I agree.

Want a valentine gift for that special someone what will really be remembered? The Creative Chocolate Printing Company can create a one-of-a-kind chocolate valentine gift for your sweetie that will make them say "Wow". Your photo on a heart shaped chocolate! One idea for a special gift this Valentine's Day is having a favorite photo printed directly onto chocolate using the astonishing Chocolography process. Chocolography is a patented technology that makes it possible to reproduce any picture, image, or message right on the surface of delicious chocolate using edible inks.

The Creative Chocolate Printing Company at www.YourPhotoOnChocolate.com offers a wide range of traditional and heart shaped chocolates in your choice of dark and milk chocolate, to be turned into truly an unforgettable gift this Valentine's Day.

Here are a few suggestions for your special Valentine gift:

A chocolate heart box (item 204) - This "all-chocolate" box comes in the shape of a heart with a heart center. Measuring 4.5" this 8.5 oz chocolate also contains 3 truffles that can be replaced with a little something from the jewelry store if you wish.

Heart Truffle Box set - A beautiful heart shaped chocolate portrait and an insert with your image on it. This 7.5 oz, 7.75 " x 7.75" heart-shaped portrait comes surrounded with 16 delicious milk and dark chocolate truffles (item 210).

Deluxe I Love You Card (item 232) - A A 13 oz chocolate greeting card personalized with your photo or image and "I Love You" Packaging: custom made box with a gold hot stamped message, plastic tray.

A jumbo 4.8 oz heart shaped chocolate lollipop is 3.25" x 3.25" in size and is a great low cost way to give a gift of personalized chocolate this Valentine's Day.

Getting started is easy. Select a High-Quality Chocolate gift from our wide range of Chocolate valentine Chocolography products. Customize your gift with your uploaded photo and message to that special someone. Then, we print your fully personalized, unique image, text and/or design onto chocolate and ship it to you or directly to that special someone. We can ship to anywhere in the U.S. Anything you can see or say, we can reproduce on Chocolate! What better way to get your message across to that special someone than to say it in chocolate!

While 75% of chocolate purchases are made by women all year long, during the days and minutes before Valentine's Day, 75% of the chocolate purchases are made by men. Over $1billion of chocolate is purchased for Valentine's Day. And www.YourPhotoOnChocolate.com can make it easy to give a unique memorable gift - a sweet heart to your sweetheart!

The combination of photography and chocolate, Chocolography can produce a sensational Valentine Day gift if you plan ahead. While selecting the right photograph to be printed on the chocolate, make sure it is of good quality with a neutral light-colored background.
For more information on Chocolography, visit the Creative Chocolate Printing Company, winner of the Web Marketing Association's 2007 Standard of Excellence WebAward, at www.YourPhotoOnChocolate.com

My only suggestion would be to add the Creative Chocolate Printing Company to the information about the USA. It is one of t he most creative uses of chocolate I've seen in a while.

The study appears in the April 9 issue of The Archives of Internal Medicine. It reports that four of the five studies on chocolate found reduced blood pressure after eating, but none of the tea studies showed significant benefit. The magnitude of the effect of eating three and a half ounces of dark chocolate a day was clinically significant, comparable to that of beta-blockers like atenolol, known by the brand name Tenormin, or propranolol, known as Inderal. The authors acknowledge that the studies were short and that results may not apply to habitual use.

Just another great reason to love chocolate!

This posting is sponsored by the Creative Chocolate Printing Company which provides personalized chocolate gifts and chocolate party favors for any event, occasion and budget. Chocolography™ is a newly patented technology that makes it possible to reproduce any picture, image, or message right on the surface of delicious chocolate.

The percentages listed on a chocolate bar represent the amount of cocoa butter and cacao solids by weight. The rest is largely sugar. Depending on the quality of the bar, there might be other additives present, like vanillin or lecithin, but they generally total less than one percent. Milk chocolate must have a certain percentage (12% minimum) of either powdered or condensed milk added as well.

