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Anton Steeman
January 30, 2014
4 Min Read
.svg?width=850&auto=webp&quality=95&format=jpg&disable=upscale "Chocolate Fondue in 2 minutes")
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Finally the holiday season is coming up. Although Christmas time is a period to contemplate, appreciate and relax, after a very stressful and for some depressing year, it is at the same time a period with countless home celebrations and festive get-togethers. It’s always a good idea to include a designated driver as part of the party planning. What’s better then enjoy chocolate to calm the nerves and get back to normal.Chocolate is a product of the cocoa tree, also called the tree-of-life. Chocolate is an effective tonic, euphoric and anti-depressant due to the endorphins. The scent of cocoa in aroma-therapy, is suggested to people who are depressed, lethargic and anorexic. Its deep brown colour and sensual and pleasing aroma induce individuals to return their attention to their neglected psychophysical needs. It is recommended for those who can not appreciate the pleasures of life due to an uncompromising seriousness. It is common knowledge that chocolate is a substitute for sexual pleasure, as some chemical ingredients induce well-being and contain the aggressive impulses of passion, influencing the mental or psychological aspects of sex-fantasies and emotional sensitivity.
So what do you want more for the holidays?
Thanks to Garoto, Brazil’s No. 1 chocolate manufacturer, you can organise a chocolate fondue during the holidays. No need to buy the ingredients, to follow faithfully the Swiss recipe or to spend time in the kitchen. Garoto launched a limited edition of ready-to-enjoy chocolate fondue, which delicacy just needs 2 minutes in the microwave, thanks to a functional packaging.
The bowl, supplied by Interject, is made of polypropylene (PP) known for its high thermal resistance - its melting point is around 165°C (329°F). To prepare the fondue, the consumer removes the shrink film and cap that close the bowl, and heats the product in two sessions of 1 minute in the microwave, using the interval to stir the content. To prepare the fondue ‘à bain-marie’, the consumer should pour the chocolate into a metal or glass container, as the low thermal conductivity of PP would delay the heating in the bowl itself. Each bowl contains 400 grams, enough to serve six people.
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As decoration, the bowl got a self-adhesive label, made by Mack Color on special paper with a low amount of water molecules to avoid the risk of combustion, as microwaves heat up food by agitation of said molecules.FutureBrand BC & H, which was responsible for the graphic design of the label, also designed the carton sleeve for presentation of the product at the point of sale. This sleeve with its sides folded inwards to secure the position of the bowl, was converted by Brasilgrafica using TP Premium cardboard from Suzano. Offset-printed in six-colours, while the Garoto logo, the product name and the fruit images that make up the graphic design are in relief. Water-based varnishes were used and the preparation instructions, situated on the sides of the sleeve, are printed in gold
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Although a beautiful solution there is one thing that frustrates me. The instructions of Garoto say, that in case no réchaud (hot plate) is used to keep the chocolate fondue at temperature, they recommend to constantly reheat the chocolate in the microwave if it is not consumed quickly.It’s really a pity that Garoto didn’t continue its development. They state that they ran tests in cooperation with plastic converter Interject to determine the appropriate wall thickness for the bowl to prevent deformation during microwave heating. They also included their concern that the surface of the packaging should not reach a temperature above 110°C, which could cause injury to consumers. But where is the réchaud, when you create a plastic bowl suitable for that heat? It’s too simple to instruct the consumer to run back and forth to the microwave.
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Look at what Verstegen, a manufacturer of condiments in the Netherlands, did. They realised that their ready-to-eat sauces should cool off during diner and included a small réchaud with the sauce bowl. Their Candlelight Pepersaus (pepper sauce) comes in an aluminium bowl topped with a three-legged plastic tray, that can be placed over a lit candle as the base tray incorporates an injection-moulded, press-on overcap that houses a tea light. The bowl top is shaped so that once the sauce is heated, it can sit in the tray over the candle, which keeps the sauce warm.An ideal solution for Garoto Chocolate Fondue, as in the southern hemisphere it’s summer and you like to sit outside in your garden to enjoy a fondue party.
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One of the main drivers to develop bio-based plastics is the goal to provide the market with biodegradable plastics, in order to solve the problem of rapidly increasing amounts of waste and limited landfill capacities. Although in some densely populated industrialized countries with limited landfill capacity, waste is nowadays primarily disposed off in municipal solid waste incineration (MSWI) plants, plastics are increasingly polluting nature and …. read Part 2 of “The Promising Potential of Bio-based Plastics“.About the Author(s)
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