Curtis Vreeland

Bill Guyton, incoming president of the Fine Chocolate Industry Association, shares his interest in the role and his vision for FCIA, in addition to discussing the association’s Elevate Chocolate event in New York City, set for June 30.

American soldiers used chewing gum to quench thirst and reserve water supplies in World War I, but as its popularity spread through Europe, so did aversion to it. Among its detractors was Soviet revolutionary Leon Trotsky. Contributor Curtis Vreeland tells the story in an excerpt from "Candy Goes to War."

The Big Chocolate Show held its second annual event in New York City on Saturday, Oct. 7. The event’s highlight was honoring four experts as “Legends of Chocolate” for their contributions to the craft chocolate industry. The four honorees included cacao and chocolate flavor expert Ed Seguine; the father of American craft chocolate John Scharffenberger; authors Sophie & Michael Coe, and cacao geneticist Juan Carlos Motamayor.

Among the winners were 11 American craft chocolate makers and 18 confectioners, who received their awards before a crowd of about 900 people assembled in the Herbst Theater, a historic landmark that hosted the signing of the United Nations charter in 1945.