Chocolate comes in the following levels of sweetness, from least to most added sugar:

* Unsweetened chocolate (which is exactly what it sounds like; it's also sometimes called baking chocolate).
* Dark
* Bittersweet
* Semisweet
* Milk Chocolate

White chocolate is made from cocoa butter, without any cocoa solids, so it's technically not chocolate at all.

Cocoa, which is key to the distinctive chocolate taste in baked goods and candies, comes in two styles: Natural (non-alkalized), and Dutch-processed (alkalized). These should not be confused with the instant sweetened versions intended for hot chocolate.

Cocoa powders are primarily used for baking, but make top-notch hot drinks when mixed with sugar to balance their bitter taste. Natural cocoas, like Hershey's or Ghirardelli, tend to be lighter in color than Dutch-processed varieties like Droste. Which is "better" on the taste front? Some bakers prefer the direct chocolate flavor of natural cocoa, while others vote for the mellowness of Dutch.

However, when using chemical leaveners (baking powder or soda), make sure to use the type of cocoa called for in the recipe. Natural cocoas are acidic enough to activate the baking soda in cakes and cookies; alkaline Dutch cocoas should be used in recipes that rely solely on baking powder for their lift.

Storing:
Keep chocolate wrapped well, in a cool, dry place (not the fridge). Milk chocolate keeps for up to a year; dark for even longer. If the chocolate develops white dots or streaks on the outside, that's called "bloom." It means the cocoa butter has become un-emulsified (separated), but it's still perfectly safe to eat.

This posting is sponsored by the Creative Chocolate Printing Company which provides personalized chocolate gifts and chocolate party favors for any event, occasion and budget. Chocolography™ is a newly patented technology that makes it possible to reproduce any picture, image, or message right on the surface of delicious chocolate.

Chocolography is what the Creative Chocolate Printing Company uses to personalize chocolates with photos and text.

The Food Network Web site has an interesting article on Learn how to taste and select chocolate like the pros.

Here are their findings:

Chocolate Varieties: Bittersweet & Semisweet: In general, we find that bittersweet and semisweet can be used interchangeably in recipes without altering the outcome. The flavors of each individual chocolate, however, can be quite different, so taste each one before baking with it. If the chocolate is flat and bland, a chocolate mousse made with it is likely to be bland as well.

Although bittersweet lends an intense chocolate flavor, it often lacks the roundness that works well in chocolate mousse or truffles. It's a good choice for recipes such as bundt cake or soufflé, where the chocolate flavor needs to stand up to many other ingredients.

We find semisweet to often have rounder, fruitier qualities that work well in mousses, truffles and any recipe where the outcome depends heavily on the inherent flavor of the chocolate.

Chips & Chunks:Chocolate chips or chunks are best used only as add-ins to recipes; they shouldn't be used for melting or in the place of chopped bittersweet or semisweet chocolate. These chocolates have a different level of cocoa butter content, as they're designed to hold their shape when baked. As a result, they have a different texture in baked goods from melted baking chocolate.

Unsweetened:Unsweetened chocolate (chocolate in its rawest tasting form) is unpalatable and therefore hard to taste on its own. This is a case where the appearance (dull or shiny) and the aroma may be your best clues as to its quality, intensity and flavor. Unsweetened chocolate is almost always used in recipes like brownies, where the addition of granulated sugar contributes to the texture of the finished baked good.

Brands: The following baking chocolates fared well in our five tasting categories (appearance, aroma, break, melt, taste and aftertaste) and are ranked according to our preferences.
* Lindt Semisweet Chocolate - first choice
* Scharffenberger Semisweet - second choice
* Nestle’s Chocolatier [dark] - tied for third
* Baker's Semisweet - tied for third

This posting is sponsored by the Creative Chocolate Printing Company which provides personalized chocolate gifts and chocolate party favors for any event, occasion and budget. Chocolography™ is a newly patented technology that makes it possible to reproduce any picture, image, or message right on the surface of delicious chocolate.

