<p>The melamine crisis expands to chocolates!!!</p>
<p>[Cadbury</a> pulls melamine-laced chocolate from China - Yahoo! News](<a href=“http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080929/ap_on_re_as/as_china_tainted_milk]Cadbury”>http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080929/ap_on_re_as/as_china_tainted_milk)</p>
<p>What’s next? How much of our food actually contains “parts made in China”? Do you trust the Kraft officials that Oreos do not contain any ingredients from China?</p>
<p>I"m with you, Bunsen
so where do we get organic chocolate?</p>
<p>I’m a big fan of Theo’s chocolates, which are made in Seattle a couple of blocks from where I work. They are pricey, but they taste soooo good! You can find them anywhere:</p>
<p>[Theo</a> Chocolate, Store Locator](<a href=“http://www.theochocolate.com/store-locator/]Theo”>Chocolate Finder)</p>
<p>Green&Black’s are also very good. I’d probably avoid anything that has mysterious “milk solids” as an ingredient until the melamine dust settles.</p>
<p>Any others?</p>
<p>I am love Fran’s – franschocolates(dot)com. The website describes their local and organic ingredients, including dairy products: “Cream & Butter – Harvested from local organic farms, these fresh ingredients offer a subtle flavor that adds depth to each of our confections.” Expensive --a rare treat or wonderful gift. The grey salt caramels are addictive (buttery caramel covered in dark chocolate with a sprinkling of coarse grey salt). I much prefer Fran’s to name-brand chocolates such as Godiva.</p>
<p>Moonstruck Chocolate Cafe. Based in Portland, Oregon. I’m familiar with them through their Chicago and Champaign, IL, locations.</p>
<p>In grad school I’d take a stack of papers to grade over to the cafe and have a chai latte and a champagne truffle. It made grading far more enjoyable. =) I miss that-- there aren’t any here in Texas!</p>
<p>Avenue Sweets in SLC. My friend owns it 
<a href=“http://www.avenuesweets.com%5B/url%5D”>www.avenuesweets.com</a></p>
<p>Theos is very good I agree & - in this great building ( Redhook built it but at the time the owner would not sell them the land so they had to move 
) and has good chocolate that they sell locally.
[In</a> Fremont you can tour the nation’s first organic, fair-trade chocolate factory](<a href=“http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/food/285690_theo20.html]In”>http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/food/285690_theo20.html)</p>
<p>Fran’s is good too- although not really my taste. Her nephew was in my daughters graduating class and she donated a lot to the school. Historically, the junior class put on the graduation reception for the seniors. The year D was a junior, Fran donated * boxes and boxes* of TRUFFLEs for the reception. I had to practically unleash my guard dogs to prevent people from eating them all before I could get them set out ( and long before graduation had finished)</p>
<p>My favorite local chocolate however has been Dilettante & I was so sad when they closed the factory outlet across the street from younger D’s school- I am not a big chocolate person- but they made great latte’s and burnt chocolate smells so good
[Dilettante</a> Chocolates](<a href=“http://www.dilettante.com/]Dilettante”>http://www.dilettante.com/)</p>
<p>These guys are in Oregon. Try the one with chile
[Dagoba</a> Organic Chocolate](<a href=“Hersheyland | Explore Hershey Products, Recipes, Crafts & More”>http://www.dagobachocolate.com/)</p>
<p>I agree that Godiva tastes like Nestles compared to any of the above.</p>
<p>This one just opened in our neighborhood, but frankly I can’t keep up.
[no</a> big sign out front and nobody serving chocolate on silver trays with white gloves.](<a href=“http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/retailreport/2008130909_retailreport22.html]no”>http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/retailreport/2008130909_retailreport22.html)
Why don’t they also sell nice glasses of port and spiced nuts to have with the chocolate is what I want to know?</p>
<p>just an observation after reading an article online about this the other day…
if the manufacturers are unscrupulous enough to be putting that stuff in their product, then how can you even trust the “ingredients” listed on the packaging???
I only bring this up because one news article I read said to avoid certain ingredients listed on the label. And I’m thinking, Oh yeah, I’m sure they’ll of course be honest in their ingredients listed :rolleyes: </p>
<p>The whole thing is horrible :(</p>
<p>You can complain about our FDA, but it does a pretty good job of food oversight.</p>
<p>For chocolate, I usually buy Lindt, made in Switzerland–and usually get the dark chocolate without milk in any case.</p>
<p>Has anyone had Burdick chocolates, from Boston? Heavenly. Expensive, but heavenly. DH came back from a conference there with a free, small box. I forgave him for having fun without me. :)</p>
<p>Godiva is made by Campbells soup, so it’s not in the same league as the chocolates you mention. It’s just marketed very well.</p>
<p>The FDA does a great job keeping our food supply safe. I’d have no problem buying products from US or European plants, but I was really surprised to hear about Cadbury in China.</p>
<p>Be careful where you get your vitamins. Some products like melatonin come from China no matter where the pills or capsules are finally packaged. It is nice white powder. I would imagine many products we don’t consider come from there. I wrote to an italian company requesting information on where their vitamins came from originally. Response, China.</p>
<p>I’m not surprised a bit, since the US and European firms have long ago outsourced all of our chemical manufacturing to India and China. Chemicals are supposed to have some sort of CofA, but as we know, 99% purity still leaves 1% unaccounted for, and it could be something much worse than melamine.</p>
<p>Yes, I’ve had Burdicks and they are fantastic.</p>
<p>Burdick’s makes adorable tiny chocolate penguins. I went to Antarctica last winter and used them as favors later for a dinner party. Only problem was they cost about $7 a piece for something barely larger than a caramel. They did come in a cute wooden box.</p>
<p>Godiva is no longer owned by Campbell Soup (old news- happened last March). It’s owned by a Turkish company (Ulker). The main plant for Godiva is in Belgium…and it started there. I think it’s good chocolate.</p>
<p>It never occurred to me we were eating ingredients from China until the pet food problem.</p>
<p>Is Hershey’s OK? Nestle’s?</p>
<p>Some of the best chocolates (handmade) I’ve had are from a company in St. Louis–Bissingers. The company has been in business forever and you can purchase chocolates online. We don’t live in St. Louis anymore and were really happy when we learned we could buy Bissingers online. I love the chocolate covered raspberries.</p>
<p>[Bissinger’s</a> - Gourmet Chocolate, Holiday Chocolates, Chocolate Truffles, Sugar Free Chocolate](<a href=“http://www.bissingers.com/]Bissinger’s”>http://www.bissingers.com/)</p>
<p>Ahem. Is self-promotion against the rules? If you are interested in my web site address, PM me. :)</p>
<p>Is that where your colored eggs are going, Consol?</p>
<p>No, I don’t use eggs in any of the truffles or chocolates or other confections. I do use local cream and butter, but not produced by me. I only have hens. (Although I’ve been toying with the idea of a few sheep for years.) </p>
<p>We did have quite an array of items made with pretty colored eggs at our church craft fair a few years ago. I got REALLY tired of blowing out eggs! </p>
<p>Actually, when you first start using them, it seems like a crime to break them because they are so pretty. But you get over that, eventually. :)</p>