The Max Brenner dining room looks like it belongs in Willy Wonka's factory.

There’s a new restaurant in town, right on Boston’s “Restaurant Row” in the Back Bay. Max Brenner Boston is a new chocolate-themed restaurant designed to entice all your senses and indulge even the biggest sweet-tooth’s desires.

Max Brenner, also known as “The Bald Man,” calls what he does a “chocolate culture.” In the early ‘90s, Brenner started his chocolate career by working throughout Europe as an apprentice to some of the most renowned pastry chefs and chocolate experts in the world. While in Paris, he also encountered some of the leading fashion designers, sparking in him a creative interest in design and aesthetics as well. By the late ‘90s, Brenner had his own small workshop where he began to offer his wild chocolate creations. His new vision was to expand the experience of chocolate beyond taste to an emotional experience that encompasses what chocolate symbolizes to people in their lives. Over the next decade, Brenner opened a series of restaurants both internationally and stateside, finally opening his 36th location right here in Beantown at 745 Boylston St. at the end of March.

I popped in for dinner on a Monday evening, eager to see this “chocolate culture” for myself. As a self-proclaimed chocoholic and foodie, the promise of a whole chocolate experience drew me like a moth to a flame. The second I pulled open the large double doors, the scent of warm chocolate wafted out–an excellent beginning! My guest and I were sat immediately, and took a few minutes to check out the walls of lab beakers filled with chocolate chips, the pipes labeled “100 percent pure chocolate” criss-crossing the ceiling and the walls painted with Hershey bars, Oreos and hearts. It’s as if a room from Willy Wonka’s factory was plunked down right here in the city.

Chocolate Pizza with milk and white chocolate, ice cream and marshmallows ($7.50).

We are given two menus, one with appetizers and dinner items and the other with desserts and drinks. I order the Berry Nutty Professor (peanut liqueur, Frangelico, Chambord and milk chocolate served on the rocks and garnished with a chocolate strawberry; $11.50), which is possibly the best drink I’ve ever had. My guest orders a fruit-flavored Brazilian Breezer (acai liqueur, cranberry juice and guava nectar; $11.95) and we dig into appetizers of Chicken, Bacon & Cheddar Rolls ($12.95; individual $7.25) and a tower of Black & Tan Beer Battered Vidalia Onion Rings with, yes, dark chocolate ranch dipping sauce ($6.95).

For dinner, we order the Brenner Burger Maxed Out with American Kobe beef, which comes with waffle fries dusted with chili and cocoa powder and served with a pickle ($15.95), and the Tostones Alla Marie, a grilled steak with plantains and rice and beans ($18.25). I complement my burger, which melts in my mouth, with a Banana Split Martini served in a stemless glass over crushed ice ($12.95). It comes on a platter with a beaker of extra martini and a small bowl of cut bananas and whipped cream dusted with powdered sugar.  It’s certainly the most interesting drink presentation I’ve seen, and bonus points for the small beaker of additional martini.

Although I’m stuffed at this point, not ordering dessert would be a crime. As I flip through pages of international hot chocolates, milkshakes, fondues, cakes and ice cream, I decide on a Suckao, a small, dense, concentrated shot of rich chocolate ($5.25). Another platter comes over, this time filled with a small cup of cream being heated over a candle, a bowl of dark chocolate chips, and a metal spoon used to spoon in and melt as much or as little dark chocolate as you’d like to add. My guest has an Eighties Milkshake made with milk chocolate ganache and vanilla bourbon ice cream ($7.95), served in a “drink me” glass reminiscent of “Alice in Wonderland,” keeping the whimsical theme alive through the very end of the meal.

Banana Split Waffle with vanilla bourbon ice cream, milk chocolate truffle, and caramelized Rice Krispies ($13.95).

As we leave, we pass through the gift shop where you can purchase homemade candies, cookbooks, t-shirts, body lotions, and a whole host of other products. A staff member offers us a sample praline, and I summon strength to find room for one more bite in my very full stomach, and am of course glad I did. I would be sluggishly dragging my feet back to my car after a meal like that if I weren’t practically vibrating on a sugar rush.

Max Brenner has won me over. Conveniently located in the Back Bay, it is accessible to both parking garages and public transportation. Entrees are all under $30, pretty reasonably priced for downtown Boston, and there wasn’t a thing I tried that I didn’t enjoy. I loved the nostalgic feeling of childhood favorites remembered and reinterpreted into this modern experience, and will gladly meet you there for a milkshake anytime.