So if you are looking for a memorable personalized chocolates for birthday party favors, bar mitzvah favors, bat mitzvah gifts, chocolate anniversary gifts or wedding favors, visit our website at www.YourPhotoOnChocolate.com.

For many cocoa farmers in West Africa, where most of the world's cocoa is grown, there is little to show for long hours of backbreaking work. In fact, few farmers in West Africa have ever tasted chocolate. Small scale farmers with no access to credit and no way to trade directly in the marketplace must rely on middlemen who cheat them out of a fair price. In the end, farmers may earn as little as $300 a year.

But deep in Ghana's Ashanti region the cocoa farmers who are members of the Kuapa Kokoo cooperative have reason to celebrate. The Kuapa Kokoo farmers are also owners of Divine Chocolate-the world's first farmer-owned Fair Trade chocolate brand. In addition to having a share in the profits, the Kuapa Kokoo farmers have two seats on the board and a say in the direction of the company. All of the cocoa in Divine Chocolate bars is purchased on Fair Trade terms. This means that farmers receive a guaranteed minimum price, plus Kuapa Kokoo invests the Fair Trade social premium in community projects such as schools, health clinics, clean drinking water, and programs to promote leadership and entrepreneurship among the thousands of farmers in Kuapa Kokoo.

Lutheran World Relief and Catholic Relief Services have partnered with Divine Chocolate to help educate Americans about the difference that supporting Fair Trade chocolate makes for farmers in Ghana and elsewhere in the world. Lutheran World Relief's Chocolate Project challenges chocolate lovers in Lutheran congregations to put faith into action and give cocoa farmers a fair deal by selling Divine Chocolate and sharing it during fellowship hours. Catholic Relief Services has launched a new fundraising program, Raise Money Right, which encourages Catholic schools and parishes to sell Fair Trade chocolate.

To learn more about Divine Chocolate and Kuapa Kokoo, visit www.divinechocolateUSA.com.

While the eight tips are very useful for any chocolate lover, it's the photos of chocolate that will get your mouth watering!

For example, when chopping chocolate: Use a serrated knife to chop chocolate finely — a chef’s knife dulls quickly on chocolate. Chopping will promote quick, even melting for a sauce, frosting or garnish.

This posting is sponsored by the Creative Chocolate Printing Company which provides personalized chocolate gifts and chocolate party favors for any event, occasion and budget. Chocolography™ is a newly patented technology that makes it possible to reproduce any picture, image, or message right on the surface of delicious chocolate.

Chocolate was originally enjoyed only by the wealthy, and usually in liquid form. But from its earliest days, chocolate has been popular as an aphrodisiac; it contains phenylethylamine, a chemical compound that is present with feelings of love.

Chocolate was first consumed as a solid, in rolls and cakes, in 1674. The chocolate bar didn't come along until 1847. The first heart-shaped chocolate box for Valentine's Day was introduced in 1861 and, within seven years, a new tradition had caught on.

If you are looking for a chocolate gift idea for your valentine, try a heart-shaped box from the www.YourPhotoOnChocolate.com. Using Chocolography, the Creative Chocolate Printing Company will print your photo onto a heart-shaped chocolate to the amazement of your lucky valentine.

The post starts out "Sounds like something you should study in school. You know, Biology, Trigonometry, Geography, Chocolography… Bet a lot of kids would sign up for that course." I know I'd have taken that course if they offered it at my college!

Click on the blog title to read the entire post for yourself.

- 1,271 locations produced chocolate and cocoa products in 2003. These establishments employed 43,379 people. California led the nation in the number of such establishments (with 146) followed by Pennsylvania (with 120).

- 519 locations produced nonchocolate confectionary products in 2003. These establishments employed 23,343 people.

- The total value of shipments in 2003 for firms producing chocolate and cocoa products was $13.5 billion. Nonchocolate confectionery product manufacturing, meanwhile, was a $5.5 billion industry.

