Tweet Sweet

So Halloween is less than 2 days away - have you got your costume ready yet? Well, here’s some interesting facts about Halloween Candy from the National Confectioners Association:

• Bite-sized chocolate candies are the post popular type of candy to be included in Halloween activities (76 percent), followed by bite-sized non-chocolate candies (30 percent).
• Twenty-six percent of households will include full-size candy (chocolate and non-chocolate) in their Halloween activities.
• Kids tell us that their favorite treats to receive when trick-or-treating are candy and gum. Eighty-four percent of kids said candy and gum are their favorites.
  • Chocolate preferred by 50 percent
  • Non-chocolate candy, 24 percent
  • Gum, 10 percent
• Kids’ least favorite items to get in their trick-or-treat bags were fruit and salty snacks like chips and pretzels.
  • Fruit, 1 percent
  • Salty snacks, 1 percent
  • Toys, 2 percent
  • Baked goods such as cookies/granola bars, 2 percent
  • Other, 2 percent
  • Don’t know, 5 percent
  • Don’t trick-or-treat, 3 percent
• Ninety percent of parents admit to sneaking goodies from their kids’ Halloween trick-or-treat bags.
• Parents favorite treats to sneak from their kids’ trick-or-treat bags are snack-size chocolate bars (70 percent sneak these), candy-coated chocolate pieces (40 percent), caramels (37 percent) and gum (26 percent).
• Parents least favorite goodie to take from their kids’ trick-or-treat bags is licorice (18 percent).
• When kids ages 6-11 years old eat candy, they prefer chocolate candy two-to-one over candy that doesn’t contain any chocolate.
• Kids ages 6-11 years old say if they were given lots of candy, they would
  • Share some with their family, 66 percent
  • Share the candy with their friends, 64 percent
  • Give some to their teacher, 26 percent
  • Keep it all for themselves, 7 percent
  • Don’t know what they would do, 2 percent

Paris, France is hosting its annual Salon du Chocolat for five days from Saturday Oct 28, gathering nearly 130 French and foreign chocolate specialists, and stocking up with about six tonnes of chocolate, not least for the catwalk shows of dresses made out of chocolate. This is the French version of the New York Chocolate Show I blogged about earlier when talking about the much smaller Utah Chocolate Show.

Chocolate has found its way into cosmetics, following a trend to mix fresh fruits and foods and applying them to the face. It was bound to happen knowing that chocolate contains numerous complex molecules whos benefits are still being tested. Most manufacturers tend to use cocoa butter, which has moisturizing and nourishing properties, but is easy and cheap to obtain. Using edible chocolate is not recommended because of the sugars and soy lecithin which is harmful to the skin.

Under its “Chocolatherapie” brand, Zelda Gavizon (an exibitor at the Salon) has developed a series of beauty products and considers cocoa to be a true cosmetic asset and not just a gimmick.

Read more about Chocolate in Cosmetics on Yahoo News

Halloween candy

Originally uploaded by qmchenry.

So I was over at Walmart tonight (a place I call affectionately “Wally world” since it sounds as circus-like as the store itself) and picked up a big bag of Halloween candy (Holy cow man, $8?). For the costumed kiddies come this Tuesday you might ask? Well, actually no, it’s for me. Since last year I got ONE trick-or-treater at my door, I don’t expect to get too many this year. I plan on consuming at least half the bag myself.

Mmmm. Swedish Fish… (as I dig into the bowl of candy)… Yum!

BTW, do kids still trick-or-treat in 2006? Or is it just my neighborhood that seems to have boycotted it? I remember that the local mall use to have a trick-or-treat, and the kids would go from store to store to get all their goodies. Perhaps giving away candy on Halloween could be encorporated into Tweet Sweet’s event plans?

So I’ve been hearing about Fried Coke quite a bit, as a break-out fair food for those who love their sweet fried treats.

Abel Gonzales, 36, a computer analyst from Dallas, tried about 15 different varieties before coming up with his perfect recipe — a batter mix made with Coca-Cola syrup, a drizzle of strawberry syrup, and some strawberries.

Balls of the batter are then deep-fried, ending up like ping-pong ball sized doughnuts which are then served in a cup, topped with Coca-Cola syrup, whipped cream, cinnamon sugar and a cherry on the top.

Even at nearly $5 a piece, Gonzales ran two stands at the State Fair of Texas and sold up to 35,000 fried Cokes.

Read the article on Yahoo News.

1,241
Number of U.S. manufacturing establishments that produced chocolate and cocoa products in 2004, employing 43,322 people and shipping $12.5 billion worth of goods. California led the nation in the number of chocolate and cocoa manufacturing establishments, with 136, followed by Pennsylvania, with 122.

515
Number of U.S. establishments that manufactured nonchocolate confectionary products in 2004. These establishments employed 22,234 people and shipped $7.2 billion worth of goods that year. California also led the nation in this category, with 76 establishments.

26 Pounds
Per capita consumption of candy by Americans in 2005; it is believed a large portion is consumed around Halloween.

For more fun facts, visit their Facts for Features Halloween 2006 page.

Have you started to see numbers and percentages appear on some of your chocolates and don’t know what they mean? Yup, American chocolate makers have begun labeling their bars according to cacao (pronounced KA-cow) content, a blend of cocoa solids and cocoa butter that combine to make chocolate, according to The St. Paul Pioneer Press in St. Paul, Minn.

Already common in Europe, this system brings to the industry a uniformity praised by bakers and chocolate experts. But they also worry that too few people understand it and are being misled by marketers pushing bigger-is-better attitudes. The article includes a guide to what cacao labeling can and can’t tell you, and what it means for the home cook.