Max Brenner, 745 Boylston St., Boston, 617-274-1741, www.maxbrenner.com

Child labor may have been used to make your favorite chocolate candy (Media Credit/Shanubi via Flickr)

Many people are aware that conventionally grown produce is covered in pesticides. Documentaries such as Frontline’s “Modern Meat” and websites such as PETA’s www.meat.org have showed us the horrors of the meat industry. It may be common knowledge that the food industry has a shady side, but it’s still somehow shocking to consider that the adorable chocolate rabbit you were about to bite the head off of may not be so innocent after all.

Giselle Achecar, the life force behind the “eco-edutainment” site Eco-Rico, is passionate about bringing the darker side of the chocolate industry to light. In her Web TV series, Achecar comes across as the younger, sassier, (definitely more caffeinated) version of Paula Deen that you’d like to grab a drink with. What sets both Achecar and Eco-Rico apart from other environmental activist websites is the fact that they are fun. Achecar admits that the topics she discusses can be pretty heavy, but insists that the best way to get one’s message across is through enthusiasm and energy.

First, the bad news: In that West Africa is still predominantly rural, agriculture accounts for 25 percent of its regional GDP, with more than half of jobs based in that sector. Cocoa is the region’s main agricultural export. It is typical for children to work on family farms, and so long as the work is not deemed dangerous and/or preventing a child from attending school, it is not considered child labor. However, the International Labour Organization estimates that 74 million child laborers ages 4 to 15 are engaged in hazardous activities, with 69 percent of those children working in agriculture.

A 2009 publication from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development states, “Recent studies in Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire show that nearly half of all children living on cocoa farms have been engaged in at least one hazardous activity. These include carrying heavy loads, spraying fertilizers and pesticides or cutting trees. In addition, some children have been trafficked from other regions of the country or neighbouring countries. This practice is one that international conventions recognise as criminal.”

So what does corporate chocolate have to say? While representatives from Cadbury (owned by Kraft) and Nestle could not be reached for comment, their websites do address the issue. Cadbury’s site says, “Kraft Foods is involved in substantial efforts designed to ensure that children are not harmed in cocoa farming and worst forms of child labor are eradicated.” Nestle’s site says something similar, claiming, “We fully support the United Nations Global Compact’s guiding principles on human rights and labour and aim to provide an example of good human rights and labour practices throughout our business activities.”

With rhetoric effectively dropped, the issue at hand is still unresolved; protocols, organizations and corporations may claim to have the best of intentions, but child labor is still being used to produce chocolate.

“It is a sick, sick irony that the same chocolate that you and me and everyone else that hands out chocolate to little happy trick-or-treaters on Halloween is the same chocolate that is being farmed by kids just like them,” said Achecar.

Thankfully, Achecar reminds us that supporting such practices is completely avoidable. While she refrains from lauding one brand over another, she does emphasize the importance of making sure any all chocolate purchased is fair trade certified. Ultimately, this ensures three things: the product is produced in an environmentally sustainable fashion, the workers are paid fair wages, and no forced or abusive child labor was involved. Purchasing fair trade items is an incredibly small act with an incredibly large impact.

In addition to being better for the world, fair trade chocolate is also better for you. “Chocolate is one of the most complex foods,” Achecar said. “It has over 300 identifiable chemical compounds that are proven mood-lifters.” In order to benefit from these compounds, chocolate has to be 70 percent cocoa, otherwise the added milk and sugar diminishes the effect.

For more information about the health benefits of fair trade certified chocolate and for delicious recipes using it, go to eco-rico.com. Further information on child labor and cocoa can be found at www.ilo.org, and information regrading Fair Trade is available at www.transfairusa.org.

For years, lovers have given generic and boring gifts to their significant others on Valentine’s Day.  Collections of drugstore chocolates, cheap perfumes and colognes and crappy “romantic” candles that are said to set the mood have become a rut that gift givers turn to.

In the spirit of the new year, we at Blast suggest that a new standard be set for Valentine’s Day gifts. Boston establishments such as Beacon Hill Chocolates, Condom World, Sweet & Nasty and LUSH Cosmetics raise the bar for Valentine’s Day with their unique, fun gifts that put a spin on traditional choices.

Beacon Hill Chocolates

91 Charles St.
617-725-1900
www.beaconhillchocolates.com

Forget that heart-shaped box of cheap chocolates! On the brick streets of Beacon Hill lies aptly named Beacon Hill Chocolates, a gourmet chocolate store that prides itself in its unique keepsake gift boxes and artisan chocolates.

The company, which will be celebrating its fifth birthday this April, imports rich chocolates from chocolatiers in Belgium, France and a local business in Natick, Mass., called Cocoa Pod.

