Got Cocoa!

Thomas Jefferson said, “The superiority of chocolate, both for health and nourishment, will soon give it the same preference over tea and coffee in American which it has in Spain.” Although we have yet to truly reach that point with modern day hot chocolate surpassing tea and/or coffee. However, the tide may be changing? According to the International Business Times, the demand for cocoa for a March delivery increased “3 pounds, or 0.3 percent, to 1,120 pounds ($2,187) a ton after posting 17 percent gain last year.” On the other hand, coffee delivery for “March declined $23, or 1.1 percent, to $2,024 a metric ton.”

The value of the dollar vs. the euro plays a role in this equation as well…but I really don’t understand all of that extra stuff. All I care about is… Got Cocoa!

Expensive Cocoa Beans

Chocoholics beware! The price of cocoa beans and milk has gone up substantially, therefore so has the price of our hot chocolates and chocolate bars. One of the big boys, Hershey’s lead the price increase race on wholesale prices on their chocolate products and other companies have followed suit. This is the second price increase in a year which means customers will be paying much more for chocolate products. Hershey chocolate doesn’t have a high enough cocoa content for me (except for their Special Dark Chocolate and Cacao Reserve; but other companies already have my loyalty) . However, they own Scharffen Berger and Dagoba Organic chocolates. Both make are absolutely wonderful cocoa powder, hot chocolates and baking chocolates. The two companies were acquired a few years back and are being folded into the “Hershey” way.

Although I am going to age myself, I remember when candy bars were 25 cents! You can probably get something from McDonald’s $1 menu for the same price of a candy bar is now. At least you can justify that cocoa is good for you and that is why you MUST have a candy bar. But everyone knows you have to buy the dark chocolate to receive the true benefits of cocoa.

I personally was a little shocked that the increase was so swift. I went to purchase inventory of a very popular hot chocolate and it went up by $15.00 a case and the selling price by $3.00. Geez!