10 Foods to Try Covered in Chocolate

They say everything is better with chocolate, but is it?

We’ve uncovered some oddly popular and some surprisingly tasty pairings. We’ll leave it up to you to determine if they really are better with chocolate.

Beef Jerky

This salty, sweet and chewy combination is sure to stir some excitement among jerky fans. Plus, with so many varieties of jerky available the options are seemingly endless. We suggest adding another element of texture by topping the chocolate coating with crushed nuts, candy pieces, drizzled caramel, dried fruit or savory spices like smoked paprika or red pepper flakes.

Cheetos^®

If your customers love your chocolate-covered potato chips, this seems like a natural next step. As an added bonus, coating Cheetos in chocolate will help to avoid the dreaded orange Cheeto fingers.

Chickpeas

Packed with protein and fiber, chickpeas (aka garbanzo beans) are super popular right now—see for yourself with a quick internet search. When chickpeas are roasted, they take on a crunchy snack-like quality. Try coating them in chocolate and sprinkling them with a little sea salt and you are bound to catch the attention of chickpea enthusiasts with this nutritious sweet treat.

Chili Peppers
Chocolate-covered chili peppers—perhaps with a dash of sea salt fall right in line with one of the biggest flavor trends of 2020; spicy-salty-sweet. From habaneros to jalapenos to sweet peppers and everything in between, there’s so many varieties of peppers you decide how daring you want to be. **Bonus points if you stuff peppers with peanut butter.

Corn Nuts

We first learned about this addictive combo while touring the R&D department at The Blommer Chocolate Company in 2017. We give this sweet and savory mix of chocolate and toasted corn kernels two thumbs up. Try it for yourself and tell us what you think.

Onions

Chocolate-covered onions? It sounds like an April Fools’ Day joke. As the story goes, the idea started as a prank. Today Mueller Chocolate Co.’s chocolate-covered onion has developed into a “cult favorite” for tourists and food bloggers visiting Philadelphia. For the record, it is unanimous that the chocolate-covered onion is as disgusting as it sounds.

Peanut Butter Filled Pretzels

Sometimes kids have the greatest ideas. This idea came from the son/grandson of the family business, JoyLyn’s Candies as a sweet snack idea and it was a hit. If you have combined chocolate with peanut butter and chocolate with pretzels, but you’ve never tried the three together, you’re in for a treat.

Pickles

It’s an annual tradition for Malley’s Chocolates of Cleveland to drench dill pickles in chocolate for St. Patrick’s Day—some could say this is the ultimate salty, sweet combination. Unlike the chocolate-covered onion, people seem to really enjoy this wacky combination.

Quinoa

The ancient grain, quinoa, brings along with it a healthy halo. Combine it with dark chocolate and dried superfoods like blueberries—this treat is not only packed with nutrients but it tastes good too. Rather than working with raw quinoa (which might chip a tooth), puffed quinoa is a better medium for coating in chocolate. Puffed quinoa is easy to make yourself (a lot like stovetop popcorn—check out this recipe) or you can buy puffed quinoa (see here).

Wasabi Peas

If you like the crunch of chocolate-covered Cheetos and the heat of chocolate chili peppers, these little spheres of goodness are the best of both worlds.

Creativity doesn’t have to stop here. You never know where your next creative culinary confection will come from. So, keep experimenting and have fun! And don’t forget to tell people about your next wacky combination on social media, in-store and even through a press release. Creative, out-of-the-box thinking may be just what you need to create buzz and get people to visit your store or website so they don’t miss out on all the fun!

Crave more? If you like what you read here, look for the "Subscribe now" box on the right to enter your email address and start receiving weekly tips, like this, delivered straight to your email inbox. RCI's Tip of the Week blog is just one of the many resources we offer to help candy makers refine their craft and build upon their business and marketing practices.

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5 Ways to Celebrate with Marshmallows

August is the unofficial marshmallow month—with National S’mores Day on August 10 and National Toasted Marshmallow Day on August 30.

Marshmallows originated in Ancient Egypt. They were made from the sweet, gooey sap extracted from the mallow plant and mixed with honey to make candy. The sticky treat was so good, it was reserved exclusively for royalty.

We thought it fitting to elevate the marshmallow by debunking the idea that they’re just for campfires with five ways to celebrate with marshmallows.

Gourmet Marshmallows
There’s nothing quite like homemade marshmallow. Put the jet-puffed variety to shame and experiment with this recipe for gourmet marshmallows from Delish.com. Plus, we’ve got troubleshooting tips from RCI’s past blog post—click here to read more.

