As of January 1, 2008, all updating of chocophile.com has been stopped and all new content will be posted on DiscoverChocolate.com

For the past year I have been busy writing a book on chocolate. I am very happy to announce that the book is almost on its way to the printer and that it has an official publication date ...

Discover Chocolate in DC - Washington, DC that is.

If you love chocolate (and I have to assume you do if you are reading this), then you might very well be interested in a chocolate-lover’s dream getaway weekend at the Historic Swann House near DuPont Circle October 19-21, 2007 ...

Spain generally considered to have among the most adventurous sensibilities when it comes to food - including chocolate. Recently, however, representatives from a couple of different companies have begun to challenge Spain’s front-runner status in this regard. For example, Zotter in Austria makes a coffee/mustard bar and Coppeneur in Germany has some equally interesting flavor combinations. Even normally staid Switzerland, who many might consider among the most conservative when it comes to flavor pairings in chocolate is getting into the act. We recently reviewed a few bars from the Supreme line from from Chocolat Frey (pronounced fray in English) which is headquartered near Zurich.

For everyone in the NY Metro area who is looking to do something fun with chocolate, the weekend of October 5-6 offers not one but two different possibilities, one in Doylestown, PA and the other in Lititz, PA - home of Wilbur Chocolate.

After more than a year’s work, my new book, Discover Chocolate, is now available for pre-order.

This first review just in: “[Discover Chocolate] will prove to be a welcome addition to anyone’s chocolate library and for those reading their first book on the subject, I see it as an excellent introduction. Not intimidating and very informative.  [Clay] talks about chocolate in a manner not found in other books, especially in this detail. ... I found [his] discussion of fermentation to be better than I have read in any other book.  [The] photo sequences of ‘Before the harvest,’ ‘After the harvest,’ and the section on manufacturing chocolate are all very detailed and clarified several of my own questions.  I especially appreciated the ‘Pink’ sections throughout the book, ‘The color of chocolate’ and ‘Facts for the obsessed’, to name only two.”—Brady.

Discover Chocolate contains what is most likely the most comprehensive chapters on pairing chocolate with “adult beverages” ever written. Marginal Revolution author Tyler Cowen and his readers have much to say about this topic, spurred on by mention of the book.

Hershey recently announced a new web site touted to be “the ultimate resource for all things chocolate.” As the editor and publisher of chocophile.com I thought I’d wander on by and find out for myself. ...

Have You Ever ...

• wanted to take an eco-tour to a warm place in the middle of winter?
• wanted to learn where cacao is grown and visit a plantation to see pods—up close and personal?
• wanted to see how chocolate is made using traditional techniques?
• wanted to learn how to make your own great-tasting chocolate at home?

Then you definitely want to join chocophile.com founder and editor Clay Gordon on a fascinating trip to Discover Chocolate in Belize from December 27th, 2007—January 2nd, 2008.

I co-hosted my first class in making chocolate in the home in December 2006 in conjunction with Jeff Pzena, New York Metro Discover Chocolate Meetup member and co-owner of the Cotton Tree Lodge (http://www.cottontreelodge.com) in the Toledo district of southern Belize. To a large extent, John Nanci, publisher of the web site chocolatealchemy.com has been leading the way in finding equipment that can be used to make chocolate at home. One thing that was missing was a winnower, so I started searching for plans for one on the Internet ...

Ever wanted to know if it was possible to make great tasting chocolate at home? Then this is the workshop for you, Saturday, February 11th in Manhattan.

DATELINE MILWAUKEE—Chocolate or beer? Now, lovers of brew and sweets won’t have to make the choice. Miller Brewing is launching a new holiday beer that’s sure to appeal to chocolate lovers. The company said Frederick Miller Classic Chocolate Lager is brewed with six different malts.

Hershey’s announced recently that it is getting into the gourmet chocolate business ... even after it purchased Scharffen Berger last year. The new product line, Cacao Reserve by Hershey™ will, according to the press release ... “offer a variety of superior flavors, pleasing textures and exotic aromas unlike any other chocolate.”

With all the great news in the headlines recently about how good chocolate (specifically cocoa) is for you, the FDA says it’s too soon for manufacturers to be making some of the claims they are making ...

Organized by industry consultant Curtis Vreeland, the first Next Generation Chocolatier Competition was held two years ago in an attempt to seek out up and coming chocolatiers who hadn’t yet achieved national recognition in some form or another. This year’s competition relaxed the rules for entry and saw many established chocolatiers provide work for judging including several chocolatiers who participated in the first competition.

Sponsored in part by World Tea Expo, Tea Magazine, Ito En, and the specialty tea company Harney and Sons, the theme for this year’s competition was tea-infused chocolates ...

Canadian chocolate bar make Botticelli spent nearly two years patenting a process that enables them to add Omega-3 rich fish oils to chocolate. “It’s a great way for consumers to get the benefits of fish oil without the “burp back factor” of standard supplements, said Sam MacDonald, vice president of sales.” Am I the only one who thinks that this is a bad idea?

