PRODUCT WATCH: Check In To The Hotel Chocolat

Some of Hotel Chocolat’s “luggage.”   People who love luxury chocolates have a new destination: the website of Hotel Chocolat. The British company, founded 14 years ago, has just launched a U.S. website to enable Americans to try their lovely wares. The company makes chocolate with flair (the website photos show people in scenes that…
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TREND: Organic Coffee

Sales of organic coffee are growing so fast these days, that most other categories can only be envious. U.S. retail sales of organic coffee increased 24% in 2006 to $110.36 million, impressively outpacing the 15% growth of organic foods in general, according to the 2007 Organic Manufacturer Survey conducted by the Organic Trade Association (OTA).…
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NEWS: Great Tomatoes, Year-Round

Backyard Beauties: A great tomato is joy.   If New England’s Backyard Farms inspires farmers in other regions, Americans with a taste for quality tomatoes may be able to get them year-round. Once September arrives in northern climates, delicious, locally-grown tomatoes disappear and tomato lovers have only the memories until the warm weather returns. Tomatoes…
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TREND: Olives—More & Better

According to the Trade Institute of Spain, the U.S. consumes about 170,000 tons of olives annually—about 1.1 pounds per inhabitant. Olives are seen as healthy snacks and are consumed in salads, in pizzas and on sandwiches. Even though the U.S. is a producer of olives, most of our olives are black olives used for olive…
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CONTEST: Spice It Up

Most people don’t realize they should throw away their spices regularly. Others hate to throw things away on principle. But McCormick, the largest spice company in the world, is offering a spice check challenge. First, you can test the age of any McCormick product on their website, SpiceCheckChallenge.com. Just enter the code on the bottom…
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