These past four days, New York hosted the Fancy Food Show. It’s exactly what it sounds like - hundreds if not thousands of food manufacturers that make specialty food come together at one huge trade show.

I was scouring the floors (looking for the perfect bacon and chocolate covered marshmallows for chocri), not without paying attention to some cool products that I saw along the way. 

Here they go: 

These funny popcorn kernels are COLORFUL. Indigo Blue, Ruby Red and White Gold (well, that one looks like normal corn to me). They ‘re funny, because they pop in white, but you can still see the color on the inside.

Introducing: Sushi Chocolate. This chocolate had its debut at the Fancy Food Show and everyone talked about them. It’s candy in sushi shape. Unfortunately I didn’t get to try it, so I don’t know if it tastes fishy :)

This of course makes me listen up: Build Your Own (Pumpkin Cookie, Gingerbread Man…). Cool stuff! I’ll have to get one of those in the holiday season. Nothing online though - you get the kit and then go at it. But love the use of “Build Your Own” :)

Do you know these? Apparently they’ve been available for 8 years now. I couldn’t believe it when I saw the name “Hint Mint” - who would buy something that alludes to bad-breath-without-being-aware-of-it? Not a nice association. But it seems to work - they got lots of press, and hey - I’m mentioning them too, right? Also, they have many cool packagings - I hope they consider customizing them sometime. Or at least they should look into open innovation. @hintmint on Twitter.

Ok, so this was my favorite. The bottle you see here is actually see through. It’s the water that’s jet black! Hence “Blackwater” But it tastes like water, nothing else, and is full of so-called “fulvic acid” -  which has a bunch of good minerals and electrolytes. I’d need to see it next to a vitamin water, but it gave me lots of energy in a peculiar non-caffeine way, so I’d love to try it again sometime. I hope they get into many stores!

I’ve gotten two emails about this today (which is wonderful), so I thought this might be of interest to all of you as well: 

Tomorrow, Hershey’s opens a new attraction in their fun park, Chocolate World: the Create Your Own Candy Bar Attraction.

Sounds familiar?

Obviously, we’ve been allowing people to create their own chocolate bars since 2008 in Germany and since earlier this year in the US. Another German chocolate maker, Ritter Sport, has a store in Berlin where you can create your own chocolate bar right there and then (read a German review here). I wouldn’t be surprised if Hershey’s got some inspiration from us and them. 

So what’s my reaction to this? I love it! I think this is one of the best things that could have happened to the customized candy world - a big player is endorsing it!

In the attraction, visitors will get to make their own bar for $14.95, which allows them to choose the different ingredients and pull different levers, and in the end to take their own bar home with them. I think it’s a really cute idea, and I’m expecting it to create a lot of buzz. And what’s better for us than people searching for “create your own chocolate bars” on Google? Hello! We’re here, and we’re happy to put our nearly 2 years of expertise at work to make a bar for you and deliver it to your doorstep - no pulling of levers required. :)

Thanks Hershey’s for getting the word out. I’d love to chat sometime about custom chocolate if you’re open to that - just let me know at carmen @ chocri.com :)

p.s. I used this source for image and news

Happy Graduation!

Details about this chocolate bar

The glorious winner of our Mother’s Day contest - this bar scored 65 likes on Facebook and was designed by a child! What would you name it?

Happy Earth Day Everyone!

Our new Topping of the Month - The Noghl Almond!

A Persian delicacy, the Noghl Almond is made by coating roasted almonds in a mixture of sugar and rose water. Just like chocri bars, Noghl Almonds are a popular wedding favor. Well, at least in Persia. They are really hard to get in the US, so take advantage of our topping of the month and add Noghl Almonds to your customized chocolate bar!

And last but not least - The Gary Vaynerchuk Chocolate Bar. Wine and Chocolate just go together!

Find out here or on Twitter when and where we’ll be giving those bars out for free at SXSW.

We are collecting English phrases for the inside of our packaging. Everyone can submit an idea, everyone can vote on it, and the best one receives a $50 gift certificate ($20 and $10 for second and third place).

What would you like to see?