Chocolate Chunky

Most people don’t need to read an article on where to buy a good dark chocolate bar, and we won’t bore you with useless information on how you can go to the store. Chocolate bars are found in any supermarket, really. But if you’re a big fan of “Kisses”, “Kit Kats”, or Reeses Peanut butter cups, then there is one company you should know about that has been making these iconic brands. In this article, we will touch on two of North America’s premier chocolate producers: Hershey’s and Dove Chocolate

Hershey’s

The story of Milton S Hershey is a classic rags to riches, never give up success story. The company has its origins in humble beginnings, but today it is the largest North American chocolate and confectionary producer with revenues of up to $5 billion. It was all started by a young man who would never give up; Milton S. Hershey. He was only 19 when he first started his own candy business in Philadelphia, PA.  This candy company along with a second venture later in New York City failed. Milton Hershey was not daunted by any means. He finally tasted success back in Lancaster, PA when he started his Lancaster Caramel Company. The business grew along with his reputation as a successful entrepreneur. But it wasn’t until 1893 during The World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago that Hershey became fascinated with chocolate making and became aware of the growing demand of chocolate worldwide. At the time, making quality milk chocolate was a closely guarded secret by the Swiss chocolatiers. His angle was the idea of making quality chocolate bars for the masses. So, after much trial and error, Hershey perfected his milk chocolate recipe and developed the Hershey Chocolate Bar, and thus, the Hershey Chocolate Company was born.

Today, the product line of the Hershey Chocolate Company consists of names such as Almond Joy, the Heath Bar, Hershey’s Chocolate bar, Hershey’s Extra Dark Chocolate Bar, Hershey’s Kisses, The Kit Kat bar, Reeses Butter Cups, Mounds, Payday chocolate bar, and the York Peppermint Pattie, to name a few. Hershey’s makes quality chocolate bars for the masses and can be found anywhere food is sold!

 Dove Chocolate

The Dove Chocolate Company is another great brand for dark chocolate bars. The Dove Chocolate Company has its origins in the 1950’s. Founded originally by Leo Stefanos, the company was later sold to M&M/Mars in the mid 80’s. The Dove product line consists of really tasty dark chocolate bars such as their Pure Silk line and their Promises silky smooth dark chocolate bars as well as their original and very popular chocolate-covered ice cream bar: the Dove Bar.
Their Dove dark chocolate miniatures always go over well, and each piece of this dark chocolate is individually wrapped with a special promise note inside. This makes the chocolate just that much more special. There are also the Dove rich dark chocolate covered almonds, and now you can enjoy whole roasted almonds surrounded by the delectable, delicious  rich dark chocolate.

Or perhaps you would prefer the Dove dark chocolate large tablet bar, which is a huge dark chocolate bar, one that you can share with family or friends or savor on your own. These bars are perfect for multiple occasions including everyday indulgence, baking/cooking, dessert, and parties. These are just two of the many different companies that feature dark chocolate products, so take a bit of time to see what else is out there.

Chocolate candy is definitely the best present to give someone for their birthday or any other day that is classed as special such as, Valentine’s day or Mother’s day, Chanukah, and Halloween. Lets not forget that chocolate would also make a fantastic gift at Christmas too. The amazing thing with this type of candy is it seems that presentation is just as important as the product itself.

Chocolate candy looks fabulous in good packaging:

Many individuals who eat chocolate usually like many different sorts, from the cheapest to the more expensive gourmet ones. This is cool when it comes to purchasing a chocolate gift for them, because as long as the packaging looks high-quality you can go for a less costly brand. You will not have to spend all your money on the gourmet ones, that is unless you want to. Its amazing to find that an Hershey’s Kiss will take some beating for both taste and price.

Chocolate candy is actually quite inexpensive, therefore you could be a little extravagant and a tad crazy about how you present the candy. A fun idea would be to have some sort of theme like buying some chocolate balls and wrapping them to look like basketballs and baseballs is a fantastic way to please the sporting person in your life. Making a plastic baseball helmet, or football helmet and filling them with these sports themed chocolate is a super idea for a gift.