S’mores Fudge Bars
Made with a buttery graham cracker crust, generous layer of rich chocolate and topped with gooey toasted marshmallow, these s’mores fudge bars would be difficult for anyone to pass up.

Fun fact: According to the National Confectioners Association (NCA), more than 50 percent of all marshmallows sold are eventually toasted over a fire each summer (candyusa.com).

Dark Chocolate Salted Caramel Dipped Marshmallows
Salted caramel amps up the flavor of chocolate-dipped marshmallows. With flavors this sophisticated, forget the campfire—crank up the kitchen torch and pass the graham crackers.

Fluffer Nutter Bites
Love marshmallows? Love peanut butter? Who doesn't?! Don’t miss this recipe for gooey and crunchy Fluffer Nutter Bites. Get the recipe here.

Roasted Marshmallow Toppings Kit
If they can build it, they will come. Bundled take-home kits have been a popular option for people spending more time at home. Let consumers build their own roasted marshmallow bar with a bundled kit that’s perfect for small gatherings or an easy after-dinner treat. This twist on s’mores replaces chocolate bars with chocolate sauce and caramel sauce to coat toasted marshmallows before rolling them in any variety of crunchy topping like roasted nuts, pretzel pieces and crushed candy bits. Don’t forget to include wooden skewers as part of your kit.

Highlight your gourmet treats this summer with fun ways to celebrate marshmallows.

Crave more? If you like what you read here, look for the "Subscribe now" box on the right to enter your email address and start receiving weekly tips, like this, delivered straight to your email inbox. RCI's Tip of the Week blog is just one of the many resources we offer to help candy makers refine their craft and build upon their business and marketing practices.

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Understand the Fundamentals of an Effective Traceability System

Take action to protect your business against the threat of a product recall by better understanding the fundamentals of an effective traceability system from Dean Hornsby of Redimark. This article was originally published in RCI's Kettle Talk magazine.

In 2018, a total of 382 food product recalls were registered between the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), as well as the U.S. Department of Agriculture Food Safety and Inspection Service (USDA FSIS). What were the leading reasons for the recalls? Undeclared allergens accounted for 160 recall cases; milk, tree nuts, eggs, peanuts, soy and wheat representing the largest offenders. (foodsafetymagazine.com)

If you produce confectionery products, you are most likely sourcing ingredients from multiple suppliers that are derived from local and even international sources. You rely on your suppliers to keep track of these ingredients and provide the documentation for batch or lot identification. You would expect your suppliers to notify you if they had a quality or safety recall, but what about you? Would you know what products of yours would fall under that same product recall?

THE IMPORTANCE OF TRACEABILITY

An effective product traceability system involves the use of tracking and tracing systems and processes to record the movement of incoming goods to outgoing product. Whatever system you use, it is important to capture the data of incoming ingredients quickly and accurately. The packaged products that you produce and ship need to be identified all the way back to the batches of ingredients used.

• Once product is outside of your four walls, what now?
• Did you track where the product lot was shipped to?
• What about your customers or consumers?
• Would they be able to identify the offending batch of product?

This is the importance of product coding and identification.

Above: Key areas of consideration for a traceability system

HOW TO TRACK PRODUCTS

Not only should your product traceability system capture the data of incoming goods to outgoing shipments, it needs to index all production activities to a unique batch lot number such as a kettle or oven number, mixer, packaging line, etc. This primary-level batch lot number is the license plate that travels with the product all the way to the customer and consumer. If a supplier notifies you of an ingredient safety issue, your traceability system should support a “where-used” function that allows you to enter the secondary-level batch numbers of the ingredients used and all parent level batch numbers should show as a result. The same holds true for the production process activities. Should a metal mixing blade break, all batches produced from the last inspection date of the mixing blade up until the new inspection that found the failure must be identified.

CODING REQUIREMENTS

The primary-level batch code must be visible on your product packaging. It should not be printed on parts of the packaging that can be discarded such as a tear-away opening or throwaway cap. It should be printed onto the permanent section of the packaging so that a consumer can locate the code for identification. Printing of the batch code can be performed by many different technologies. Inkjet coders offer the most flexible way to date and batch code products by jetting the ink drops that form printed characters onto the product as it travels down a product conveyor or through a flow wrapper. Labels can be printed inline using a print-and-apply system, or offline in batches that are hand-applied onto the product. Thermal Transfer Over printers (TTO) print directly onto the film in the flow wrapping process—Label and TTO technologies use wax ribbons for printing onto the label or plastic packaging substrate.

