In Episode 4 of Candyology 101, we’re talking about candy associations with Christmas. It’s all the good and bad that the season has to offer.

You can also download the MP3 file, subscribe in iTunes or Stitcher.

Check out all the links & show notes on the Candyology 101 website.

In this episode Lauren, Maria and I are taking on chewing gum, all its variations and waxing nostalgic about the gums of our youth.

Listen now:

You can also download the MP3 file, subscribe in iTunes or Stitcher.

Check out all the links & show notes on the Candyology 101 website.

Listen in with my candy blogging buddies Maria from Sometimes Foodie and Lauren from Candy Bar Reviews on our second episode of Candyology 101. Our topic is Peanut Butter.

You can download the file directly, subscribe in iTunes or Stitcher.

We also have some great show notes up on the Candyology 101 website, if you want to track down anything we were talking about.  Enjoy!

I’ve been a guest on Marvo‘s podcast The Nosh Show a few times now, so we thought maybe a podcast devote just to candy might be fun. So candy blogging buddies Lauren from Candy Bar Reviews and Maria from Sometimes Foodie and I will be getting together twice a month to run down the sweet news on Candyology 101. Our first episode is about Halloween candy.

You can listen here or check out the website for full links to subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, Stitcher or via RSS.

In case you haven’t been following along at the new show launches at This Week in Tech, they’ve got a new one called Munchcast.

The show is about, well, munchies! It’s hosted by Cammy Blackstone and Leo Laporte.

I’m on this week’s episode, it’s only their eighth and I’m honored to be part of it. It’s all about the All Candy Expo and the new candies introduced there.

Check it out!

(I haven’t listened to it all yet as I’m hopping on a plane in a few minutes ... but I had a fun time recording it.)

I got up early this morning to do an interview on NPR‘s “Here and Now” with David Boeri and his guest from The Grocery Manufacturers Association. You can listen online. (Read through all my other chocolate change and the FDA stuff here for background.)

Robert Earl, Senior Director of Nutrition Policy for the GMA was rather strong in his position that changing technology is a benefit to us both economically (cheaper food) and to the nutrition profile of foods (healthy!). It’s odd, I’ve never heard “technology” thrown around so much in conjunction with our food. It’s food ... I’d always thought it was low-tech. But I’m kidding myself.

My major beef, and of course I brought it up, was that Mr. Earl stated that the swapping of cocoa butter for vegetable fat was not covered in the petition (at about 1:50 in the timecode):

“Well, that is not something that’s articulated in the petition at all. The petition would apply to the standard for chocolate and that’s one of the over 260 food standards that the Food and Drug Administration [covers], but there is not a specific request to change the chocolate standard of identity contained in this petition.”

Seriously? Then why ask for the Chocolate Manufacturers Association’s endorsement? He does go on to make the point that consumers are demanding good quality chocolate, and I don’t argue that’s what we look for in our “chocolate bars”, but this will be very muddy with the lax permissions when you go to the ice cream shop and think you’re getting actual chocolate chips in your chocolate chip ice cream or actual chocolate in your chocolate croissant at the bakery. Anything that uses chocolate as an ingredient will become fair game for the cheaper vegetable fat substitutes.

If you haven’t listened to it (it’s only in RealPlayer, so I totally understand), I made the point that whether or not the GMA specifically laid out that the petition includes chocolate, it is in Appendix C (PDF) and statements from Hershey & the Chocolate Manufacturers Association have indicated that they think that they would be able to under the “safe and suitable vegetable fats.”

In my discussions with the producer before the interview I found out that no one else in the Chocolate Manufacturers Association or Hershey’s wanted to take part in the interview. The Chocolate Manufacturers Association has posted plenty of documents on their site giving their position (PDF) as well as the National Confectioners Association (link), and of course Guittard at Don’t Mess with Our Chocolate has posted a point by point analysis of that (PDF #1 & PDF#2).

In much funner news, I just got a big package of stuff I bought from ArtisanSweets.com. Full picture array here. I got: - Romanego Panned Sweets (cordials, jordan almonds, panned pistachios & pine nuts and coral cinnamon & orange peel), Fig & Almond Nougat from Montelimar, Nutpatch Nougat (already reviewed that!), Alemany egg yolk marzipan with a burn sugar crust, Alemany lavender honey, Hammond’s hand made candy sticks (cola, strawberry, and blackberry/apple). Some of it I’ll review, some of it’s just for eatin’!

The cool thing is that Artisan Sweets is running a sale right now, all Nougat is 10% until Wednesday, August 1st - just enter the coupon code NOUGAT at checkout. One thing I have to say, everything is so wonderfully packaged, it’s like it’s gift-wrapped. Each item is wrapped either in colored tissue and/or purple bubble wrap, all nested in recyclable kraft paper.

Here’s the Weekly Recap of Reviews:

Monday: Dots (5 out of 10)

Tuesday: Jujyfruits & Jujubes (5 out of 10)

Wednesday: Sour Gummi Bears (7 out of 10)

Thursday: The Simpsons Fruit Snacks (5 out of 10)

Friday: Cherry Almondine M&Ms (6 out of 10)

Weekly Average: 5.5 ... 0% chocolate content.

Related Candies

1. Nutpatch Nougats
2. The Apothecary’s Garden: Herbs (and some Bees)
3. The Apothecary’s Garden: Spices
4. Nougat de Montelimar

Chelsea, the producer for Radio Open Source emailed me today with this link. Someone has remixed the Passion Thursday: Candy episode as some sort of soft core highlights of the interview.

Don’t worry, it’s worksafe:

A Universal Passion - Candy Remix from Love and Radio

Once again, I will be doing a radio interview. This time with a program called Radio Open Source. It will be broadcast live (yee!) at 4PM to 5PM Pacific time (check their site for stations that might carry it near you). You can also hear a live stream (and call in!), on XM channel 133, or catch it later in the archived broadcast (or subscribe to the podcast).

The coolest part is the OTHER guest on the show is Steve Almond, author of Candy Freak (I promise, I’ll write a review soon, which I can sum up here as, “Good! Go read it!”) The topic is basically about candy and its role in our everyday lives - I think some people think that candy is fixed entity but it really changes with us through the years. Our tastes as individuals change and our tastes as a society change. Things we loved as a kid have come and gone, and yet others were eaten by our grandparents and may be consumed by our grandkids. Threads that bind the generations.

What’s cool about Open Source is that things are transparent. They put up a blog entry on a show that they’re “warming up” and you get to comment and help shape the focus of the hour, then the show goes “on deck” and they show you their pre-interview notes and then folks can comment. Then they do the show and it stays in “recently aired” for folks to continue the conversation (great if you don’t catch the live show or stream but still want to add something).

So, here’s your chance to talk about candy!