Today I have a link.

I think this is a thoughtful article about why it is important, from a business standpoint, to work and teach farmers sustainable farming practices.  Take a moment to read it when you can spare the time. 

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704608504576208123457763158.html?mod=dist_smartbrief

Bravo to Hershey!

Next weekend I will be throwing a birthday party for my youngest daughter.  Instead of cake, she wants to have s'mores; that wonderful and messy campfire dessert with graham crackers, marshmallows and a small or large portion of chocolate combined with fun and googyness make for a great memory treat.
I will not be using the chocolate I create as it is expensive and her little friends would not appreciate the flavors I work so hard to create.  I will be using Hershey's milk chocolate bars another comfort chocolate of my youth.  To use my chocolate would be like using a handful of Himalayan sea salt to flavor pasta water when regular salt would be best.  I shutter at the thought.  For me, every chocolate created has a place at my table, depending on who my guests will be and what I am serving.
Why would I mention this? Well, I have learned that  Hershey has funded a study that supports my post on the reduction of flavanols in cocoa beans when submitted to heat. Hershey's honesty and integrity make me proud to purchase their product. Many of the large chocolate companies are currently researching the health benefits of chocolate and they have been funding these studies for a long time. To have a health benefit while eating a much loved candy can only improve the bottom line. The study doesn't take away what appears to be a small cardiovascular benefit  from eating dark chocolate;  it calls into question what does it mean to have a raw cocoa bean. I have eaten a raw cocoa bean.  I have yet to see or eat a truly raw cocoa bean in California.  


I am trying to attach a link via the article to eBlogger but the link will not work.  I will try to get a working link soon.  Below is a copy and paste paragraph of the article in Confectionery News by Jane Byrne.

"The authors reported that in terms of the epi/cat ratio, the highest were found in unripe and ripe, unfermented dried beans. Fermentation and roasting lowered the epi/cat ratio further, with the lowest ratios found in Dutch-processed cocoa powders." Source: The Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry
DOI:10.1021/jf102391q
Title: Impact of Fermentation, Drying, Roasting, and Dutch Processing on Epicatechin and Catechin Content of Cacao Beans and Cocoa Ingredients
Authors: M.J Payne, W. J. Hurst, K. B. Miller, C. Rank, D. A. Stuart

Rising prices of cocoa beans, sugar and cocoa butter.

Our US newspapers in December 2010 and January 2011 were filled with bold headlines that the price of cocoa was going up.  A few people asked me with deep concern what was going to happen, how much more expensive was their favorite chocolate going to become, and if I thought a shortage of chocolate would be coming to the US soon.  I don't know. As a micro business, the costs to run it vary greatly as a matter of course and I can only watch and wait for the future to unfold. I will venture a guess that prices will rise and fall and then rise again as instability in the Ivory Coast continue.
The Ivory Coast provides a huge percentage of cocoa products to the western world and cocoa beans play an important role in the current call that the EU support a sanction of this product.  The hoped for result is that this will stop the large amount of monies flowing into the country that pay the civil servants, encompassing the military, police and other government employees.  If the civil servants don't get paid, maybe one man will stop being president and another will take his place.  Of course, this is an over-simplified view.
The middlemen, who include farmers, exporters and others, burned bags of cocoa beans in protest of the sanctions.  They have families to feed and the sanctions make this virtually impossible. Commerce is tied to politics and fear of lack is a huge motivator in future prices and when banks stop working money stops flowing.
I do not believe that the large cocoa conglomerates are going to go bankrupt any time soon. They will use cash instead of banks to do their business and the ties to this country are long. But the farmers and small businesses will bear a greater proportional brunt of price volatility on both sides of globe and consumers must decide how much it is worth to them.
And don’t get me started on the price of oil.