Meet our contributors:
Carl
Occupation: Web Content Specialist during the day and photographer and writer after hours
Favorite Candy: Any of the several candies on the peanut-chocolate continuum
Favorite Candy Holiday: Halloween – it means giving away lots of candy and keeping the leftovers. It’s the one time of year I feel justified in buying way too much candy, knowing that a good portion of it is for my family (read: me).
Best Candy Memory: I remember as kids my brother and I took turns standing on the arms of a teetering rocking chair to reach the candy canes on our Christmas tree. How we survived childhood is still a mystery.
Dark, Milk, or White? Milk, although my wife is slowly turning me on to the subtleties of dark chocolate. I still have much to learn, she says.
Favorite Quote: “We’ve been looking for the enemy for some time now. We’ve finally found him. We’re surrounded. That simplifies things.” -Chesty Puller
Hobbies: Photography, writing, hiking, storytelling
Anything else we should know about you? I am a Kentucky Colonel, a lover of good grammar and am writing a book about a trip to Thailand I took a few years ago to live in Buddhist monasteries. It was during that trip that I fell in love with Thai candy, durian and strong, sweet coffee.
Susan
Occupation: Vice President of Communications, or as a friend’s hilarious mother described my job recently, “She’s like the Vice President – of CHOCOLATE!”
Favorite Candy: It’s possible to have just one? Not for me. However, my favorites include caramels, chocolate with peanut butter, licorice, sugar-free gum and anything combining the holy grail of sweet and salty (chocolate covered pretzels, mmmmm).
Favorite Candy Holiday: Halloween is high on the list, however I’m recently married and feeling all romantic and stuff, so I’m going to say Valentine’s Day. But listen, I have a strong opinion about figuring out what’s in the center of those VDay candies – if you poke your finger into the chocolate, it better be going in your mouth.
Best Candy Memory: I grew up in Ocean City, Md. – home to lots of wonderful candies like salt water taffy, chocolate fudge and caramel popcorn. I used to beg my parents to take me to the boardwalk to go on the rides, play skee ball in the arcade and leave with a bag of colorful fruit slices.
Dark, Milk, or White? Dark milk. What’s that mean? It’s a milk chocolate with a high cocoa content (sometimes called % cacao) – often in the 65% range.
Favorite Quote: Give them quality. That’s the best kind of advertising in the world. – Milton S. Hershey
Hobbies: Crafting (and not always with candy) and cooking (and not always with candy)
Anything else we should know about you? I have worked in the candy industry for 10 years and yes, it’s every bit as fun as you think it would be. I have a great memory and therefore a ridiculous amount of candy trivia in my head. I love the Food Network and am slightly obsessed with celebrity chefs.Susan S.
Occupation: Senior Vice President, Public Affairs
Favorite Candy: Anything chocolate which is the same answer my mother and my daughter would give.
Favorite Candy Holiday: What day isn’t a candy holiday? I do like the chocolate I get on Valentine’s Day though and the packaging is usually pretty cool.
Best Candy Memory: Dum-dums at the local savings and loan in Bryan, Ohio (home of the Dum-Dum and Spangler Candy Company); visiting several places in the world where cocoa, the most basic ingredient in chocolate, is grown, including St. Lucia, Trinidad, Ecuador, Costa Rica, Cote d’Ivoire and Ghana
Dark, Milk or White: Dark Milk (milk chocolate with the highest chocolate liquor content possible and still be called milk chocolate)
Favorite Quote: “Biochemically, love is just like eating large amounts of chocolate.” -John Milton, The Devils Advocate
Hobbies: Reading wonderful books, hiking, my family, yoga
Anything else we should know about you? I have been in the chocolate and candy industry for so long I’m in the Candy Hall of Fame – seriously!!Tori
Occupation: Communications Specialist
Favorite Candy: anything gummy, which I guess might show my age… and anything with a sweet/salty combo
Favorite Candy Holiday: Does the ALL CANDY EXPO count as a holiday? With all the new and classic treats out there, the show wins by a landslide
Best Candy Memory: trick-or-treating with my sister and making candy crafts with my mom when I was younger
Dark, Milk, or White? Definitely milk. Although the older I get, the more dark chocolate appeals to me. Maybe my taste buds are weakening…
Favorite Quote: “Candy doesn’t have to have a point. That’s why it’s candy.” – Charlie & the Chocolate Factory
Hobbies: traveling, playing sports, and supporting Hokie football
Anything else we should know about you? I was in the 1997 Guinness Book of World Records for creating the largest chocolate turtle for my age group…… just kidding!Laura
Occupation: NCA’s Manager of Technical and Regulatory Affairs (A.K.A. Resident Candy Scientist)
Favorite Candy: Anything gummylicious
Favorite Candy Holiday: Tough call, either Valentines Day or Halloween. Wait what am I saying? It’s definitely Halloween- costumes and mischief totally beat out love and flowers.
Best Candy Memory: When I was a little kid my grandmother told me I couldn’t have any candy until I finished my dessert (she defends the statement to this day, claiming that “her homemade strawberry pie is very nutritious”)
Dark, Milk, or White? Milk. What can I say? I was born and raised in Wisconsin.
Favorite Quote: “Be careful about reading health books. You may die of a misprint.” Mark Twain
Hobbies: Finishing my masters while working full time = no time for hobbies. In my mind however, I do kung-fu and go on African safaris. In reality, I do yoga, brew beer, go for walks, read science fiction novels, play with my cats and volunteer at an HIV testing clinic.
Anything else we should know about you? I once hit an intruder over the head with a Champagne bottle (I guess all that mind king-fu really paid off)
22
Jan
