Invite 43'ers to make a list of 43 Chocolate Sites for Worldwide Chocolate Tour

What a treat!

Went to New York City a couple weeks ago and when we sat down to rest near Rockefeller center, voila’ there was a chocolate shop right in front of us. Champagne Truffles became the big splurg that weekend!

PD

One does not often get to visit Duluth Minnesota, particularly in the winter, but this is what I did about two weeks ago. During the trip I visited “Torke Weihnachten” for a cup of cappucino, a sampling of German chocolates and a tour of delightful Christmas ornaments. My ancestry is, in part, German and we had a few old German ornaments on our Christmas Tree when I was growing up, and it was nice to remember them as I browsed the shop. It was a great little place to get in out of the cold; the waitress was very pleasant and helpful, too. So, if you are in that corner of the world, do not despair, there is a place to satisfy your chocolate needs….
PT

http://www.torke.com/Confections.htm

1. Rogers Chocolates – Victoria, BC, Canada
2. Zotter in Bergl, Austria (Chili chocolate!)
3. Haigh’s in Australia

It is neat to now recognize some famous chocolate names. Thanks 43’ers for your contributions!

MSNBC.com

A chocolate heaven for anyone who’s a fan!
It’s time once again for the annual New York Chocolate Show and ‘Today’ food editor Phil Lempert has the scoop on the best sweets this year. By Phil Lempert, “Today” Food Editor
Updated: 11:38 a.m. ET Nov 10, 2006

Imagine, 400,000 square feet of the most interesting, most indulgent and most delicious chocolates from around the globe. One of the best benefits of attending the New York Chocolate Show, besides having my taste buds dancing, is that you can actually learn all about the making and finishing of chocolates, attend chocolate cooking demonstrations and actually meet some of the world’s finest chocolatiers.

Why is chocolate worthy of its own show and taste extravaganza?
Do you really need to ask? There’s something undeniably mystical and irresistible about chocolate. The creamy, silky texture, the deep, dark, elegant color, the exquisitely sweet, rich flavor, the tantalizing aroma — the seductive characteristics of chocolate can arouse the senses and send one’s pulse racing to new heights. The experience of a forbidden piece of pure chocolate deliberately melting on the tip of your tongue is sheer ecstasy, one of life’s most pleasurable moments. No wonder chocolate is often referred to as decadent and why it was forbidden in strict religious groups. Indulging in the luxurious stuff feels so good it must be bad…here are my picks of this year’s best!

Chocolat Michel Cluizel Once Upon a Bean: A tasting tour of chocolate production, from the unroasted cacao bean to the superlative final chocolate creation. The package includes cocoa butter, cacao mass, cacao nibs, and several samples of white chocolate, blended 45 percent Grand Lait chocolate, 72 percent perfect Noir chocolate, 85 percent Grand Noir chocolate and a single plantation dark chocolate. Also included is a booklet which guides you through the chocolate making process and introduces you to the art of fine chocolate. – chocolatmichelcluizel-na.com

With the European influence:

(L.A.) Burdick Mice & Penguins: The mice and penguins are Larry Burdick’s signature novelty chocolate, adopted from the chocolatieres of old Europe, who used leftover pieces to create whimsical figurines for children. – burdickchocolate.com

John & Kira’s Fall Fig “Pumpkin” Bonbons: They take fragile calabacita figs from Spain, fill them with a delectable whiskey clove ganache, and dip them in a thin layer of white chocolate tinted a perfect shade of pumpkin. – johnandkiras.com

Donna & Company – Cielo (means heaven in Italian) Tuscan Style Chocolates:
Cielo Cherry Balsamic: A dark chocolate ganache with decanted balsamic vinegar enrobed in dark chocolate and garnished with a cherry piece. Decanted balsamic vinegar imparts a taste similar to sweet port wine which offsets the rich dark chocolate components.
Cielo Crema Tricolore: Three layers of heaven: giaduja, hazelnut and dark chocolate. The layers merge and interact with each bite, creating a swirl of flavors that shift playfully and linger on the palate.
(shopdonna.com)

Berkshire Bark: Top quality Belgian chocolate:
Midnight Harvest: Callebaut dark chocolate, fresh roasted almonds & hazelnuts, dried cranberries, fresh orange zest.
Mocha Buzz: Callebaut milk chocolate, fresh roasted almonds, homemade caramel, cocoa nibs, crushed coffee beans.
White Lightning: Callebaut white chocolate, fresh roasted cashews, crystallized ginger, fresh lemon zest.