In brief:
For eating, stick to less than 70 percent cacao. Because sugar tempers and enhances the flavor and texture of chocolate, bars with higher ratios can taste bitter and chalky.

For baking, chocolates be-tween 40 percent and 70 percent will work best in most conventional recipes. Chocolates above 70 percent may have textural problems in some recipes, such as a chocolate mousse cake.

If you can’t resist high cacao chocolate, use recipes specially formulated for it. Scharffen Berger, for example, has recipes on its Web site developed for its bars, including double chocolate cookies that use the company’s 99 percent cacao chocolate.

Don’t want to think about numbers? Stick within the 40 percent to 50 percent range for a good all-purpose chocolate.

For the full story click here.

So I ran across an article in Yahoo News today entitled Dunkin’ Donuts raids Krispy Kreme turf. It basically talks about Dunkin’ Donuts, with it’s emphasis in the Northeast, beginning to expand into the South and Southeast where Krispy Creme is king.

The article compares the two donuts like this: “Dunkin’ Brands Inc. is invading the South with a different sort of doughnut — thicker and cakier than the traditional Southern treat from Krispy Kreme, which is lighter, sugar-glazed and served hot.” It says that Dunkin’ Donut’s coffee, which is almost as popular as its donuts is one of the items that will help it stand up to Krispy Kreme’s when it moves into the south.”

My favorite donut as a kid - Winchell’s
I remember LOVING donuts as a kid. It was the perfect blend of bread (which I loved) and sweet (hey, I love sweet) and it was deep fried! I would always ask my mom to take me to Winchell’s which was the primary donut chain here growing up in Central Utah. They had this one donut that was about the size of 5 regular donuts that I would always order. Even though I ate “one” donut, it was practically like eating a whole half-dozen. I also liked twists and maple bars - I always felt like I was getting more donut for my buck.

But suddenly Winchell’s dissappeared. First the one in Orem, Utah on the main drag (State Street) was replaced by a check cashing place (those are the plague aren’t they?), and then the one in Provo, Utah on another main drag (University Ave) sat empty until they tore it down to build a new eating complex. Where was someone suppose to get a decent donut in this town?

Krispy Kreme comes to Utah
Then came Krispy Kreme into town in a big way. One if its first locations was on University Parkway right by the I-15 exit in Orem. I don’t know if it was the several year lack of donut locations, or just the typcial frenzy in Utah of a “new” place coming to town, but there were lines outside the store for days and days after it’s opening. Getting a hot Krispy Kreme was on everyone’s list. I just still think it’s amazing that there were several years between the closing of all the Winchell’s until someone stepped into fill the missing hole. I remember hearing several people mention - why doesn’t Dunkin’ Donuts move in?

So back to the article subject of Dunkin’ Donuts versus Krispy Kreme. I may be different than most, but I like LOTS of donut places to enter the market. The more the merrier. I get into different donut moods. One day I want a light crispy warm donut, the next a thick bready sweet donut. Isn’t life in its essense about having choices? Hogi Yogi, a local-brewed sandwich and frozen yogurt store jumped into the game over the past couple years and joined a donut store called “Glazies” to their family of locations - a thick bready donut that I love. Our company gets Branbury Cross donuts every-other friday, thanks to one of our energetic coworkers who knows that the sugar always gets us through the end of another week. I’ve heard about Tommie’s Donuts that are located in a couple gas stations around town - but never had a chance to try one of those.

What’s your favorite donut?

Day 2: Hot chocolate and chocolate mousse martini

Originally uploaded by l&coolj.

Now here’s a great Flickr photo from a recent visitor to Koko Black in Melbourne, Australia. I visited their website, an all flash-based chocolate treat with links to their history, products and menu. I found it interesting that they called their locations “Salons”, and they offer “chocolate lounges” where friends and family can retreat to for any occassion. From the few pictures they have inluded on their website the locations seems quite well done… very elegant. (Something I’d like to see for Tweet Sweet). Prices that appeal to the middle-class, but flavors, presentation and surroundings that look very high class.

smores wedding cake

Originally uploaded by The 10 cent designer.

Do you plump marshmallow take this plump marshmallow covered in chocolate sauce to be roasted over a hot flame? How’s that for an idea? Interesting dessert converted into a unique (and cute) cake.

So I get the newsletter from the Utah Chocolate Show people, and here’s something that sounds pretty fun that they just announced in the recent edition:

Registration Open on the Showpiece Class!
We recently announced one of our big new offerings at this year’s Utah Chocolate Show—a private, 3-hour chocolate showpiece class, where even beginners can learn to make chocolate sculpture.

Space is limited, and registration is officially open NOW!

Raymond Lammers, our award-winning instructor, is appearing on ABC4’s Good Things Utah this morning, showing the types of things he’ll be teaching in the class.

Because an entire sculpture cannot be created from the ground up in only 3 hours, students aren’t making their own sculptures, but they will observe every step of the process and sometimes even participate.

Even better, at the end of class each student takes home a complete kit with the tools needed to make their own sculpture at home!

As if that weren’t great enough, our kitchen sponsor Orson Gygi Co. is including in every student kit nearly $30 WORTH OF CALLEBAUT CHOCOLATE to get you started. (Just be sure to use it for a sculpture; you can always eat the good stuff later!)

Register for the class online at www.UtahChocolateShow.com or reserve your seat by calling Emily: 801.856.6599.

Here are some of the other amazing chocolate show pieces that their website links to.