{"id":13425,"date":"2011-02-02T17:00:01","date_gmt":"2011-02-02T17:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/production.ou.org\/life\/other\/secret_life_of_a_chocoholic\/"},"modified":"2015-11-02T08:31:26","modified_gmt":"2015-11-02T13:31:26","slug":"secret_life_of_a_chocoholic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/kosher\/secret_life_of_a_chocoholic\/","title":{"rendered":"Secret Life of a Chocoholic"},"content":{"rendered":"

Please don\u2019t tell anyone, but I\u2019m a chocoholic. My father (of blessed memory) used to bribe me with chocolate to get me to go to bed, clean my room, do my homework or finish my food. Chocolate was and still is this magical cherished product that makes me happy.<\/p>\n

They say that some people are born with a chocolate gene. Well I\u2019ve inherited the chocolate gene, and happily passed it on to my children and grandchildren. I\u2019m often shocked when I meet people who tell me they don\u2019t have that mysterious chocolate gene.<\/p>\n

Is it even possible? Well perhaps there was some sort of gene mutation that didn\u2019t cross over into my family heritage!<\/p>\n

In 2006 chocolate sales were approximately $16 billion, and are forecast to grow to $18 billion in 2011. Well I am definitely contributing to the world economy by my consumption of chocolate, not to mention my waist line!<\/p>\n

When it comes to the leading chocolate manufacturers, the vast majority are OU kosher certified. From Godiva, Hershey\u2019s, Nestle, Ferraro Rocher and Mars just to name a few, the chocolate craze increased astronomically when the health benefits of dark chocolate was revealed. We were thrilled to learn that our long enjoyed secret treat was now not only decadent, but healthy and nutritious. The once prevalent belief that something that tastes so good could not be good for you was replaced by reports that the consumption of dark chocolate provided a rich source of phosphorus, magnesium, antioxidants and flavanols. I\u2019m not really sure what all these minerals actually do for my body, but give me my chocolate!<\/p>\n

More and more foods are popping up with a chocolate variation. My friend\u2019s mom recently experimented with chocolate by melting it into a sauce for pasta. We\u2019ve seen chocolate pancakes and waffles, chocolate drinks, chocolate challah, chocolate martinis, and chocolate covered fruits and nuts. I recently returned from the Winter Fancy Food show in San Francisco, where I saw chocolate soup, chocolate covered potato chips, nuts, pretzels and popcorn. Jelly Belly, an OU certified company recently launched their new Dark Chocolate covered jelly beans. I even saw the re-invention of hot chocolate in the decadent form of chocolate tea.<\/p>\n

I can\u2019t imagine what\u2019s next, but you can be sure that the OU will be front and center in the delicious pursuit of this chocolate craze, as companies want to appeal to a large consumer base and of course, having OU kosher certification enhances the marketability of their products.<\/p>\n

So if you\u2019re like me, a chocoholic, I\u2019m pretty sure 2011 will be a banner year for chocolate! If you\u2019ve tasted or found some other decadent chocolate product, please write to me as I am always in search of my next chocolate fix! But please, let\u2019s keep this obsession a secret \u2013 just between us chocoholics \u2013 ok?<\/p>\n

\n

Phyllis Koegel serves as the Marketing Director of OU Kosher<\/a> based in New York City. She received her MBA from Pace University and resides in Cedarhurst, NY on Long Island.<\/em><\/p>\n

OU Kosher Industry’s Winter 2011 Magazine, Behind the Union Symbol<\/a>, is now available online!<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Please don\u2019t tell anyone, but I\u2019m a chocoholic. My father (of blessed memory) used to bribe me with chocolate to get me to go to bed, clean my room, do my homework or finish my food. Chocolate was and still is this magical cherished product that makes me happy. They say that some people are<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":359,"featured_media":47878,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_cloudinary_featured_overwrite":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13425","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-kosher"],"yoast_head":"\nSecret Life of a Chocoholic - OU Life<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"When it comes to the leading chocolate manufacturers, the vast majority are OU kosher certified including Godiva, Hershey\u2019s, Nestle, Ferraro Rocher & Mars\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/kosher\/secret_life_of_a_chocoholic\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Secret Life of a Chocoholic - 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