Rebecca Novak, the manager of the store, said that the big seller for Valentine’s Day this year will be the handcrafted keepsake boxes. Chocolates for Valentine’s Day may not be original, but with these decorative decoupage-style boxes designed with vintage postcards, lithographs, illustrations and photographs, customers can mix and match any type of chocolate truffles they want.

“It’s personalized,” Novak said. “You can’t find the boxes anywhere else.”

Out of the hundreds of artfully crafted truffles and painted hearts, Novak personally recommends the heart-shaped Cognac Caramels or the Brownie Bite Truffles. Other special items to look out for include the Caramel Sushi, Salted Caramel Fudge and the over-sized Chocolate Conversation Hearts.

It’s advisable to place custom orders a week prior to Valentine’s Day, especially for the fresh chocolate-covered strawberries that will be available this year.

Condom World

332 Newbury St.
617-267-7233
www.condomworldboston.com

Upon entering Condom World, the popular X-rated store on Newbury Street, the first thing that stands out is a swaying clock designed to look like two cows “doing the nasty.”

Mike Morrison, the store’s manager, thinks that couple-related products will be the best sellers this year for Valentine’s Day.

“Love is in the air and we’re a sex shop,” Morrison said.

Rather than look at items that are separate for men and women, Morrison motions towards products that couples can use together. Items such as vibrating rings, edible body lotion and lube, dirty dice, books of “coupons” that merit sexy activities such as “one hot bath together,” and body paint pens allow for shared Valentine’s Day gifts.

Various other items around the store include Kama Sutra books, naughty costumes and masturbation items for those who are celebrating the holiday alone.

The wall-length stretch of vibrators and dildos may be intimidating at first glance, but the fun, hands-on nature of Condom World gifts goes unmatched for Valentine’s Day.

Sweet & Nasty

90 Massachusetts Ave., # 90A
617-266-7171
www.sweet-n-nasty.com

Looking for a sweet treat besides the usual box of chocolates? Take the train to Hynes Convention Center and buy a couple of chocolate penis pops from Sweet & Nasty erotic bakery.

Niki Novak, the owner of Sweet & Nasty, dove into the erotic bakery business in October of 1981 and has been going strong for 30 years.

When visiting her sister in New York, Novak had her first penis cake experience and it was about as appetizing as corrugated cardboard.  This served as a springboard for Novak to open her own erotic bakery with naughty goods that tasted great.

All the big sellers for Valentine’s Day are edible, such as G-strings, booby tassels, handcuffs and anatomically correct body parts.

“It combines chocolate, sex and love,” Novak said, describing the essence of her work.

The light-hearted humor behind the Valentine’s Day gifts from Sweet & Nasty replaces the typical serious romance theme of the holiday. Lovers may not wish to propose to their significant others with a chocolate mold of two pigs “making bacon,” but it’s items like these that show that some thought was put into the gifts.

Novak says it’s typical to hear customers say, “This would be perfect for so and so” or, “Oh my God, this is so gross.”  She explained that the most disgusted customers end up making the final purchases.

Anyone who wants some Buxom Bettys or Bite-Sized Tit Pops should place orders sooner than later.  Two to three days prior to Valentine’s Day at Sweet & Nasty can only be described as a mob scene.

LUSH Cosmetics

166 Newbury St.
617-375-5874
www.lushusa.com/shop

Perfume and cologne are one of the many generic “go-to” gifts for Valentine’s Day.  If anyone is considering the gift of scent, the one store on Newbury Street that you can smell from a block away is calling out to lovers this year.

LUSH Cosmetics is the candy land of homemade bath bombs, soaps and all that smells wonderful.

Sarah Hewitt, the manager of the Newbury Street location, says that one of the best sellers for Valentine’s Day is the Sex Bomb bath bombs.

“Sex Bomb is the ultimate sensual bath bomb,” Hewitt said.

Items such as Sex Bomb and the limited edition Valentine’s Day products are better than ordinary perfumes because they are made of natural aphrodisiacs that set the mood for the holiday.

Some of the limited edition bubble bars, bath bombs and soaps that are sure to sell out quickly are Magic Mushroom, The Ex Factor, Frog Prince and Love Birds.

Gifts from LUSH can range anywhere from $4 to $200.

Popular scents that Hewitt recommends are vanilla, chocolate, rose and jasmine.  These scents can be found in many of the massage bars, and not only do they smell good, but they lend themselves to romantic back rubs.

