocolate is addictive. Instead, people who desire chocolate likely do because of its sensory properties, its melting sensations and intense taste. Its aroma and flavors are highly complex. More than 500 compounds responsible for aromas have been found in roasted cocoa beans, and chocolate has more 1,500 flavor compounds—three times the number found in wine.

So see?  We are not addicted to chocolate, we simply love the way it tastes.  And clearly, it is more complex than wine, which makes us even cooler than those snobby wine people.  Chocolate lovers of the world - arise!!!!!

Oompa Loompas and Peanuts

Nestle, like all the other big guns, had a pretty impressive booth at the Expo.  They were giving out samples of Butterfinger Snackerz:

These are crunchy and lighter than the regular Butterfinger.  I don't think they are better, mind you, but they are very good.  They have that awesome Butterfinger center surrounded by a "thin, crispy outer shell" - made of what, I do not know.  The whole thing is covered in chocolate with a drizzle of Butterfinger flavored - something.  These are well worth trying and should be out in convenience stores soon.  So keep your eyes peeled!  Who doesn't like Butterfingers?

This is the other side of the Nestle booth (how cool is Candy Expo?):

These were the samples they were giving out:

The top one is the Scrumdiddlyumptious Bar - made with bits of toffee, cookies and peanuts in milk chocolate.  Sounds amazing!!  I found it only average - hard to believe because I love all three of those!

The second one is the Domed Dark Bar - a dark bar with a milk chocolate "pillow" on top.  Again - average.

The bottom one is the Chocolate Waterfall Bar - see the full size here:

While it looks pretty....

It's not a very exciting bar - average chocolate.  Nothing special.  Pass.

I didn't get this at the Expo, but thought what the heck - it's a milk chocolate bar with graham crackers:

I just don't think Nestle's chocolate is the best - kind of waxy.  The graham crackers make this very sweet - textured like a Nestle Crunch, but sweeter.  There's something about this one that's addictive, even though it's not an incredible chocolate bar.  I had a hard time not eating the whole thing!

This is a limited Edition Snickers bar that Mars debuted at the Expo:

It's Snickers Extreme - all nuts and caramel - no nougat.  Autopsy photo is on the right (regular Snickers on the left):

I thought I would be all over this - loving it even more than the regular Snickers.  But you know what?  I don't!  I have under appreciated the nougat for years!  I prefer the standard Snickers to the Snickers Extreme.  There is nothing wrong with the Snickers Extreme - I mean, how could there be with caramel, peanuts and chocolate?  But I think the regular Snickers is better.  I'd love to hear what you all think.

2010 is the 80th anniversary of the Snickers bar (yep, it came out in 1930).  15 million Snickers are made each day and about 16 peanuts are in each one. 99 TONS of peanuts are used each day.  WOW!  It's the most popular candy bar in the United States.

For those of you who need sugar free candy, Dove may have the answer to your prayers.  Peanut Butter Promises were unveiled at Candy Expo:

They look great and I guess they probably are as far as sugar free goes.  But the regular ones are WAY better.  Sugar rocks!!  ; )

The peanut bar of chocolate lovers might just be this one:

This amazing bar by Green and Black is organic, but more importantly, it's a smooth delicious milk chocolate bar with caramelized peanuts and a hint of sea salt.  It's a wonderful sweet and salty combination with a delicious, high quality chocolate.  Wow!!!!  No Oompa Loompas, but the chocolate here destroys Nestle's.  And it's organic - God knows what toxins are in Wonka's chocolate river. 

Sometimes You Feel Like a Nut

I love nuts. Many have said I am nuts, but that's another entry.

Let's talk chocolate bars and nuts.

Here we have Valor's Dark Chocolate with Almonds and Chocolove's Cherries & Almonds in Dark Chocolate. Valor has whole almonds which I love. But it was like they were on the bottom and there was a thick layer of chocolate on top. I thought the chocolate was average. Almonds A+, chocolate C.

Chocolove has the cherries which really make it. Otherwise it's only okay. Wish it had the almonds of the Valor. Almonds C, Chocolate B. Cherries A! Chocolove also has a love poem inside the wrapper which I adore. I am a sucker for romance.

Speaking of romance, Baci (kisses in Italian) by Perugina is one of my favorites. Packed with chopped hazelnuts and topped with a whole hazelnut, these are delicious. They also have a romantic quote wrapped in each one. These deserve an overall A++.

The little bar in the back wrapper is Carezza by Costa, a Peruvian chocolate company. It apparently contains secret almonds which I could neither see nor taste. Combine that with yucky chocolate, this was a D. I didn't spit it out or feed it to a dog, but it was not goo

Vosges (an $8 candy bar) Gianduja Bar is simply mind blowing. I took a bite and exclaimed, "Holy God!" The milk chocolate is so soft and creamy it melts in your hand. And this is what Gianduja is - "hazelnuts and almonds are caramelized with sugar, then the mixture is ground into a fine paste, and finally it is gently mixed with milk chocolate." All I can say is it is well worth the eight bucks. A++

This bar is just a lie. Look at that picture! Look at all those almonds! It's false advertising - there are MAYBE half that many almonds, and the chocolate is only average. D for lying. Call Oliver Kita - I think my human rights have been violated.

