In These "Difficult Economic Times", Save-Up for the Dentist

It sounds totally crazy to me that candy stores are reporting sales that are up by as much as 80%. And that candy makers, like Nestle, Cadbury, and Hershey are seeing double-digit increases in sales and production.

People complain about the rising cost of food and paying too much for a dozen cage-free eggs, but they are perfectly willing to walk into NYC's Dylan's CandyBar and pay $3.85 for a small bag of gummy worms. I love those things, don't get me wrong. But that's $12 for a pound of high fructose corn syrup in it's chewiest adaptation yet.

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They say that the Three Muskateers, Mars Bars, and Wrigley gum kept people smiling throughout the Great Depression. Maybe so. But I want to know, who had a bigger house come 1942? The guy who spent his last few dimes on a Tootsie Pop, hoping the sugar high would melt away his worries? Or the guy who bought his family some bread, hid his extra coins in a piggy bank, and waited for the government to bail out AIG and GM?

and for when you don't feel like chocolate...

...try fruit popsicles, or Mexican paletas.

Or as Mark Bittman writes, "Mexican summer on a stick".

Try his tasty combinations for these refreshing icy pops, like berry and lime, banana, and pineapple.

Summer's Candy Bar

I'm hardly against kids eating sweets. Nor do I think chocolate should be relegated to their annual birthday bash. But candy bars, filled with trans fats and other unrecognizable ingredients, are an unsatisfying source of nutrition-less calories.


In a Kitchen Kid Cooking Class this week, I watched 5 kids descend on their just-made creations of chocolate covered strawberries and chocolate-dipped bananas like seagulls flocking to a bag of chips left unattended at the beach.


Now this recipe is hardly complicated, and I'm most definitely not the first to make it. But the act of melting 6 ounces of pure, dark chocolate (no additives, no big words) gave these budding chefs such genuine and unequivocal joy, made me really question the appeal of a Twix. Not to mention the process in and of itself brought almost as much pleasure as the tasty treat (albeit rich in vitamin C and yes, those antioxidants hiding in dark chocolate).


Sure, it would be great if every kid reached for fresh fruit sans the chocolate. And many do. But adding just a touch of something as forbidden as pure chocolate, and watching the kids lick it from their fingers and their lips, surely makes a case for chocolate covered strawberries, and frozen banana pops, being Summer's Best Candy Bar.


Recipe:
Melt 6 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl until melted, stirring every 30 seconds. Indulge by dipping 1 pint of strawberries and Popsicle clad bananas. If you crave a more sophisticated taste, stir chocolate into 6 ounces of near-simmering heavy cream. Even a 3 year old can do it: watch Mark Bittman's Mini Minimalist make this simple ganache.