NEWS: Bad Crops Lead To Higher Cacao Prices

Cacao beans: victims of El Niño.   According to the International Cocoa Organisation (ICCO), the world’s current cocoa shortfall is now 55% larger than previously thought, due to adverse weather conditions that caused crop reductions over the 2006/2007 season. The global production deficit is now estimated at 242,000 tonnes. Severe dry and windy conditions affected…
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NEWS: Dark Chocolate Isn’t “Healthy”

Sorry, Charlie: You’re not “packed with healthy antioxidants.” At last—a medical journal has come out with what THE NIBBLE has been claiming for the past two years: Dark chocolate is not “health food.” Contrary to all of the claims touting the “antioxidant benefits of chocolate,” The Lancet, published in the U.K. and one of the…
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FOOD TIP OF THE DAY: Gourmet Hot Chocolate

We love those luxury, super-rich hot chocolates that can cost up to $25 a box. Some are simply chopped up bits of fine chocolate, so you can make your own for far less money by chopping up a good chocolate bar. Combine 1 ounce (3 tablespoons) of chopped chocolate with 1 ounce of whole milk…
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ON OUR RADAR: Interesting Nibbles From The Past Week

– The Los Angeles Times tastes 23 dark chocolate bars. While we agree with quite a few of their choices, their last-place bar, Theo’s 75% Ivory Coast, to which the Times ascribed “flat, chalky texture; there’s little chocolate flavor and no finish,” was ranked “phenomenal” by THE NIBBLE tasters earlier this year. We also liked…
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NEWS: Artisan Chocolatier Pierre Marcolini Goes Corporate With Nestlé

From left: Peter Brabeck-Lethmathe, Chairman and CEO, Nestlé S.A., Lars Olofsson, CMO, Nestlé S.A. and Pierre Marcolini, pointing to Marcolini’s Holiday Star And Truffles, coincidentally one of our recommended chocolate holiday gifts. A nice-looking group, but can’t Nestlé photographers do better than these “natural” point-at-the-goods shots?   One of our favorite artisan chocolatiers on earth,…
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