Chocolate is hot - and it's not just the curry (Reuters)

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Chocolate today has bite -- a kick from curry, a jolt of cumin or a crunch from sesame. And while boutique chocolatiers experiment with exotic infusions, the industry is enjoying upbeat news on health benefits.

In a word, chocolate is hot.

At the 8th annual Chocolate Show in New York, the traditional truffle made room this year for those containing coriander, curry, cumin, lavender, lime, green tea, black sesame, soy butter and balsamic vinegar.

Consumer tastes have become more sophisticated, leading to an explosion of boutiques that specialize in hand-crafted, high-quality chocolate. That has helped boost the industry beyond the mass-produced chocolate bar many Americans grew up with.

"I just think that the whole food industry is becoming more focused on flavor and quality," said Gary Guittard, president of Guittard Chocolate Co. in San Francisco. "We're having a food renaissance in general, and chocolate is certainly a part of that."

Americans ate 3.4 billion pounds of chocolate in 2004. Most of it was the ubiquitous milk chocolate variety, but there are signs of growth on the other end of the cocoa spectrum.

This year, the largest U.S. chocolate maker, the Hershey Co., purchased two artisan chocolate makers, Joseph Schmidt Confections Inc., and Scharffen Berger Chocolate Maker Inc.

Consumers' interest in dark chocolate has intensified after research showing it contains healthful ingredients like antioxidants, Guittard said.

FEEL-GOOD CHOCOLATE

NewTree, a Belgian company that started a U.S. division about two years ago, sells chocolate bars infused with fruit and plant essences that promise well-being.

For example, the company sells a "Tranquility" milk chocolate bar flavored with lavender from Provence that smells like soap and retails for about $4.50.

"We try and create flavors that have a different spin," said Louis Brouillet, the chief executive officer of NewTree America Inc. based in San Anselmo, California.

It was high-end chocolatiers who first experimented with spices like chili and cardamom in candy, Brouillet said.

Allison Nelson, who owns the Chocolate Bar shop in New York, offered a taste of her salty pretzel and key lime pie-flavored chocolate bars to visitors at the Chocolate Show, which ends Sunday.

Next on the menu may be a bar flavored with black pepper, she said.

Research has found that dark chocolate, like red wine, is rich in antioxidants, which benefit the heart by dilating vessels and improving blood flow. This health fact is not lost on chocolate marketers, who have introduced all manner of "good for you" confections.

Bissinger's, a St. Louis-based company founded in 1863 in Paris, was at the show to tout its line of "spa" chocolates that are high in antioxidants.

They contain ingredients said to be healthful, including dried blueberries, almonds, sunflower seeds, green tea and soy nut butter.

There's even something for the weight-conscious. Fairytale Brownies in Chandler, Arizona, has developed a sugar-free brownie, but company co-founder Eileen Joy Spitalny said she sticks to proven flavors.

"It's expensive to produce our brownies, so we need to know that a new flavor is going to work and it's going to be around for a long time," she said.