Tag Archives | Candy

The Ronald Reagan Cake: A Strange Concoction

By on February 3, 2011 in News 1

ReaganThe Washington Post‘s Kelly DiNardo analyzes the 400 lb Ronald Reagan 100th birthday cake to be unveiled this weekend. To me it rather symbolizes the man himself: all American hero on the outside, but inside a strange man made up of conflicting components that are hard to reconcile:

Ronald Reagan’s sweet tooth is well documented; the 40th president even has a portrait made out of his favorite candy – Jelly Belly jelly beans – hanging in the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Library. So the six-foot-by-six-foot birthday cake that will be unveiled at the library on Sunday for the centennial of his birth is not just celebratory but also a monument to, well, chocolate.

Admittedly, not all of the five-layer concoction is cake. The first layer, fondant-covered Styrofoam, serves as a base for a layer of fondant-covered Rice Krispies treats, which supports a massive chocolate cake. A second fondant-covered Styrofoam layer buttresses another, smaller chocolate cake.

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Blue M&M’s Turn Rats Blue and Help Heal Spinal Injuries: WTF?

By on January 13, 2011 in News 19

Blue RatHere’s a really crazy “health” story in 2009 from CNN I recently found. If you want some technical info on this dye check out its Wikipedia page. Reports CNN Health:

The same blue food dye found in M&Ms and Gatorade could be used to reduce damage caused by spine injuries, offering a better chance of recovery, according to new research.

Researchers at the University of Rochester Medical Center found that when they injected the compound Brilliant Blue G (BBG) into rats suffering spinal cord injuries, the rodents were able to walk again, albeit with a limp.

The only side effect was that the treated mice temporarily turned blue. The results of the study, published in the “Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,” build on research conducted by the same center five years ago.

In August 2004, scientists revealed how Adenosine triphosphate, which is known as ATP and described as the “energy currency of life,” surges to the spinal cord soon after injury occurs.

… Read the rest

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The Coming Chocolate Shortage

By on November 29, 2010 in News 12

6c66ce92540fc24397b4a1d51cc0_grandeWould smiles still exist in a world without chocolate? We may find out. Global chocolate consumption is far outpacing cocoa production, portending an ominous future in which chocolate prices rise drastically, and cheap chocolate products as we know them become a relic of the past. The Independent brings the gloom-and-doom:

John Mason, executive director and founder of the Ghana-based Nature Conservation Research Council, has forecast that shortages in bulk production in Africa will have a devastating effect: “In 20 years chocolate will be like caviar. It will become so rare and so expensive that the average Joe just won’t be able to afford it.”

The reason for this unimaginable shortage – which has been presaged by the doubling of cocoa prices in six years to an all-time high over the past three decades – is simple.

Farmers in the countries that produce the bulk of cocoa bought by the multinationals who control the market have found the crop a bitter harvest.

… Read the rest

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Record Set For World’s Largest Chocolate Bar

By on September 13, 2010 in News 1

The Grand Candy factory found a delicious way to enter the Guinness Book of World Records. The largest chocolate bar is to be chopped up and eaten in Armenia on October 16. From Huffington Post:

Anyone looking for huge amounts of free chocolate should book a flight to Armenia’s capital next month. That’s when the world’s largest chocolate bar will be up for grabs in Yerevan’s main square. The Guinness Book of World Records certified the 9,702-pound (4,410-kilogram) chocolate bar at a ceremony Saturday.

It was made by Grand Candy factory and contains all natural ingredients, including 70 percent cocoa mass. The chocolate bar is 224 inches (560 centimeters) long, 110 inches (275 centimeters) wide and 10 inches (25 centimeters) thick.

The factory owner, Karen Vardanyan, said that the chocolate bar was produced to mark the 10th anniversary of the company. He said it will be divided up and handed out Oct. 16.

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