LUSH’s soaps and unique fragrances can replace the cheap cologne gift as well with scents like Demon in the Dark, Ice Blue, Sea Vegetable and Karma.  The masculine scents smell lovely without being too overpowering.

If you find yourself single and sad, grab a Blackberry bath bomb and spend the holiday smelling bergamot, a natural anti-depressant.

A Worcester institution will shutter after its venerable owner and founder couldn’t get anyone to take over the family business.

William Prifti of Prifti’s Homemade Candies, now 86, started his candy shop in 1965. He told the Worcester Telegam & Gazetta recently that the work has become too much for him, and no one has stepped up to take over the candy business he started in 1965.

Prifti is legally blind and relies on his sense of touch to do much of the work these days.

The paper reported that Prifti is originally from Albania and learned the candy trade while living in Turkey.

“I make everything. You want it I make it. … I make white chocolate, milk chocolate, caramel, nougat,” Prifti told New England Cable News.

The store drew customers from all over the Northeast and was a landmark for chocolate lovers for generations.

But, as is with many family businesses, when Prifti closes his shop and looks toward old age, he has to accept that his signature trade, his recipes, and the unforgettable taste of his white chocolate lollipops may one day die with him.

Mike and Elizabeth Dunford consider themselves chocolate milk connoisseurs. Instead of collecting post cards and souvenir t-shirts on vacation, the 35-year-old Newton, Mass resident and his 34-year-old wife visit local grocery stores to try regional brands of chocolate milk. But they say they have not found one yet that rivals their own.

The Dunfords developed the brand Cocoa Metro in their home kitchen a little under a year ago. Launching a business for high end chocolate milk in the teeth of a recession has not been easy. But the couple, who moved two young children from Utah to Boston, have never been about taking the easiest of paths. Mike said they never could find the right quality of chocolate milk, so the tall creative director with tousled graying hair and a boyish grin decided to perfect his favorite childhood drink.

"I was a heavy drinker," Mike said, remembering his childhood obsession with chocolate milk.

Large canisters of powdered chocolate from Cosco and gallons of milk disappeared from Mike’s Salt Lake City home when he and his cousin got together. But as an adult Mike found the chocolate milk he guzzled as a teenager tasted kind of "whimpy."

He and his wife set to work mixing and tasting batch after batch of chocolate milk in their home kitchen. "She’s the taste buds," he said, while Elizabeth laughed at her semi-official title.

After the exact formula for the chocolate milk was decided on, the couple researched bottling companies and dairy farms.

"We have a tub full of chocolate milk," Mike said with a laugh, while Elizabeth corrected the statement almost as fast as it came out of his mouth.

"Don’t tell her that," she said.

After telling friends about their business, the Dunfords often got questions about the process of how one "makes" chocolate milk.

"A lot of people ask us if we make it ourselves or how we store it," Mike said. He began telling people they stored the milk in their bathtub and bottled it daily.

The milk is actually bottled by a company in Massachusetts, the exact name Mike guards as a trade secret. Costing twice as much as its closest competitor at $6 a bottle, the chocolate milk tastes like melted chocolate ice cream and is almost as thick as a milkshake. Mike said he was not really worried about it selling, despite the recession.

"Six bucks is not much to sit down and have a good experience," Mike said.

Taking risks is part of life for the Salt Lake City natives. Between high school and college Elizabeth boarded a plane to Taiwan to teach English without the promise of a job or even housing.

"My mom bought me the ticket," Elizabeth said with her melodious laugh and calm smile.

In 2007, the couple uprooted their then two children to move to Massachusetts so Mike could attend Babson College near Wellesley, Mass and earn his MBA. He had been accepted into a business school in Utah, where his then employer would have paid for his MBA. But after hearing about Babson’s reputation for preparing small business owners and considering the course they should take, Mike quit his job in Utah, the couple sold their house, and they started to plan a move before Mike was even accepted into Babson’s program.

"It’s well researched risk taking," He said.

The research continued with Cocoa Metro.

"We found that the sales of cigarettes, booze, and confectionary actually go up during a recession," Mike said.

The research appears to be accurate, as most stores could not keep the product on the shelf during the Christmas season and after less than a year of it hitting Whole Food’s shelves, Mike said Cocoa Metro is almost at the break-even point. In the Boston area 29 stores are selling the product. Just recently, it is being sold in Rhode Island with a teasing status on the company’s Facebook page suggesting it will be sold in Hartford, CT soon.

The Dunford’s part-time driver and assistant, 49-year-old Dean Drommond attributes the success of Cocoa Metro to Mike’s skills in advertising. Drommond worked as a stock trader for 25 years, so he said he knew the basics of new companies and their odds of success.

