Summer doesn’t officially begin for another week, but that doesn’t mean it’s too early to start thinking about Halloween.

Editor-in-Chief Bernie Pacyniak recently learned about the efforts of Hope Ranch International, a faith-based organization serving needy and impoverished families, while having lunch with Patrick Murnane of Murnane Cos. A visit to the Montana-based ranch quickly followed.

At this year’s Annual Convention & Industry Expo, RCI’s focus is presenting retail candy makers and chocolatiers with ideas and inspiration that translate into actionable strategies for creating unique and memorable experiences for their customers.

This is Associate Editor Alyse Thompson's second Sweets & Snacks Expo, but it already feels like old hat. Getting around was a breeze, and she enjoyed catching up with manufacturers, suppliers, sales people and marketers she's gotten to know over the last couple years.

Those of us who work in and with the industry sometimes forget that the outside world doesn’t necessarily know what we know, particularly when it comes to chocolate.

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."

In February, Associate Editor Alyse Thompson visited Finca El Cacao, a 2,500-hectare cocoa plantation in Nicaragua owned and operated by Alfred Ritter GmbH & Co. KG. The company, eager to open up its supply chain and highlight its progress in the Central American country, brought Alyse and German journalists to the plantation to show them how they do things.

When Editor-in-Chief Bernie Pacyniak heard that CIA's Peter Greweling, professor of baking and pastry arts, would demonstrate the art of creating edible geodes out of chocolate and naturally-formed sugar crystals at PMCA’s production conference earlier this month, he had to reacquaint himself with what a geode is.

Unlike Chicago — it actually snowed on the Cubs’ home opener — northern Italy is verdant with spring, very much in color and bloom. Until yesterday, Editor-in-Chief Bernie Pacyniak wasn’t familiar with who Silvio Bessone is. After enjoying a wonderful four-course meal “contaminated by chocolate” and listening to the man talk about his craft, he's truly grateful to have a job whereby he gets to meet such passionate artisans.