"We have people here who understand how to make chocolate... I want to ensure that we have an environment where these people can thrive,” Wurscher says.
The sixth edition of the Iron Confectioner had just begun, and frenzy ensued as both teams began collecting various caramel ingredients to bring back to their workstations.
Effective Dec. 1, David MacLennan succeeds Gregory Page as CEO of Minnesota-based Cargill. Page will serve as executive chairman, while Emery Koenig is elected a vice chairman.
“Organic compliance is still a niche market,” says Wen Shieh, technical leader for Cargill’s Texturizing Solutions. “Yet it is a market that traditional moulding starch will not be able to meet the regulations.”
According to most projections, about 60 percent of all cocoa grown in 2020 will need to be certified. That’s equals to about 2 million more tons. How does one go about doing that, one asks?
Tom and Debra Ocasio, owners of The Chocolate Lounge in Long Branch, N.J., recently participated and Tom says the amount of knowledge and expertise they received from the staff and the other participants was priceless.
In breaking ground on its first Asian cocoa processing plant in Gresik, in the East-Java region of Indonesia earlier this week, Cargill revealed how deep its commitment to develop the Asian cocoa sector is.
Ongoing health concerns have stimulated development of a broad range of alternatives to sugar, including all-natural options. Traditional tastes, however, counter healthy yearnings, keeping the sector dynamic, albeit still developmental in many segments.
Within the adult gum and mint categories, the switchover from sugar to sweetener alternatives has been nearly seamless. This gradual yet almost totally pervasive transition goes back several decades.