For those who love their chocolate covered everything….

Kopper’s Chocolates Dazzle Collection: Almond Jewels: Whole dry-roasted, premium select almonds are covered in a rich dark chocolate, and then finished in a new, utterly unique dazzle-jeweled finish. Each piece is literally a work of art. These pieces look like they are foil wrapped or have a thick candy shell, but they’re not. There is just a paper thin touch of dazzle color right on the outside of the chocolate. kopperschocolate.com

SweetRiot: World’s first line of chocolate-covered cacao nibs, so you can experience the real and true flavor of chocolate — the cacao bean! Available with 50 percent, 65 percent or 70 percent dark chocolate. – sweetriot.com

For that extra bit of antioxidant power!
Dina’s Chocolate certified organic, 74 percent cacao, no refined sugars and dairy-free.

Dina’s Chocolate 74% Cacao Dark Chocolate with Organic Goji Berries: Dark chocolate is liberally blended with whole organic Himalayan goji berries. Goji berries are considered to be one of the most concentrated food sources of antioxidants. These bars are rich in nutrients and bursting with goji berries’ delicious flavor!

Dina’s Chocolate 74% Cacao Green Tea Dark Chocolate: This 74 percent Cacao Dark Chocolate is infused with the finest organic Japanese green tea. The result is a chocolate bar as smooth as milk chocolate that is packed with antioxidants.
(dinakhader.com)

And for those who love their chocolate as art….

Knipschildt Chocolatier: New exotic chocolate bars in three flavors called Eve Kitten. Knipschildt has been working with illustrator Nancy Bacick, who’s artwork has been screen printed on top of three sexy chocolate bars: Coffee (a rich milk chocolate bar), Rose (A 70 percent dark chocolate bar), and Cherry (a 70 percent dark chocolate bar)

Truly Jörg’s Pâtisseries Chocolate Sushi Samplers: They look like real sushi, but these are hand made and hand painted chocolate and marzipan “sushi” samplers flavored with all-natural essences and tinted with all-natural food coloring. Flavors include: Apricot, raspberry lemon, cinnamon, praline, orange, white chocolate and mocha with almond flavored “wasabi” and ginger flavored white chocolate garnish plus a chocolate dipped fortune cookie.

And now a new study by Ciara McCabe and Edmund Rolls of Oxford University in England, found that people who crave chocolate, or even just looking at a picture of it, turns on pleasure centers in the brains of cravers far more than in people who don’t crave the confection. Viewing pictures of chocolate also activates an area of the brain known to be involved in drug addiction.

Chocolate is a mood enhancer
Now that the myth that chocolate is bad for us is behind us, let’s talk about what it is about chocolate that makes so many of us swoon? It turns out that chocolate is a mood-enhancer after all. Chocolate contains phenethylamine (PEA), which stimulates the nervous system, triggering the release of endorphins, opiate-like compounds that dull pain and give a sense of well-being. There are also chemicals in chocolate that increase the activity of dopamine, a neurotransmitter directly associated with feelings of sexual arousal and pleasure. Additionally, chocolate can also boost brain levels of serotonin, the happy neurotransmitter, especially in women who tend to be more sensitive to chocolate than men. And yet another way chocolate can make us feel good is by inhibiting the natural breakdown of anandamide, a neurotransmitter normally found small amounts in the brain, which can produce a feeling of euphoria. Scientists question whether the concentrations of these chemicals present in chocolate can actually produce a significant affect on our moods. But many women will contend that research or no research, satisfying a chocolate craving can work wonders.

