Cocoa butter — a smooth, rich, dark brown paste that results from crushing delicate cocoa beans.  

Here’s some news to file under “obvious” — people in the United States love chocolate. In fact, they loved it $19.5 billion worth in 2011. 

When I first started working for Candy Industry more than a decade ago, my knowledge about the industry was at best rudimentary. It was also unbiased. Hence, when the first headlines about child labor began to surface, I did what every good journalist should: research the hell out of the topic.