Another creative gift would be to buy chocolate candy in the shape of little dogs, wrap them, and put them in a feeding bowl and present them to that dog lover in your life. You could also make this gift idea work with the cat lover as well, all you would do is buy some fish shaped chocolates and repeat the process of wrapping them and placing them in a fish or feeding bowl. Let your imagination run riot, you know you want to.

Chocolate fruit:

Another creative and possibly crazy idea that would definitely fit into a theme, would be to find some fruit covered chocolates, like chocolate covered fruit peels and marzipan fruit and create a fruit chocolate fruit salad. Chocolates that are orange tasting are occasionally sold in slices, like actual oranges, so making sure your fruit salad looks like it was made of genuine fruit, and not chocolate candy is where your imagination and inspiration can have a blast.

Use your imagination when choosing your chocolate candy gift basket:

Laughing at funny and creative gift baskets is part of the pleasure your friend or loved one gets when receiving a gift of chocolate candy. You could take chocolates left over from Christmas and re-use them for another occasion. For instance, chocolate lips and hearts normally reserved for Valentine’s Day would work in a romance themed basket at any time of the year.

Now all you need to do is have fun, and have the individual your giving the gift to in mind when thinking of a topic for your chocolate candy gift basket.

A while ago I decided to a be chef and make some gourmet food for a party, I actually ended up making truffles, and boy, were they a big hit with all my friends, who all made the assumption they were gourmet chocolates purchased from a trendy candy or gourmet food shop. Be warned! Creating your own gourmet chocolate can be fairly difficult, and it takes time and patience, nevertheless, on the optimistic side it gives you the opportunity to choose from recipes that may not be so simple to get in the neighborhood candy store.

The key to making amazing gourmet chocolate:

Choosing and buying the ingredients of your gourmet chocolate is part of the fun. To start with I melted excellent quality dark chocolate over a double boiler. Secondly I rolled some small balls from marzipan and covered them with chocolate. Finally I rolled the chocolate covered marzipan in ground almonds, I also rolled chocolate covered peanut butter in more chocolate and then gave them a covering of ground peanuts.

Making chocolates opens up your creative juices, and so when making your own gourmet chocolates, you can create many different variations like, chocolate covered candied ginger, chocolate covered citrus peels; even chocolate covered chili peppers, wow.

Sharpen your sculpting talents when making gourmet chocolate:

A popular TV chef had a recipe for a honey chocolate cake, which inspired me to make a honey marzipan truffle.

• Start by getting the chocolate ingredients.
• Then melt the chocolate over the double boiler.
• Add a little honey, this will create a nice glaze.
• Now get the marzipan and with a paring knife carve some simple shapes like flowers, bunnies or hearts.
• Then dip the shaped marzipan carefully into the chocolate and let the chocolate set on the marzipan.
• Then dust them with confectioner's sugar.
• The glaze will be a little sticky, so the sugar will stick.

This will make a great gift for all occasions, and is an especially good idea for gourmet chocolates, because you can make the marzipan into any shape to suit the occasion, and finish off by dusting them with the confectioner’s sugar.

A Fantastic gift for someone you care about:

It’s difficult to find someone who doesn’t like chocolate, so as gifts they are an excellent choice to show someone you care. By making chocolate yourself, you can take your time, and make them look great for that special person in your life. Food and wine followed by some gourmet chocolates will definitely score you some brownie points.

Gourmet chocolates are normally made by master chocolate makers, there's no pressure here, but be sure you don't make something thats looks terrible and boring, because this will defeat the object of making them yourself. If the chocolates you create are lumpy, uneven or mis-shaped people will not think much of them. You need to be sure the quality is fantastic when offering your friends some of your gourmet chocolate.

Forbes Inc. has rated this chocolate company as one of their favorite.
Their products are perfect for gifts in any occasion. Take a look at the great varieties.
You can customize your assortments. Over 41 different tantalizing combinations of chocolate
goodies are available, combining flavors such as mint, pistacchio, hazelnut, lemon zest,bourbon,
almonds, apricot bergamote….and the list goes on.
Just take a look and enjoy the journey: