Serious chocoholics: Check out the NJ Chocolate Expo this weekend

There are food festivals in New Jersey, and then there are food festivals. And if you take into account that chocolate is one of the favorite foods of so many of us in this country, there’s nothing more exciting than a chocolate festival.

So If you’re a chocolate lover, and you’re trying to think of what to do this weekend, it’s a no-brainer: The Chocolate Expo.

The Chocolate Expo is one of the largest consumer-oriented chocolate events in the United States based on the number of participating vendors, the number of attendees and the sheer floor size of the venues it takes place.

There are usually dozens of vendors who offered tastings and sales of their products.

And this is no Nestlé’s Crunch, Milky Way, or Hershey’s type of offering. The Chocolate Expo caters to bona fide foodies who appreciate good, gourmet, artisanal, creative chocolate.

At the Chocolate Expo, you’ll be offered small tasting-sized portions of products, which are to be consumed right away.

They want you to think of the chocolate tastings in the way you might think of a wine tasting at a winery — you get a small sample to try and you often get to talk with the person who made the product.

If you like what you’ve tasted, you can purchase that product directly at the show for yourself or to give as gifts.

That’s why you'll find everything from artisanal chocolatiers, old-fashioned candy shops, bakeries, specialty food producers, wineries, distilleries, cideries and even some farms at the show.

And if you have special dietary considerations, there will be plenty of no-sugar-added, all-natural, organic, vegan, salt-free, gluten-free and/or kosher products there, too.

Many of these are small, regional companies that are very proud of what they do and want you, the chocolate lover to become familiar with them.

This year the Expo takes place on Sunday, November 13, 2022, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the NJ Expo Center in Edison

Tickets run from $10 for children to $20 for a two-hour adults admission, and there’s even a $40 VIP package for serious chocoholics which includes priority admission at any time during the day and includes one deluxe insulated Chocolate Expo tote bag.

Get all your questions answered here.

And you can buy tickets here.

Opinions expressed in the post above are those of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Judi Franco only.

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