- 3,523 Number of confectionery and nut stores in the United States in 2003. Often referred to as candy stores, they are among the best sources of sweets for Valentine’s Day.

- The per capita consumption of candy by Americans in 2004 was 4.7 pounds. Candy consumption has actually declined over the last few years; in 1997, each American gobbled or savored more than 27 pounds of candy a year.

Chocolate, chocolate everywhere

Members of the Rice family get to eat their mistakes.

The six-member family in West Simsbury has started the Creative Chocolate Printing Company and with the new business comes the lovely job of eating what can¹t be sold.

A basket in the family¹s workroom is often filled with misprints and not-so-good prints of photographs, images and text scanned on everything from chocolate coins to lollipops to frames. Dad William Rice lets his children eat the candy out of the bin and share it with their friends. Since last June, the Creative Chocolate Printing Company has been a family affair, just as it was intended, according to Mr. Rice.

Formerly involved in the world of financial services and marketing, Mr. Ricelearned what it took to run a business. A Wethersfield native, he and his family moved to town six years ago and he worked at home, operating a handful of Internet-based businesses, including the Family Cookbook Project.

He visited a business trade show a few years ago and saw what a chocolate printing company could do for businesses in terms of incentives. Then he took the steps to start up his own based on the original model, developed in1998.

Today, the Rice family¹s Creative Chocolate Printing Company is an Internet operation run out of the family¹s home and has been set up to teach family
members about business.

"I¹m trying to teach everyone about business with this business," said Mr. Rice.

Customers can select which type of chocolate they want (lollipop, heart, Belgian chocolate, truffles, sports trading cards and more) and for which occasion (holidays, graduation, anniversary). Customers can also use personalized chocolate for business gifts and for specific businesses. "It was something I really thought was so innovative and different," he said. "I liked it from the business side of it and as a teaching opportunity for my family."

Together with his wife Michelle, 17-year-old son Patrick, 15-year-old son Conor, 14-year-old daughter Sara and 11-year-old son Keegan, the family developed a business plan, found its target market, figured out how much money the venture would need and divvied up the work.

"We all agreed this was something we wanted to do," Mr. Rice said. What makes this business special, according to Mr. Rice, is the fact that the Creative Chocolate Printing Company out of New York state has created,
developed and patented the Chocolography Food Imaging System. The system enables the printing of high-resolution, full color photos, images and text directly on the surface of food products, like chocolate.
When the photos, images and text are a bit off, those mistakes are thrown into the edible bin, for which family and friends so patiently wait. "It¹s interesting working in a company and a family at the same time," Mr. Rice said.

Monetary incentives

According to Mr. Rice, the success of the business is important to all family members. The children each keep track of the amount of time they work on the business. Usually, each child will work a few hours each day on an hourly basis.

Although all four children take part in the venture, daughter Sara attended a three-day session with her father last summer to be trained in the operation.

"She really has a strong understanding of the process and the idea behind what we¹re trying to process," her father said.

She was chosen by her father to attend the training because she was the "one most interested and excited about the prospects of running her own company." She also had the best line about what it¹s like working for her father.
"You can¹t fire them (children), but you can ground them," she said. Their office and work space is set up in the basement of their home along with the Chocolography printer, product, packaging equipment and an old air hockey table that doubles as an equipment table.

The family will keep the most popular types and shapes of chocolate on hand - like the cases of 400-500 business card-sized chocolate bars and two-inch round chocolate coins and lollipops. The larger pieces, like chocolate
frames and truffle boxes, must be ordered. Customers will often e-mail or bring their photos to the family.

From there, they will start with a blank piece of chocolate and a specially sized template. All images, text and designs are e-mailed back to the client for changes.

Using the software and an inkjet printer with dyes specially designed for food and approved by the federal Food and Drug Administration, the image will be printed onto the piece of chocolate, which is sometimes difficult.
"It takes work," Mr. Rice said. "The chocolate will be as good as the image. That¹s the learning curve what is a good image."