"I didn’t think a high end product would be so catching," Drommond said. "But Mike has a background in the advertising business. That’s one of the real strengths of the company."

Before he was in the chocolate milk business, Mike worked as a creative director and interactive art director. He utilized his past experience by coining phrases like "Don’t be afraid of the dark" and "You can fire your therapist" to advertise the new product. Creating the stark white Cocoa Metro, he recreated the nostalgia of selling milk in glass bottles with white screw top lids similar to the bottles the milk man would have dropped at the door in the ‘50s.

Elizabeth said she always knew her husband would start a business. It was her prodding that sent him on the search for business schools. She knows her husband of ten years pretty well. They met when she was in eighth grade. According to Elizabeth, they were best friends all through high school and always chocolate lovers.

"I remember a lot of trips to the store to get candy bars," Elizabeth said. "Whatchamacallits were my thing back then."

In high school Mike and Elizabeth traveled to Germany. The couple attributes much of their knowledge and love of chocolate from those trips.

"They just have such a variety of chocolate that you don’t find here," Mike said. Mike and Elizabeth’s love of chocolate led them to study the beans and flavors. Mike said he always dreamed of opening a store filled with exotic chocolates.

When this dream of a store for chocolates shifted to creating Cocoa Metro, Romney Evans said he knew the product would sell. Evans, 32-year-old founder of mytruefit.com, a website designed to help women find that perfect pair of jeans, graduated from Babson College in 2006 one year before the Dunford’s move. Also a transplant from Salt Lake City, Evans knew Mike and Elizabeth and their family before their journey to the East Coast.

"Mike and Elizabeth have an innate sense of what customers want," said Evans, who said he has four bottles of Cocoa Metro in his refrigerator at home.

This sense of what people want to eat in some part has come from the Dunford’s interest in sharing their love and knowledge of chocolate with other people. Evans attended a party at the Dunford’s home, where the game of the night involved chocolate bean tasting. Every guest received cups of cocoa beans, jotting down the flavors they tasted in the particular beans. Once everyone finished trying the various bean, Mike read the research he and his wife had found online on each particular bean, highlighting the taste profiles.

"It is amazing how different the cocoa beans taste," Elizabeth said. "We all went back and tried the beans again to see what flavors we had missed."

Since the creation of Cocoa Metro and the rigors of starting a company, the couple said those sorts of nights had to be put on hold.

"Our social life has taken a dive," joked Elizabeth.

Their few spare minutes were spent scaling, mixing, and tasting chocolate milk. They bought a scale to keep track of the exact ratio of ingredients. After trying batches of milk with various chocolate the couple chose the food industry staple Callebaut cocoa for the product, because of its ability to blend with the other ingredients.

Mike made the messes. He said he would be the one mixing and handing off cups to Elizabeth so she could give her opinion. Evans remembered being asked to try the experiments a few times as well.

"I probably wasn’t very helpful, because I liked every version just as much," Evans said.

In August 2009 Cocoa Metro hit Boston area Whole Foods stores. Drommond laughed remembering men at one store discussing the product while he unloaded the bottles.

"Grown men were standing around talking about chocolate milk," Drummond said.

The Dunford’s said one of their next goals is New York City, but branching out was a matter of finding time.

"Adding stores for us has really become when we have time to do it," Mike said. "If we can meet with them in person and have them try the product, they are sold."

"Who’s going to get her some chocolate?"

The night I broke up with my boyfriend I had no idea the conversation that was going on directly above me. All of my housemates had heard the incessant sobbing through my closed door and were sitting in the living room plotting their plan of attack.

"I’ll kill him," one of them said.

"Someone has to go out and get her chocolate," another one said. They all knew it was the only answer. The one thing I needed more than anything was a bar, of chocolate.

But according to a study published today in the Archives of Internal Medicine, high consumption is associated with people developing depression.

The study did not find out whether eating the chocolate is a result of the depression or depression is a result of the chocolate. According to the study, people who show signs of depression eat on average three more servings of chocolate per month than people who don’t have signs of depression. People with severe depression eat 6.4 more servings. The real question lies in whether this supposed aphrodisiac triggers depression or depression triggers a craving.

I would vote for the second option, but as an avid chocolate lover I may be biased. Chocolate is a small pleasure. When everything else in the world does not make sense, chocolate is something tangible that will produce the desired affect. Maybe my cocoa covered glasses are not entirely scientific. I am not saying chocolate makes someone happy, but it definitely creates a pleasurable moment.

