Cacao Reserve by Hershey’s is a new premium line of all-natural chocolates and drinking cocoa. The products are made with carefully chosen, slowly roasted cacao beans blended with all-natural ingredients. The line includes single-serve and take-home bars, truffles and drinking cocoa.

The initial line of chocolate bars features the following: Premium Milk, a 35 percent cacao bar of European-style milk chocolate with a smooth, velvety texture; Premium Milk with Hazelnuts, also 35 percent cacao with chipped, premium-grade hazelnuts; Extra Dark, 65 percent cacao; and Extra Dark with Nibs, which is 65 percent cacao and includes “the heart of the cacao bean” for crunch and a truly unique flavor.

Hershey’s will reinvent the cocoa-drinking experience with its Cacao Reserve premium drinking cocoa available in Classic Mayan and Mildly Spiced Aztec varieties. The line includes a five-count, take-home box to be priced from $1.98 to $2.49.

Cacao Reserve by Hershey’s confectionery items will be available in a variety of packages, ranging in price from approximately 99 cents to $2.89 for instant consumable items and from $1.99 to $3.29 for 3.5-ounce take-home bars.

In addition to bars, the confectionery line will feature Cacao Reserve by Hershey’s milk and dark truffles in premium tins. There is also a bite-sized, on-the-go truffle offering.

Marketing and merchandising support for the line began this month and includes merchandising units and online communication. Broad-scale support begins late this year and includes print, online advertising, sampling and consumer promotions focusing on the theme, “Exploring a New World of Chocolate.” In December the line will expand to include four premium chocolate bars made with cacao beans from individual countries of origin including Java, Indonesia, Arriba, Santo Domingo and São Tomé. Cacao content will range from 32 percent to 70 percent.

New from Topps are chocolate- and candy-flavored pops called Vertigo. Featuring a hard candy layer with a rich chocolate base, Vertigo combines flavors such as chocolate and caramel, chocolate and strawberry, and chocolate and cookies and cream. Available in a  24-count display box, 144-count floorstand shipper, and 48-count counter unit, each Vertigo pop contains only 80 calories. A four-pop peg bag also is offered.

Koko’s Marshmallow Pop is unique because it looks and tastes like a real marshmallow, but it’s a lollipop. Each pop is perched atop a plastic stick molded and colored to resemble a real twig. The 1-ounce pops come in a 12-count display that is designed to resemble a real flame; a master case contains six display boxes. The Marshmallow Pop has a suggested retail price of 99 cents to $1.29.

Goetze’s has unveiled a new player in the field of mixed bags — the 10-ounce Caramel Mix, a combination of Caramel Creams, Mini Cow Tales and Goetze’s Gourmet Caramels. The laydown bags come packed 24 per case.

Warheads Super Sour Spray with Lollipop delivers double benefits to kid consumers — a candy spray coupled with a sweet, fruity lollipop. The new item, which allows kids to consume it in multiple ways, comes in four flavors—green apple, blue raspberry, watermelon and grape. The suggested retail price for the new item is 99 cents.

Masterfoods USA’s newest advance is a colorful one with the introduction of Skittles Xtreme Fruit Bubble Gum.  Building off the success of Skittles Original Bubble Gum, this fruit-flavored candy and soft bubble gum features sharper-edged fruit flavors such as Watermelon, Blue Raspberry, Green Apple, Wild Cherry and Tangerine.

Colorful Too Tarts Smart Choice Screaming Sour Powder Pods house sour powdered candy and boast a flip-top lid with a clip. Thus kids are free to flip, clip and go, the company states. The clear sides of the pod allow youthful consumers to gauge their “fuel level.” Like all Too Tarts products, the sour powder contains no refined sugar; calorie total is 18 per serving. Flavors are strawberry, green apple and blueberry. The new item is available in a 24-count standup display shipped 12 per case; a 72-count skinny mini display, shipped 1 per case; and a 144-count shipper that comes 1 per case.

Peeled Snacks will unveil a new packaging design this fall that gets the word out about a previously overlooked aspect of its snacks: fiber. Unlike other fruit and nut snacks, Peeled Snacks packages the fruit and nuts separately in order to maintain the fruit’s natural moisture and the nuts’ crunch. Available in Bing Bing Cherry, Fig Salad and Shock-o-late flavors, a single serving of Peeled Snacks has three grams of fiber and no trans fats, hydrogenated oils, artificial flavors or colors.

For a limited time, specially marked bags of AirHeads “Cars” bars will include a $2 mail-in rebate for the “Cars” DVD to be released Nov. 7, 2006 along with a free trial subscription to Disney’s “Family Fun” magazine. The special AirHeads “Cars” bags will be available to ship Sept. 25, 2006 and will be in stores from late October through December 2006. The 12-ounce bag includes blue raspberry, watermelon and cherry AirHeads, along with a limited-time “Cars” flavor. The packages also feature a “Disney’s Family Fun” activity booklet.  

Sour Punch Sip-N-Chew brand Straws feature all of the goodness of classic Sour Punch candy packed into a 1-ounce, 11-inch super-sized drinking straw. Each stand-up display box holds 30 individually wrapped straws and is packed 12 per case. Zappin’ Apple and Chargin’ Cherry flavors are available; each Straw has suggested retail price of 59 cents.

The new 10-ounce Mini Cow Tales Laydown Bag features bite-size versions of the popular 25-cent Cow Tales. A new cow icon named “Getz” is featured on the bright orange swirly bag, which carries a suggested retail price of $2.19. The new laydown bags ship in both 12- and 24-count cases.

Too Tarts Smart Choice Real Fruit & Honey Dream Chews are fat-free, sugar-free chewy candies that start out sour and turn sweet as they are chewed. Available in a 4-ounce package with a suggested retail price of $1.99 and a 2-ounce package with a suggested retail price of 99 cents to $1.29, Dream Chews are billed as an excellent source of Vitamin C. Each package includes a combination of apple, blueberry, strawberry and raspberry flavored candies. Dream Chews are formulated with honey, fruit concentrate and fruit puree.

Developed as a snack for diabetic and calorie-aware sweets lovers, Lolly Lites are made with only 18 calories and contain no sugar, fat, sodium or cholesterol. The pops are available in a bulk assortment of seven flavors  — Juicy Grape, Sour Apple, Mixed Berries, Wild Cherry, Orange Peel, Banana Split and Bubble Gum.