Continuous improvement works for allYesterday, I spent most of my time attending the American Association of Candy Technologists’ (AACT) National Technical Seminar in Lincolnshire, Ill., a northern suburb of Chicago
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Last week, I came across two food stories that made me stop and think about what role confectioners have in the “grand scheme” of things. The great “candy’s role in the diet and nutrition” question came about as a result of seeing Time magazine’s cover story (Sept. 12, 2011 issue) on “What to Eat Now” as well as watching a news clip on Plumpy’Nut being produced by Edesia in Providence, R.I.
When you walk into Dulce Landia, you can’t help but feel an intense urge to find a bat and swing it as hard you can - at the pinatas. Dulce Landia, which roughly translates to “candy land,” is a Chicago area-based chain of confectionery stores that specializes in products imported from Mexico and other South American countries.
I’ll never forget how Larry Hassler described Pearson’s Salted Nut Roll to me when I visited the company back in June 2007. “It’s like eating a salad,” he smiled, noting that the peanuts, nougat center and caramel provided similar components found in a salad (legume, dairy product, sweet dressing). Although peanuts are technically a legume, I don’t think even Hassler could get away with a labeling change, even if he were to call the famous Salted Nut Roll “salad-like.”
On the surface, it seems like the Hershey protesters from Change.org have finally found the one issue that’s black and white. But, of course, no issue is black and white, and this one in particular is more of a cocoa brown color.
The news broke early in the morning. I was just taking another sip of coffee and flipping through the sports section of the Chicago Tribune (one has to have priorities in the morning) when I heard about Kraft Food’s decision to split its business into two separate entities, snack and grocery.
Mars Chocolate North America recently released data from a poll that will promptly be filed under “obvious” - Americans apparently want more chocolate, vacation and sleep, but less celebrity gossip, reality TV and bickering politicians.
I found myself trying to come up with an appropriate term for an that ran on SmartMoney’s website this past Monday. The terms “yellow journalism” and “tabloid journalism” were a bit too harsh, although the misleading headline had me leading toward those descriptors.
There’s nothing better than the smell of baking chocolate chip cookies, or fresh-from-the oven bread. But who wants to go through the trouble of baking the cookies and putting the bread in the oven?
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