The study did look into other eating habits of the people being studied and found that there was no link to an overeating in other areas when linked to depression. Chocolate was the only culprit.

A few days after the tearful night in my room I ran into one of my housemates. He reassured me that "I was better off without him" and that there were serious efforts that night to find me chocolate.

I am not claiming that one night of incessant sobbing constituted as depression, but on bad nights and sometimes just off nights I know that chocolate is normally my go-to food.

I am not worried about the new research and what it could mean for chocolate consumption. In fact I hope they do the research. Scientists have hardly skimmed the surface when it comes to the reasons behind our consumption of foods and even the foods themselves. Of course I’m rooting for the chocolate on this one, but whatever future studies find I hope that when I’m sobbing in a fetal position on my bed someone has the decency to find me some chocolate.

Flashback to Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, preferably the 1971 version, Violet Beauregarde eats the special gum that creates a roast beef dinner in your mouth and something goes terribly wrong when she reaches dessert. Subtract the bratty children; add in some serious marketing and you have something very close to Lewhif, a new inhalable chocolate and coffee product.

The concept for Lewhif is unique: a product you can suck into your mouth that tastes like chocolate or coffee without all of the calories and bother of chewing food. The problem is an instructional video is needed just to understand how to use the product.

A little graphic on the back of the package is meant to explain how to whiff. Basically in order to use this tampon sized inhaler you have to pull it open it and then put it to your mouth and suck in, but not too much. If you suck in too much, a coughing attack will commence followed by a strange sensation that could be likened to sucking a pixi stick into your mouth.

The how-to-whiff unpleasantness is not the only problem one faces while trying Lewhif. This pixi stick for adults does not exactly melt in your mouth as you are inhaling it, which is probably what causes the excessive coughing and gritty mouth feel. The flavor is good. It tastes like chocolate. Placing cocoa powder in your mouth would also taste like chocolate and would definitely be cheaper than the two euro being charged for Lewhif.

It is unfortunate that the end result of Lewhif was almost as fun as using my dad’s asthma inhaler, because the concept behind the product was rather enlightening. David Edwards, a professor of Biomedical Engineering at Harvard University, conceived of the idea for inhalable food while chatting with a chef in Bordeaux, France.

Edwards said in an email interview that he felt if scientists could cause particles from medicines and vaccines to land in someone’s lungs and not their mouth then they could probably do the reverse causing food particles to be inhaled into someone’s mouth and not hit their lungs. After some experiment, he created Lewhif.

The chocolate variety of the product was released first, and according to Edwards, was very well received in France. Not surprisingly Edwards claimed women were a very large market for the product. Most women want to believe in one calorie chocolate. If they knocked it down a little in price teenagers would probably be all over the fake inhaler pseudo drug look.

There are times when brilliant concepts don’t exactly yield tasty results. Fake sugar, margarine, and Cheese Whiz are prime examples. Cheese from a can was a doomed idea from the start, but in all of those cases fewer calories and a new way of enjoying an old favorite resulted in compromised taste and usability.

If Lewhif is the future of food, then I hope Willy Wonka starts selling that gum, because food needs a more impressive future. Turning into a blueberry can’t be all that bad.

(ARA) – No matter the occasion or season, love of chocolate is universal. America’s cocoa worship continues to grow and, despite a down economy, people are treating themselves to a small luxury with premium chocolates.

Though they may skip a trip to their favorite restaurant or bakery for dessert, chocolate enthusiasts continue to look for everyday indulgences in products with the finest ingredients. In fact, U.S. chocolate sales are expected to grow to nearly $18 billion by 2011.

Often times, those who prefer premium chocolate reach for darker varieties, and have taken up using only cacao percentages to measure what makes a “better” chocolate. The percentages refer to the total amount of cocoa beans in the bar by weight. Traditionally, a higher percentage provides a more intense and less sweet flavor. What they often forget, however, is that it’s not just cacao percentages, but also the overall quality that can make the difference between a good chocolate and a great one. Milk chocolate must be at least 10 percent chocolate liquor by weight, and the current trend favors formulations that contain more than that amount, which produces more chocolate flavor and less sweetness.

Despite the attention on dark varieties, milk chocolate is Americans’ true love, accounting for 80 percent of total chocolate sales, according to the market research firm ACNielsen. Milk chocolate fans have cause to rejoice — more premium offerings are becoming available with launches of new products, including Ghirardelli LUXE milk chocolate.

With delectable all natural flavors including milk, hazelnut, almond, crisp and duet, the Ghirardelli LUXE milk chocolate collection offers satisfaction for every craving.

What should you look for in a high-quality chocolate?