When you do want to indulge, choose the darkest, richest chocolate you can find made with quality cocoa butter. Chocolatiers such as many of the European chocolatiers who were at the New York Chocolate Show (and listed below) make dark chocolates containing 70 percent or more cocoa. The average chocolate bar contains about 40 percent. The higher the cocoa content the more beneficial the bar.

Phil Lempert is food editor of the “Today” show.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15620540/
© 2006 MSNBC.com

By Belinda Goldsmith

NEW YORK, Sept 29 (Reuters Life!) – Slices of chocolate pizza. Syringes that squirt liquid chocolate into your mouth. Warm double chocolate fondue.

Israeli restauranteur Max Brenner’s new chocolate bar off New York’s Union Square, Chocolate By The Bald Man, caters for chocoholics of all ages—and is pretty much a disaster for anyone trying to watch their weight.

Brenner has opened 19 restaurants worldwide in the past six years - in Australia, Israel, Singapore and the Philippines - but this is his first in the United States with plans to open a second in New York’s East Village later this month.

Sitting in his restaurant that has the feel of a European cafe but with zany wallpaper and pipes across the ceiling giving it the look of a chocolate factory, Brenner explains that he set out to create a chocolate culture.

“I believe chocolate for people is not just about taste. It’s about memories, about fantasies, about fun,” the bald-headed Brenner told Reuters as he melted, mixed and poured a variety of chocolate concoctions.

“People want the whole chocolate experience. A ritual. So I created a ceremony around chocolate with special cups and utensils.”

841 Broadway (Cross Street: Between 13th Street and 14th Street)
New York, NY 10003

“Strength is the capacity to break a chocolate bar in four pieces with your bare hands—and then just eating one piece” – Judith Viorst

“It’s not that chocolates are a substitute for love. Love is a substitute for chocolate. Chocolate is, let’s face it, far more reliable than a man.” – Miranda Ingram

“What you see before you, my friend, is the result of a lifetime of chocolate.” Katherine Hepburn

“Exercise is a dirty word. Every time I hear it I wash my mouth out with chocolate” – Charles M. Schultz

“Research tells us fourteen out of any ten individuals like chocolate.” – Sandra Boynton

“My therapist told me the way to achieve true inner peace is to finish what I start. So far I’ve finished two bags of M&M’s and a chocolate cake. I feel better already.” – Dave Barry

“A new British survey has revealed that 9 out of 10 people like chocolate. The tenth lies.” – Robert Paul

“Chemically speaking, chocolate really is the world’s perfect food”. – Michael Levine, nutrition researcher

Don’t miss this entry (under list #2). This company has cafe’s, stores, wedding favors and CHOCOLATE PENGUINS!

What more can you want? (Especially while watching “March of the Penguins”)

http://www.43things.com/entries/view/945671#comments

A new place for our tour is in my hometown, Philadelphia, where the “Naked Chocolate Cafe” just opened.

Looks good…..

Now in Center City, a Bar for Chocoholics!

by KYW’s Hadas Kuznits

There’s a new café in Philadelphia that gives folks a sweet alternative to the center city bar scene.

It’s a chocolate bar - literally a bar - and it’s called the “Naked Chocolate Café,” owned by Tom Block and his daughter:

(Kuznits:) “I’ve seen your menu—it’s a 100-percent chocolate menu.”

(Block:) “That’s pretty much on purpose. We do have some non-chocolate items, but it’s 100 percent good—that I’ll say.”

And the kitchen is open, so you can watch through the glass to see how they use the processing machines.

(Block:) “I’ll show you how it works, if you want. This basically tempers our chocolate. I’m gonna turn it on and show you—“

(Kuznits:) “Oh my goodness. There is a vat of chocolate in front of me!”

(Block:) “We have chocolate coming down, we can put different heads on here and we have a lot of different molds that we fill with chocolate.”

Naked Chocolate Café is at 1317 Walnut Street. Block says a lot of customers come over after the theatre instead of stopping at the bars.

By the way, it’s not a clothing-optional establishment. “Naked chocolate” is a candy manufacturing term that refers to the refined cocoa before sugar, milk, or other flavorings are added.

see link: http://www.nakedchocolatecafe.com/visitvid.html