Saturday, January 20, 2007

Weekend Candy News & Links

Good Housekeeping magazine did a brief profile on Katrina Markoff, owner and creator of Vosges Haut-Chocolat. It’s a nice article but I think the best part is the 10% off online orders coupon code at the end. (My reviews on Vosges.)

Gourmet Magazine has a great focus on Milk Chocolate in their February 2007 issue. They’ve posted a ranked list online of the top 25 chocolates and some notes from their tasting panel. Biggest surprise on the list? Ghirardelli was ranked lower than Hershey’s. (Thanks Jessie for the heads up on that one.)

There’s big candy news brewing in Japan. Fujiya, a confectionery company that makes candy, drinks and snack cakes with the mascot “Peko-chan”, has admitted to using expired milk and perishable products in its products that were later tested to contain 10 times the acceptable levels of bacteria in them. Products have been recalled and removed from store shelves and the ubiquitous vending machines all over Asia. The scandal has grown as past cases of food poisoning from the sweets have been re-examined. The president has stepped down and there is talk that Morinaga may be poised to take a bigger stake in the company.

I’ve reviewed two of their items, the Feel Envy (part of the Feel & Platinum line that has had a limited release in the United States and Canada and more recently the High Conc. Milk Candy.

In heathlier news out of Asia, Lotte is discontinuing the use of trans fats (partially hydrogenated oils) in their confectionery. Trans fats are blamed for raising bad cholesterol leves and lowering good cholesterol. Lotte is known around the world for their Koala cream line of products. (My reviews of a couple of their products here.)

In slightly related news an alternative to partially hydrogenated oils is interesterified fat is now turning out to have similar (but not as dire) effects on cholesterol levels and may not provide the salvation that food manufacturers were looking for. I don’t know much about interesterified fat, but it appears it has another name ... biodiesel. 

POSTED BY Cybele AT 8:51 am     CandyNews

Comments
  1. Hey,

    They were only concerned with “baked” goods.
    I think it was mostly their fresh items for their specialty restaurants and bakery stores that were affected. Candy and other stuff should be ok from what I read.

    Kind of sucks though. I really like Fujiya chocolate! >_<

    ~J~

    Comment by j3nnee on 1/30/07 at 9:17 pm

     

Name:

Email:
(not published)

Location:
(not published - please don't put your address in there)

URL:

Comments may be held for moderation to prevent spam and other violations of the Candy Blog Comment Policy

Remember me!

Get updates to comments on this post?

Next entry: Fancy Food Show

Previous entry: Frangos Dark (62%)

Trackback URL: http://www.typetive.com/trackback/1291





 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ABOUT

FEEDS

SEARCH

  • Enter search term

CONTACT

EMAIL DIGEST

    For a daily update of Candy Blog reviews, enter your email address:

    Delivered by FeedBurner

CANDY RATINGS

TYPE

BRAND

COUNTRY

ARCHIVES

Meticulously photographed and documented reviews of candy from around the world. And the occasional other sweet adventures. Open your mouth, expand your mind.

 

 

 

 


image

COUNTDOWN

Candy Season Begins

53 days

 

 

   

 

VOTE IN THE POLL

Were your favorite candies better when you were a kid?
Total Votes: 121
Yes - but only because I had lower standards then
90 %  26% (32)
 
Yes - they've ruined everything good
79 %  23% (28)
 
Maybe - I can't be sure
45 %  13% (16)
 
Maybe - I've found new & better things since then
90 %  26% (32)
 
No - everything is better now
24 %  7% (9)
 
They don't actually make my favorite any longer
10 %  3% (4)
 

(see archived polls)

 

   Sweetservices.com

image 

image

image   

ON DECK

These candies will be reviewed shortly:

• Bloomsberry & Co. Chocolate: Climate Change Chocolate

• Jersey Milk

• GoNaturally Hard Candies

• Askinosie Chocolate

• Short & Sweet: Imported Candies

 

   

image 

 

 


   

image

image

   

image

image

  

image