• An attractive gloss — The surface of chocolate should be tight and even-colored.
• A pleasing aroma — Before even tasting it, rub the piece of chocolate with your thumb to warm and release its aroma. Milk chocolates often give off aromas of milk, cream, caramel or malt.
• The “snap” factor — It’s the first clue to texture. Milk chocolate bars have a gentler snap than dark or semi-sweet chocolate because their milk and butter fat content make them naturally softer.
• Creamy feel in your mouth — Premium chocolate should not be described as “gritty” or “waxy.”
• Flavor — It’s the ultimate criterion for quality in chocolate. Every palate is different, but don’t forget that above all, your chocolate must taste delicious!

Courtesy of ARAcontent

Chocolate fans, your PC game of choice has arrived in the form of Chocolatier by Brighter Minds Media.

Surround yourself with every type of chocolate bar, truffle or delicacy you can possibly imagine, all while having a calorie free experience. Welcome to the world of chocolate — “The Elixir of the Gods.”

Chocolatier challenges you to build a successful worldwide chocolate business empire. Similar to the many tycoon style games but with an original concept, Chocolatier is also an adventure game that brings you on missions all over the world that you must complete in order to propel your business to success.

Picture this game as the love child between Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?

The game brings you to the year 1880, where Evangeline Baumeister, a famous chocolatier, finds her chocolate company in financial trouble after letting her irresponsible sister take over. Her sister has also lost many of their famous chocolate recipes, and so Evangeline asks you to travel the world to find these recipes and bring the company back up to speed.

In order to find these recipes and re-establish business relationships, you must travel to designated spots all around the globe and meet with many colorful (yet stereotypical) characters who help you find the lost recipes and will guide you towards good deals on purchasing ingredients. Oftentimes these characters will send you on a mission before they hand over the recipes or make a large purchase. They will usually request you to make a delivery or bring a message to a certain person, so it’s important to remember where that person is.

The game can be tricky, as you can only find certain ingredients in specific locations, such as coffee beans only being available to purchase in Mexico (a necessary ingredient for your delicious Colombo Cacao Coffee Caramel Truffles and Dark Chocolate Coffee bars) and special lemons that can only be found in Trinidad. It’s also wise to know what products sell best at certain locations. To be successful you really must get to know the people and characteristics of each location, which is a realistic aspect of managing a thriving business.

As you travel on, you will gradually obtain recipes for increasingly fancy chocolates and your sales profits will increase. As your overall net gain increases you will be able to set up factories in every continent, and expand your business. The challenges lies in the constant need to expand, while simultaneously trying to micromanage such details as how much of each ingredient goes into each chocolate product at all your factories. The good thing is your chocolates sell for an outrageous amount of money and your consumers don’t seem to mind, so the money flows in at a consistent rate.

Chocolatier is a fun and challenging game that does require strategy and the ability to make smart business decisions, mixed in with some brainless, yet amusing missions to complete. This game is safe for dieters and those with an all too dangerous fondness for chocolate, but I can’t make any promises that after hours of staring at those yummy-looking computerized truffles, you won’t be running to your local candy store with an urge to buy out their entire supply.

Quick hits:

Publisher: PlayFirst/Brighter Minds Media
Developer: Big Splash
Platform: PC/MAC CD-ROM
Genre: Edutainment/Adventure
Players: 1

Playability: 4 out of 5 stars
Learning Curve: 4 out of 5 stars
Sound: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Graphics: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Overall: 4 out of 5 stars

Dear EarthTalk: I heard a reference to “Earth-friendly chocolate” and was wondering about what goes into chocolate that would raise environmental concerns. — Ben Moran, Providence, RI

Like coffee beans, the cacao seeds from which we derive chocolate can only be grown successfully in equatorial regions — right where the world’s few remaining tropical rainforests thrive. As worldwide demand for chocolate grows, so does the temptation among growers to clear more and more rainforest to accommodate high-yield monocultural (single-crop) cacao tree plantations. What are left are open, sunny fields with dramatically lower levels of plant and animal diversity. Adding environmental insult to injury, most cacao plantations use copious amounts of chemical fertilizers, pesticides and fungicides that further degrade the land that once teemed with a wide variety of rare birds, mammals and plants.

Another problem with chocolate production, although not specifically an environmental concern, is the conditions endured by workers that pick and process the cacao seeds. The International Institute of Tropical Agriculture has documented some 284,000 children between the ages of nine and 12 working in hazardous conditions on West African cacao farms. In Africa’s Ivory Coast, for example, where more than 40 percent of the world’s cacao is grown, underage cacao workers are routinely overworked, performing often-dangerous farming tasks in a setting that some liken to slavery. As a result of these and other related injustices, so-called “fair trade” advocates have targeted large producers of cacao to improve working conditions and pay living wages that allow workers to get their kids out of the fields and into school.