More expensive coders, like lasers, can be used to vaporize the package’s pre-printed ink surface to reveal contrasting date codes with the natural packaging material color underneath.

FSMA’S IMPACT ON TRACEABILITY

The Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) impacts small manufacturers (fewer than 500 full-time equivalent employees) as of September 18, 2017 and very small businesses (less than $1,000,000 in sales) on September 17, 2018.

The FSMA is a law that enforces preventative control measures and enables the FDA to perform unscheduled inspections and force product recalls instead of issuing voluntary recalls. The law can even allow the FDA to force closure of production operations should improper preventative control measures be found regarding food safety.

An effective product traceability system delivers what your business needs to protect brand image, provide consumer trust, and meet your product quality and safety goals.

Crave more? If you like what you read here, look for the "Subscribe now" box on the right to enter your email address and start receiving weekly tips, like this, delivered straight to your email inbox. RCI's Tip of the Week blog is just one of the many resources we offer to help candy makers refine their craft and build upon their business and marketing practices.

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All About Sponge Candy: What is it and how is it made?

The label typically reads “sponge candy,” but you may also know this candy as cinder block, sea foam, fairy food, angel food or a multitude of other names. Each of these names are referring to the same type of candy with origins that are rather vague, but appear to have started in the Buffalo, New York area. Additionally, it can be found scattered from coast to coast in the northern third of the U.S. and some areas of Canada.

For decades, Vande Walle’s Candies has been making sponge candy that keeps customers coming back for more. Keep reading as Tom Vande Walle shares the basics of this confection, plus tips and tricks for making sponge candy that customers crave.

WHAT IS IT?

What exactly is sponge candy? Basically, it is a hard candy to which baking soda is added, causing it to foam up, similar to that of a light, airy peanut brittle. Later gelatin is added to hold the foamy structure while the batch cools. When cool, the candy has a crisp, crunchy quality at first, but then will melt in your mouth.

Sponge-type candy can be made with slight variations, such as substituting molasses or honey for some of the sugar, using different D.E. (dextrose equivalent) corn syrup or adding flavors such as orange or mint. Some recipes even call for vinegar. Though confectioners can make it differently, what keeps them similar is that they all have the same airy texture that soaks up moisture very easily. Perhaps these variations help explain why there are so many names for the same basic candy.

HOW IS IT MADE?

Making sponge candy is really not any more difficult than making peanut brittle. Here is a quick general rundown of the procedure for making sponge candy:

Cook sugar, corn syrup and water to about 310°F/ 154°C. Remove from heat, then mix in gelatin and then add baking soda. Next, pour mixture into a square insulated box with a heavy floating cover and let cool overnight. The next morning, cut one to two inches of the candy off all the way around the outside of the block of candy with a handsaw and discard. Cut the remaining center into bite-sized pieces and enrobe in chocolate.

SPECIAL CONSIDERATIONS

When making sponge candy it is important to keep the following points in mind:

• The gelatin must be completely mixed in before adding the baking soda or the result will be burnt streaks in the block after it is cool.
• Another cause of the center of the block to be burnt could be from not letting the batch cool enough before adding the baking soda. The baking soda must be mixed in and the batch poured out quickly if a fine texture is desired.
• Also, humidity that is too high, over 50%, after the candy is cooked will cause it to become gummy, especially after it is cut and before it is enrobed in chocolate.
• About half the weight of each batch will be trimmed from the outside of the block and will need to be disposed.
• The dust from cutting the block into pieces will settle on you and everything around you.
• The pounds per hour of production will be lower than many other candies due to its light weight.
• It can be sold with or without being enrobed in chocolate. If it is cut and packaged in low humidity conditions, it can have a shelf life of more than six months.

By any name, sponge candy is a highly sought-after confection in the northern region of the United States and Canada. Although it is a polarizing confection, those who love it, really love it and will buy it for themselves and for their loved ones during the holidays, for special celebrations and just because.

Share in the comments below if you love sponge candy, what you call it and what area you are from.

Crave more? If you like what you read here, look for the "Subscribe now" box on the right to enter your email address and start receiving weekly tips, like this, delivered straight to your email inbox. RCI's Tip of the Week blog is just one of the many resources we offer to help candy makers refine their craft and build upon their business and marketing practices.

Not a member? Click here to learn how RCI can help you build your sweet business.