A clever use of chocolate describes how an elementary teacher uses Hershey's chocolate bar to illustrate fractions.

"Michelle Lester, has been teaching 'chocolate fractions' to her students for a few years and said the students grasp the concept of fractions more easily with this idea.

"Students have to figure out fractions by moving the individual pieces of the Hershey bar."

Now, if only someone would bring on chocolate calculus!  

Indonesian hotel puts chocolate handbags on menu tells us that you can get life-size chocolate handbags now, although they only last for two months. "An Indonesian hotel [Mulia] is dishing out tasty totes with all the trappings of real bags from buckles and locks to fine crystals and buttons -- except instead of leather the bags are made of chocolate."

For a more bite sized version, try Choco Choco House's Chocolate Handbags (pictured left). In many "designer" styles, these confections mimic the great ones, including an exquisite little "Pravda." And if you really want to make your accessories match, they make shoes as well.

Could changes be coming for chocolate?

Gary Guittard, president of Guittard Chocolate Co. in Burlingame, Calif., is taking a public stand over a request submitted to the Food and Drug Administration to allow a product to be called chocolate even though vegetable fats are substituted for cocoa butter.

The war on chocolate

The FDA is thinking about allowing Big Chocolate to pass off waxy imitations as the real deal.

Our chocolate has got to be real

The FDA is entertaining a "citizen's petition" to allow manufacturers to substitute vegetable fats and oils for cocoa butter. The "citizens" who created this petition represent groups that would benefit most from this degradation of the standards. They are the Chocolate Manufacturers Association, the Grocery Manufacturers Association, the Snack Food Association and the National Cattlemen's Beef Association (OK, I'm not sure what's in it for them), along with other food-producing associations.

Sign a petition to keep our chocolate real

To help defend chocolate, visit www.dontmesswithourchocolate.com and learn how to submit feedback to the FDA.

Chocoholics unite!

This page, following its tradition of promoting truth and wholesome ingredients in food, stands for chocolate as it has been made for generations. Yet for the masses to rise up and beat down this proposal, many Internet surfers may find the FDA's Web site too incomprehensible to navigate. An easier way to defend chocolate is to visit the Web site http://www.dontmesswithourchocolate.com. The very future of chocolate as we know it hangs in the balance.

And, in case you didn't get the message, that petition page is:

Don't Mess with Our Chocolate

Directions for the non-intuitive petition submission process are here.

Have at it!

SkyNews reports in Chocolate Hits The Spot that "Researchers discovered romantically-involved couples responded more to chocolate melting in their mouths than snogging." ("Snogging," for the non-Brits among us, means "kissing.")

Of course, the test consisted of allowing chocolate to melt in your mouth without chewing it, and then kissing each other "as you normally would," with weirdly wired hats in a room where others are assumedly observing you. Brain waves in the pleasure zone were measured and compared.

So which would you respond to more? I know my chocolate score would be off the charts!  

NewsLocale.org reports in Dark Chocolate Scores Over Tea in Reducing High Blood Pressure:

"Foods like dark chocolate, which contain plenty of cocoa, may potentially reduce high blood pressure by acting in a manner similar to many blood pressure-lowering drugs, according to an analysis of previous studies by German researchers. Researchers from the University Hospital of Cologne examined data of five cocoa studies and five tea studies and concluded that dark chocolate and other cocoa-rich foods acted to reduce high blood pressure better than tea."

Time to change the name from High Tea to High Chocolate? 

In 'Slavery' behind Easter chocolate, BBC News tells of the thousands of children who are working as slave labour on West African cocoa farms.

The International Labour Organisation says 12,000 children have been trafficked to the Ivory Coast. A coalition of anti-slavery charities says they work long hours for no pay and little food on the plantations. British chocolate manufacturers said a certification scheme was being set up to tackle "unacceptable" conditions. The coalition, called Stop the Traffik, wants the manufacturers to declare chocolate "traffik-free" so consumers can be sure they are not supporting child slave labour.

Let's help the world become traffik-free with our support.  

Burdick Chocolates fine bunnies (pictured) are sure to please. "For the customers who have made our chocolate mice and penguins among our most popular items, we have created a line of hand-piped chocolate bunnies," said Paula Burdick, co-owner of L.A. Burdick Chocolate of Walpole, NH.

See's Candies offers a full line of beautiful Easter products, including their chocolate butter pecan egg.

Willy Wonka has created a special Golden Egg, just in time for Easter.  

You can even go organic and/or ethical with Abel & Cole's Easter eggs, or Whole Foods Market's imports from Iceland.  

Enjoy the holiday!

Studies of the indigenous Kuna of Panama, central America, show that their annual consumption of natural cocoa is up to 40 cups of cocoa a week -- and natural cocoa has high levels of epicatechin. This may be why the Kuna have low rates of stroke, heart failure, cancer and diabetes, only 10% of that of the Western average.

Sounds like a great prescription to me!

Some sweet news: Chocolate could be good for your memory explains:

"The beneficial brain effects [from chocolate] appear to stem from flavanols' impact on the blood system. In essence, the chemicals stimulate an increase of blood flow to the brain, particularly in areas that light up during tasks that require alertness. Experiments suggest this neurovascular activity is distinct from the well-known stimulant effects of caffeine."

In related news, hot chocolate is enjoying a resurgence as a winter drink. Hot chocolate holds steady as winter's power drink details the different ways hot chocolate can be enjoyed, whether with richer cocoa or with additions such as brandy or liquor. 

Sign me up!  

Creating chocolate isn't easy -- and it's an art

If you have ever made peanut butter at home, you know something about making chocolate. Making peanut butter is incredibly easy. You take peanuts, roast them, and then toss them in a grinder or a blender. The peanuts turn into peanut butter.

You can do exactly the same thing with cocoa beans. If you roast them and toss them in a grinder or a blender, you get a thick liquid called chocolate liquor. It smells absolutely heavenly.

Makes me want to whip up a batch right now!
 

• In Beaumont, Texas, Suga's Deep South Cuisine and Jazz Bar hosted a dessert-themed fundraiser to benefit arts programming for school-age children. The beneficiaries executive director said, "We wanted something really fun and casual where people could visit. Suga's pastry chef, Melissa Lavespere, really is excited about this. It's a wonderful opportunity for her to showcase her talents. She's doing a wide variety of desserts, from chocolate dipped strawberries to petit fours to a chocolate fountain. We'll also have wine and champagne and cappuccino drinks."
• Roanoke, Virginia, saw another chocolate-themed fundraiser, this time to support sending junior chefs to a regional competition. The event included a pantheon of scrumptious confections, including a dessert that was a combination of desserts -- french silk and Kentucky Derby pies. The layered creation included chocolate silk, a chocolate chip blondie, chocolate peanut butter fudge and chocolate ganache piled on an Oreo crust.
• In related news, YubaNet.com reports on the "greening" of cacao farming in Belize to help turn the tide on deforestation with shade-grown cacao. "Cacao trees, the source of those unusual seeds from which they make cocoa, are uniquely suited for organic, shade grown conditions. The low trees do best in the protection of the rainforest canopy, relying on the tall, mature trees to protect them from wind and sun and conserve soil moisture."
• Finally, in a public service decision above and beyond the call of duty, Mars Inc. in the U.K. has recently vowed to stop targeting children under 12 in their chocolate ads. "The US-based company is one of the world's biggest advertisers and it has a policy already in place of not advertising to children under six years of age. Its latest decision spurs from the debate over advertising and promoting junk food and the increasing rate of child obesity."