The Perugina (makers of the delicious Baci) dark chocolate with almonds is also only okay. Not enough almonds, chocolate a B. Stick with the kisses.

Now the Dolfin bar has great dark chocolate with lots of richness and depth but just not enough almonds. It also comes in a really cool resealable wrapper (nice!). Chocolate A+, Almonds C

And then there are two organic entries. Love the sea salt in the Lake Champlain bar, but adore all the almonds in the Green & Black's bar. Both have great chocolate (although not quite as smooth as Vosges and not as deep and rich as the Dolfin bar.) Solid As.

The best dark chocolate and almond combo I have had to date is Trader Joe's dark chocolate almond bark. There are so many almonds - the chocolate is just there to hold them together! That's the way I like it! If you're going to go nuts, you should go all the way. (But don't forget the romance!)

Chocolate Show NYC 2008 - Here We Go!

I got up on the morning of November 8th (the second day of the Chocolate Show) well before dawn. I had a speaking engagement on Friday, so this was as soon as I could get to NY. I got in to Laguardia at 9:00 a.m., took a cab to my hotel, dumped my bag and hit the pavement - walking less than a mile down to Pier 94. Woohoo - I was excited and couldn't get there fast enough.

I don't know why I was surprised to see a REALLY long line snaking around the building - the OUTSIDE of the building. Note - if you decide to go, don't be cheap like me. I didn't want to pay a $6.95 service charge on a $28 ticket. If you had approached me in that line and told me you could get me to the front, I would have given you a $20. Buy your ticket in advance, pay Ticketmaster's service charge.



But, hey, who can be grumpy when waiting in line for a chocolate show? We were all bonding and speculating about what might be inside. Some people from the Chocolat Mathez booth came out and had mercy on us (this was brilliant marketing). They came out with a giant tray of delicious french Truffles and a postcard for their booth and their website. Now the website http://www.ncamarketing.com/ only offers a CASE of these truffles for $99, so they are obviously not targeting you and me! But they were damn good truffles and we were all pretty fired up about getting some chocolate as we waited.


The line moved slowly and the only other thing that happened of excitement was a monkey appeared. Not a real monkey, the mascot for Peanut Butter & Co. (I LOVE their stuff, by the way.) I also like monkeys.


I finally got inside, paid my $28 dollars (cash or check only! Take lots of cash if you go - a lot of the vendors aren't set up to take credit cards.) and hit the floor! Now I was planning to spend two days at the show. But you don't really need two days - one is plenty. But get there early. I LOVED the first part of the day - you could actually talk to people. As it got more crowded, it was just mobs of people trying to get everything they could for free. Ugh.


There were 56 booths, a chocolate fashion exhibit (some of the costumes from the fashion show held the night before), and some kid area (whatever - I have no kids and people who bring strollers to events like these should be slapped). I don't know what was happening in the kid area and I hope I never find out.


There were also two theaters where some awesome demos were held.


I'm not even going to pretend to go in order or to review every booth, but I'm going to give you a lot of intel because I think it's fascinating! The word on the street is that chocolate is the hot new gourmet food group! That tastings and appreciation of chocolate are becoming more and more popular. We are sooo on the cutting edge!


Green & Black's Organic had a booth - and they were giving samples - just little chunks - which was fine. I love their Almond Bar - it is jam-packed with almonds. I need to try more of their stuff - and get this - they gave out a coupon for up to $4.99 on any of their products. SWEET! They weren't selling - just giving out samples of all their bars (or almost all) and handing out coupons. Great idea!! No muss, no fuss and drives consumers to find their chocolate so they can buy it again and again. Brilliant!! Oh - they also have ice cream - can you imagine? I bet it is delicious!!


Lily O'Brien's - a chocolate cafe - was giving a bite-sized, individually wrapped (which was nice - everything else was unwrapped and you had to eat it immediately, usually just a tiny chunk of a bar).

This sample was very good - a very smooth toffee (nothing like Enstrom's crunchy toffee which I greatly prefer). Lily O'Brien's was really trying to get people to go to their Bryant Park Cafe - they offered a buy a beverage, get a beverage free card AND a spend $50 get a gift of chocolate worth $15 free flyer. If I lived in NY, I would definitely go check them out.

What I like about both of these approaches from a marketing perspective is that they know exactly what they want people who visit their booth to do. Redeem those coupons and complete the activities that would require. Well done! Good value immediately given to attendees with the potential for more value, and they can track results.

What I found at the show were some very friendly chocolatiers, some who seemed to be very arrogant, some who seemed furious that people weren't buying more, and many booths manned not by chocolatiers, but by sales reps. (Which I think may be the best way to go.) I have to say, that while it was really awesome to see the chocolatiers, most of them are horrible sales people. They don't interact well and are terrible at selling (and I was trying to buy!). Not all of them, but several. Maybe they are too close to the product. And there were hordes of wild-eyed people looking for freebies. It takes a seasoned sales rep to handle all that and not get crabby! But I also think it's the E-Myth (title of a book by Michael Gerber about being an entrepreneur) - just because you are fabulous at making chocolate, doesn't mean you're great at all aspects of running a business. And there's no shame in that!!!

It's what I've said before - do what you're good at, do what you love! Some people love chocolate more than people and that's okay!! That's why they're so awesome at making chocolate!! We're going to talk about the impact of others on us more in the next entry...