About a month ago I attended the 7th Annual Oregon Chocolate Festival in the historic Ashland Springs Hotel in Ashland, Oregon. I’ve attended several of these events, and it’s been interesting to see from year to year what trends or fads develop in the world of chocolate and confections. Even in the midst of the Great Recession, there seemed to be a healthy market for upscale and gourmet goodies. In fact, we talked to several business owners at the event who began their small, sweet-touting companies within the last few years — some because they had lost their traditional jobs and were suddently “free” to pursue a new career. If one pokes around in just about any industry, I think you will find that true everywhere. Each of the last few years I’ve noted that there are more vendors of what, for lack of a better term, I’ll call “healthy” chocolate. These folks speak earnestly about the health benefits of their organically,  sustainably and shade-grown; fair-traded; single-sourced; raw; unroasted; stone-ground; antioxidant-rich; wildcrafted (whatever that means) cacao. They present it as a superfood, “allergy compassionate” in being dairy-, soy-, gluten- and nut-free. Really, they just about take all of the fun (and certainly, all the sin) out of chocolate consumption! This is dense, dark chocolate one consumes not for its sweetness but its healthfulness, but the folks at Stirs the Soul, Treetop Organics and Zorba’s “Raw” Chocolates include some unique companion ingredients to make for some interesting flavors. I’ve also seen more than a few folks focusing on goodies which go well with chocolate or on their own, especially English toffee and marshmallows. Those aren’t your s’mores-type, roast-em-over-the-campfire marshmallows, but feather-light, gourmet, flavored puffs handmade by folks such as Todd and Jackie Wolfe at Marshmallow Heaven. The confections are good enough to eat on their own; but, of course, they’re even better after a quick dip in a chocolate fountain.  Always at these kind of events there are microbreweries, wineries and coffee roasters. Folks have certainly figured out that one can always make a good thing (chocolate) better by matching it with a chocolate stout, hearty red or dessert wine or a fine coffee. And this year I noted several purveyors of what is fashionably referred to as sipping or drinking chocolate (no mere hot cocoa or chocolate milk here!). The best we sampled was by Sipping Dreams. A 3.5-ounce bar combined with hot milk makes four small, rich servings of a delectable concoction (or, I imagine, one could hog it all for oneself and get chocolate-comatose). I’m already looking forward to next year’s event to discover the latest in the world of chocolate. — Patty Vanikiotis, associate editor/copy editor