Some cacao farmers have enlisted the help of scientists and environmental groups to find ways to produce chocolate more fairly and more sustainably. The nonprofit Rainforest Alliance, which works on similar issues with coffee growers, is now partnering with cacao growers in Ecuador to develop environmentally and socially responsible cacao production and processing standards. The standards seek to maintain critical conservation areas, reduce pressures to convert more forestland to cacao plantations, and provide social and economic benefits to local communities. As a result, some 2,000 cacao growers in five Ecuadorian communities have now formed cooperatives that help find new markets for their products while overseeing adherence to fair labor standards and environmental protection measures. Rainforest Alliance hopes to expand the program to other cacao growing regions of the world in the coming years.

Those looking to get their hands on some organically grown fair trade chocolate have more options than ever before. Leading brands include Dagoba, Endangered Species Chocolate, Equal Exchange, Green & Black’s, Sjaak’s, Sunspire, Terra Nostra Divine, Theo, Sweet Earth, and Yachana Gourmet. Actor Paul Newman has gotten in on the act, too, with his Newman’s Own brand. Like Newman’s Own, many of the companies donate money to environmental and other nonprofit efforts. Whole Foods and other natural foods retailers stock many of these brands, which are also available via various Internet-based retailers including Global Exchange’s Fair Trade Online Store.

CONTACTS: International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, Global Exchange’s Fair Trade Online Store.

Dear EarthTalk: What’s a “land trust” and how does it help the environment? — Sam Stout, Darien, CT

A land trust is an organization that works with landowners to conserve their land, either by buying it from them or obtaining it as a donation. Legal agreements between the trust, the landowner and the local government are then created in order to permanently limit development of the land. Land trusts are usually nonprofit, and their purpose is to provide long-term stewardship of not just land, but sometimes areas of historical or archeological significance.

The need for land trusts arose out of public concern for the loss of open space, wildlife habitat and scenic beauty in the face of rampant development on private land during the latter half of the 20th century. More than 1,600 land trusts have since sprung up in a variety of communities across the U.S. Together they have protected some 37 million acres of land, according to the Land Trust Alliance, a Washington, DC-based umbrella group formed in 1981 to help land trusts share information and work more effectively.

When a land trust acquires land, it may retain ownership in perpetuity in order to protect the parcel from development. When landowners donate parcels to a land trust outright, they can take advantage of state and federal income tax deductions — similar to any tax-deductible, non-profit donation — while saving considerable money on property and estate taxes moving forward.

Whether a land trust buys a parcel or gets it donated, it can either hold onto the property or, depending on the arrangement with the former owner, sell it to a third party — often a local or state government that commits to turning it into a protected area. Land trusts also sell land to private buyers, usually with strict restrictions on future development. The benefit to keeping the land under private ownership is that it can then stay on local property tax rolls and thus continue to provide revenue for the local government.

Another way land trusts work is through “conservation easements,” whereby individuals can protect their land but still retain ownership and the option of selling or passing it along to heirs. Future owners of the land are also bound by the easement’s terms, which restrict development and use and are often monitored by a land trust. Conservation easements usually lower the financial value of their land (by limiting development potential), but landowners benefit because their property taxes go down accordingly. Likewise, if and when heirs inherit the land, the conservation easement lessens their estate tax burden.

Every conservation easement is different, but most include provisions limiting or forbidding construction or resource extraction. Often they protect especially sensitive lands such as wetlands. Some easements allow specific parcels to be used for agriculture, ranching or logging. Many allow hiking, camping, bird watching or even hunting (though some specifically ban hunting and are created for that purpose).

Another nonprofit group, the American Land Conservancy (ALC), functions like a national land trust working nationwide to ensure that large or exceptional pieces of property stay out of the hands of developers. Some of ALC’s work has led to the creation or expansion of national parks in Colorado, Hawaii and elsewhere.

CONTACTS: Land Trust Alliance, American Land Conservancy.

GOT AN ENVIRONMENTAL QUESTION? Send it to: EarthTalk, c/o E/The Environmental Magazine, P.O. Box 5098, Westport, CT 06881; submit it at: www.emagazine.com/earthtalk/thisweek/, or e-mail: earthtalk@emagazine.com. Read past columns at: www.emagazine.com/earthtalk/archives.php.