Sconza Capitalizes on Hershey’s Departure

The legendary chocolate company Hershey’s closed their 45-year old plant in Oakdale, California, this past February to relocate their production facility to Monterrey, Mexico. As one of the main sources of job opportunities for this small town of 18,500, the closure nearly devastated the town. However, a knight in shining amour has arrived!

Okay…maybe not a knight in shining amour, but family-owned company called Sconza. Sconza, a growing candy manufacturer previously based in Oakland, California, is relocating to the Oakdale area. Founded in 1939 by Vincent Sconza, the company is capitalizing on Hershey’s departure by relocating to a region saturated with confection making talent and excited to have a company stay in the good old USA.

Hmmm... Maybe they will add hot chocolate to their product line…?

The Chocolate Story

The other day, I came across a Google hot chocolate alert that sparked my interest. After clicking the link, I was brought to a press release about a book called The Chocolate Story: A sweet little fable. The book is “described as an inspirational fable that offers a lesson centered around hot chocolate.”

Penned by Rick Moser, the book evolved from stories he created and told to his children during long walks in the forest. With solid reviews from the local educational community as well as support from the International Cocoa Initiative of Geneva, Switzerland, The Chocolate Story will teach and inspire children from all walks of life.


The Chocolate Story is expected to be released this Fall with 10 percent of the book’s profits to be donated to the International Cocoa Initiative to end child slave labor in the cocoa industry.

The Chocolate Story Website

a stream of chocolate

Twenty-seven feet in height, Jean-Philippe Patisserie’s chocolate fountain is designated the largest and tallest volume chocolate fountain the world. Positioned on the outer edge of Jean-Philippe’s and encased in glass, this fountain of creamy goodness contains a blend of dark, milk and white chocolate streaming from the ceiling to the floor of the Bellagio Hotel. Numerous people were mesmerized by the fountain as they walked through the hotel’s passageway. With over two tons of chocolate freely flowing through the intricate shell-shaped designs, I personally experienced a vision of being in a sophisticated version of Willy Wonk and the Chocolate Factory.



It took some time to figure out how to transfer the chocolate fountain footage from my cell phone to make a somewhat decent video. I am terrible at figuring these techie things out, but I am having fun in the process. So, this is my last installment from my On a Hot Chocolate Mission segment. I’ll be heading to Washington, DC, soon where my hot chocolate adventures will continue!

In Search of Cocoa’s Genome

Recently, Mars, Inc., one of the largest privately held confections manufacturers in the US, The U.S. Department of Agriculture and IBM joined forces to map the DNA sequence of the cocoa tree.

Due to an increase in global demand, the fragile nature of the cocoa tree and the ferocious appetite of fungal diseases, such as Witches Broom and Frosty Pod Rot, weakening or eliminating various cocoa tree strains, cocoa has become the new “Gold”. Cocoa, the foundation of a $5 billion dollar chocolate industry, is currently trading on the stock exchange at a 28-year high. To quench a world-wide thirst for chocolate, a task force was formed consisting of $10 million in funding, advanced technology, scientists and agriculturalists to identify the cocoa tree’s DNA sequence to improve overall cocoa quality and create healthier crops with higher yields.

With the establishment of a research facility in Davao City, the largest city located on the Philippine island of Mindanao, and the use of a 24-hectare (59.31 acres) cocoa plantation located within the Malagos Garden Resort, the Philippines is designated ground zero for this research project. Currently ranked eighteen in global cocoa production, the Philippines is looking to increase their footing in the cocoa industry. Over the next five years, the task forces hopes to safeguard for the world’s cocoa production as well as assist in eliminating the tree’s estimated $700 million annual expenses due to fungal disease infestation.

Paradise in a Travel Cup

For some reason, I decided to make hot chocolate from scratch 15 minutes before I was suppose to walk out the door to start my commute to work. The theme of this hot chocolate masterpiece is…tropical.
To start this project, I selected Valrhona Cocoa Powder from France. Valrhona’s deep, reddish brown unsweetened cocoa powder is exceptionally fragrant and makes a wonderful cup of hot chocolate. Since the “Best By” date was April 2008, it was in my retail “expired” products box for me to create something, donate or discard. From there, I browsed the refrigerator for more inspiration. I pulled out a carton of Half-and-Half and a lemon. However, I needed a something to counter balance the lemon…LIME! Darn, no lime. But I had something even better…Key Lime and Myer Lemon Margarita Mix. The blend of Key Lime and Myer Lemon juice lacks alcohol, yet the flavor is intense.

The base of the recipe is as follows:
6 oz Half and Half
2 tsp Valrhona
Key Lime and Myer Lemon Margarita Mix
Sugar

Due to my time constraints, I planned on making only one formulation with 1 tbls of Key Lime and Myer Lemon Mix and 2 tbls of Demerara Sugar. However, after taking a sip of my masterpiece, I thought to myself, “too sweet.” Although I used Demerara Sugar, other sugars are fine. So, I elected to try to another formulation with less sugar.

The second recipe contained Half-and-Half, Valrhona, 1 tbls of Key Lime and Myer Lemon Mix and 1 tbls of Demerara Sugar. I planned on sharing this recipe with my friend that receives the many benefits of my hot chocolate escapades.

After creating two rounds of hot chocolate in my trusty double boiler, I poured the mini hot chocolate masterpieces into travel mugs. Too impatient to wait until I arrived at work, I snuck another sip. What a wonderful blend, but something was missing? Considering I hit the road 10 minutes late, I arrived at work on time and placed my friend’s hot chocolate on her desk. Since she had yet to arrive to the office, this will be a nice little surprise. I hope.

Without a hitch, she was in my office a few minutes with a coffee in one hand and my hot chocolate in another. How dare she bring coffee into my office :>. A discussion began over the newly minted recipe. She enjoyed the creaminess of the blend and the overall flavor. I mentioned how I thought my recipe was too sweet. She thought the sweetness was just right with one 1 tbls of sugar, but the recipe could use a little more tang from the Key Lime and Myer Lemon mix. I agreed. Too bad I am out of margarita mix to reconfirm our new findings. As for that mug of coffee, she was frowning while sipping it. After a blast of a zesty hot chocolate, nothing could compare.

Hot Chocolate on the Ballot

Whenever a mixed bag of Hershey's candy bars was around, I was the lone strange child looking for the "Special" Dark Chocolate candy bars. I promise you each bag had only two of those "Special" Dark Chocolate mini candy bars which always irritated me.

With that in mind, I was wondering how many people prefer dark hot chocolate vs. the milk hot chocolate? Or other types of hot chocolates?

I posted a one question survey on my blog to get your thoughts. Click to complete the hot chocolate survey.

Thanks for your feedback!