Dagoba Organic Chocolate is recalling 40,000 pounds of bars, bricks and drops because of high levels of lead in the products. The raw organic cacao from which the recalled chocolate was made came from a single supplier in Ecuador in a region of volcanic soils. Dagoba, founded in 2001, has built a reputation as a manufacturer of high-end chocolate, sold through specialty and organic foods stores. For the full story, click here.

Are you ready for milk chocolate made with camel’s milk? Camel milk chocolate is due to hit store shelves after an Austrian chocolate maker joined forces with an Arabic camel farm. The chocolate, which is to hit the Arabic market this autumn, is called Al Nassma, after the cool wind that blows in the desert. And the chocolate is expected to be introduced to the EU market after its launch in Abu Dhabi in the autumn. ...

Beginning April 20th, 2006, chocophile.com editor and publisher Clay Gordon will be hosting inexpensive regular chocolate “Meetups” at the Chocolat Michel Cluizel Boutique in NYC ...

As reported recently, Scharffen Berger has agreed to be bought by Hershey Foods. ...

There is a lot of interest these days in “healthy” and nutritious chocolate, as well chocolate items that cater to people with special dietary needs and/or special dietary requirements. These include chocolates for people who are lactose-intolerant or allergic to casein (a protein in milk) as well as people interested in Vegan products and environmentally sensitive products. Choco Soy soy-milk chocolates have been formulated for people like these. But how do they taste? ...

When the father of one of the founders of Chuao developed type 2 diabetes, he (the co-founder of Chuao) went to work to create a chocolate bar that his father could eat and that also met hist standards for taste and edibleness. This is a challenge that many chocolatiers have been working on and that few do very well, and one of the reasons why is that most chocolatiers don’t make their own chocolate and are therefore captive to what they can purchase from the large manufacturers. I doubt that Chuao is making their own chocolate and I doubt that they are large enough to request a custom formulation (not enough volume to make it economical) from one of the large manufacturers, but they’ve managed to create a trio of very welcome additions to the world of sugar free chocolate bars ...

When is chocolate not really chocolate? When it’s overstuffed with really healthy stuff like phytonutrients. Cocoa is actually pretty healthy with lots of trace minerals, flavonoids, and polyphenols that are good for heart health. Adding phytonutrients to chocolate is overkill and that is exactly what Null does to this bar ... kill it.

Have you ever taken a close look at the Hershey’s Special Dark® label? I’ve been told that it’s the best selling dark chocolate in America. But it’s not—it might be a big seller, but it’s not dark chocolate. Wait, but maybe it is ...

When a company as large as Starbucks makes a bet on “Capturing the spirit of ancient drinking chocolate and the European chocolate house tradition” you can be sure they’ve done their marketing homework. Cast as a “drinkable dessert,” how does Chantico stand up to the competition?

Deadly violence in Ivory Coast has shut down cocoa exports from the world’s largest producer, closing ports that ship more than 40 percent of the world’s raw material for chocolate ...

Let’s face it, as much as we like high end chocolate, we all have secret chocolate obsessions for one or two particular candies that, no matter how sophisticated our palates become, we always have a yearning for. Over at TheChocolateCritic.com I shared with you some of mine ... and now it’s your turn to share yours with the rest of us.

Katrina Markoff, founder of Vosges, is in tune with the times. Perhaps best among her peers, Katrina has learned the lesson taught by Howard Schultz and Starbucks: She’s not just selling chocolate, she’s selling lifestyle—chocolate as a fashion accessory. You go into a Vosges boutique and you get a lesson in flavor as well as the option to buy apparel, handbags, and videos. Oh, and chocolate, too.

There is a danger in this, especially if the chocolate does not live up to the expectations that are set. Virtually without exception, the chocolate challenges most people’s conceptions of what flavors chocolate can be paired with; sadly, the execution is not always up to the idea.

A Reader Writes, “Your site is most interesting. My husband is a wine person and I’m always telling him how much more complex chocolate is. He claims it doesn’t have enough bouquet to interest him. Do you know anything about the varieties and intoxicating qualities of chocolate’s aroma? Or, anything I could read so we can settle this? Thanks in advance for your help with these questions.” Dear Reader: Normally disputes like this are left to Dear Abby or Miss Manners, but seeing as how you’ve asked me to address this particular marital, um, disagreement, I will do my utmost to provide satisfactory resolution ...

Interaction is at the heart of a successful web site. In some cases, the interaction gets hidden, visible only to the few people who take part in the discussion and those who happen across it as they browse through the site. On this page I will list some of the more interesting discussions that are taking place so that you may join in. ...

I have to admit that I have not been a fan of Godiva. Although possessed of an excellent reputation and one of the most iconic packages in America (the signature gold ballotin is right up there with Tiffany’s blue box), the chocolate itself no longer lived up to the tradition in my opinion. (Read my original article.)