The chocolate offered by Creative Chocolate Printing Company is good quality, "but it¹s not about the chocolate," he said. "It¹s about the concept and novelty."

The business is starting to gear up for Valentine¹s Day, which will probably be one of the busiest for the family. One son recently got his driver¹s license and has been helping out with deliveries, saving the business money.
The business has also done work for some of the high school and town sport¹s teams. One team had compact disc-sized, five-inch pieces of chocolate furnished with a photo of the whole team - all enclosed in a jewel case.
The family also had a family portrait printed on a 13-ounce, nine-by 13-inch chocolate frame.

"It does make an interesting gift," Mr. Rice said of that and the many other possibilities that can be created from the chocolate pieces. He added that the company would like to target real estate agents and other corporations.

For Christmas, Sara created her own special gift for her friends - a signature center gift box minus the truffles, instead filled with colored M&M candies and a personalized chocolate gift card. The family is excited about her creation and hopes to add it to the on-line catalogue this year. "You can eat it longer," Sara said.

Introduced to the public

Customers have been coming to Creative Chocolate Printing Company through word of mouth and through the company¹s exposure at Septemberfest last fall. The Rices brought the printing machines to the event and took photos of festival attendees and printed them on chocolate. The event was a hit and the children really worked hard, Mr. Rice said.

The children had to walk around the event and pass the word about Creative Chocolate Printing Company and all it offered. "We had all different age levels - elementary, middle school and high school - covered," Mr. Rice said.

"It¹s a fun product and people saw their photos on it and told others. We think that Septemberfest is a great time in town. We were glad we could get out there and show people what we were doing." Patti Harper spoke to the family during Septemberfest. "It struck me as a fun, creative and personalized gift that we could give
our employees at our annual holiday dinner as a party favor," she said. "We had the logo printed on them, with a personal message as well. Bill was very responsive and helpful and we thought they were very reasonably priced."

Pam Lacko also used the services of Creative Chocolate Printing, thanks to the exposure at Septemberfest. A percussion teacher in town, Ms. Lacko wanted to get her students something for the holidays. She took a photo of
them from a recent concert and had it placed on a chocolate compact disc. "It went over very well and I believe all have devoured theirs," she said. Ms. Lacko used the business a second time for a Christmas dinner, creating a
chocolate ornament fitted with "the wackiest picture of each person" as a place setting.

"Bill worked with me personally to ensure that the pictures I uploaded were formatted the best way possible for printing on the chocolate," she said. "He e-mailed me with proofs as well to ensure a quality product. My
chocolates were turned around within 10 days and I ordered them the second week of December, which I assume was a very busy time for the Creative Chocolate Printing Company."

The biggest order finished by the company was for a business trade show and 6,000 chocolate coins with a company¹s logo printed on the surface. "That was our first really big order," Mr. Rice said. "It took a couple of
weeks. Most are a dozen to 100 pieces, like for a birthday." The Rices also worked on an order for 600 small gift sets for a larger holiday party for a company in Boston.

While not officially advertising, the family has decided to start slowly and locally. It has a working relationship with Hugs & Kisses Candy Store and Geepers.

Sara, who is interested in scrapbooking and, according to her father, has a natural eye, is more interested in the business side of the company - and the ability to make money.

She said working downstairs on an order is not that bad, plus she can listen to music while she works. Having her father as a mentor and a boss is also not too bad.

"I¹ve learned how to be a good boss and I can boss my brothers around," she joked. Having a business run by the whole family for the benefit of making money and providing an education will be a plus for the Rice children, their father believes.

"When it comes time for them to get into business, all my kids will have a sense of business ‹ marketing a product, profits, customer service," he said. "At the end of the day, having a relationship with people, helping people, is what you¹re in business for."

As a family, the work will also pay off.

"I think that from a family perspective, it¹s one more thing that makes us who we are. We have a lot of fun as a family," he said.

For more information on Creative Chocolate Printing Company, call 860-558-5423
or see www.yourphotoonchocolate.com.