For the love of chocolate,

Some reporters put themselves in harm’s way by embedding themselves with soldiers in Iraq.

Others, like me, embed themselves with judges at the 19th Annual Rehoboth Beach Chocolate Festival and taste sweets for an hour. It’s a tasty job, but someone’s got to do it.

I hooked myself up, seemingly by accident, with Rehoboth Commissioner Kathy McGuiness’ group. Judges for the chocolate fest are broken down into groups of four. Besides Kathy, the group included her mother, Angie Watkins, who served as head judge; Kathy’s sister, Stephanie David; and Kate Sherbine.

Every year, the chocolate festival draws people from faraway locales, and Kate is one of them, having traveled all the way from Frederick, Md., to serve as a judge.

Each group has three judges and a cutter who will slice up portions. The groups are to judge up to four categories. In the case of our group, they were judging amateur pie, professional cheesecake and professional candy. The group was also supposed to judge kids’ cheesecake but there were no entries this year.

Judging is based on four criteria: appearance, texture, flavor and taste, scored on a scale of 1 to 10. Each category is added up to create the final score, and the judges’ scores are added together to come up with each piece’s total score.

Highest total score wins the overall category. In case of a tie for first, second or third, the judges must go back and break the tie by tasting pieces again.

Stop No. 1 is the amateur pie division. Among the entries here were a chocolate-pudding pie topped with strawberries, a chocolate Rice Krispies pie and my personal favorite – a pie filled with white chocolate and topped with cream.

Neither the judges or myself knew exactly what it was – most of the pies did not come with labels – but whatever it was, it was delicious. The judges agreed and voted it first place.

Next up was professional cheesecake. I pretty much gain 10 pounds just looking at the cakes on display. Most of the selections are chocolate cheesecake, but they are very rich. The first cake the judges tried was a coconut cheesecake which Kate and I – both coconut-haters – were not willing to partake of. Presentation-wise, the best-looking entries were a chocolate cheesecake log topped with dark chocolate syrup and a caramel-coated chocolate cheesecake. However, the bes- tasting cheesecake, in my humble opinion, was not chocolate at all. It was a pumpkin-flavored cheesecake decorated with ginger snap cookies. I’m not sure how it snuck into a chocolate festival, but I’m glad it did. Me being a sucker for pumpkin pie, this cake had great taste, yet it wasn’t too rich. I had to go back for seconds on this one.

Alas, the judges were not as in love with it as I was. Finally, we moved on to professional candy. While the pumpkin-flavored cheesecake was very good, it was also very filling, and at this point, we’ve probably sampled more than 10 pieces, some of those twice. At this point I feel like Austin Powers after he got beat up by Mini-Me – “No more!”

But press on we must, and the professional candy division only has six entries: little chocolate truffles laid out on a sushi plate, chocolate cherry truffles, chocolate candies filled with peanuts, chocolate candies filled with caramel, coffee-flavored chocolate candies and little chocolate balls served out of a martini glass. I prefer the chocolate candy with peanuts. It’s shaped almost like a biscuit but the chocolate has a nice milky flavor. The ladies seem to prefer the little chocolate truffles, which are a nice, dark chocolate but are a little bitter in taste. Still, the ladies were the judges, and they gave first prize to the little truffles.

The judges and I often joked during the competition about the next stop being Beebe Medical Center for the diabetic coma that’s sure to follow. But there really is a weird feeling after eating that much chocolate. It’s almost like you’re drunk, and seeing all the chocolate left over for the paying customers to eat is like seeing 1,000 unopened beer bottles still lying around.

And yet, you still want to dig in and eat more chocolate. I think Kate summed it up the best and most simply: “The chocolate fest is incredible!” she said.

View more photos

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The Winners

Grand prize winners
Showpiece: Elizabeth Roskowski
Restaurant: Gilligan’s
Professional chef: John Mihalik
Bakery: The Bake Shoppe
Amateur: Treacy Boyette
Kids under 12: Madeline Smith and Olivia Taylor

Restaurants
Cookies - The Ice Cream Store, first place; Peppers, second and third.
Brownies - Gilligan’s, first; Hobo’s, second; O’Hana’s Hot Grille, third.
Pie - Peppers, first; Blue Moon, second; Gilligan’s, third
Cheesecake - Gilligan’s, first; Seacrets, second; Cirelli’s, third
Candy - Blue Moon, first and second; Gilligan’s, third
Cake - Cirelli’s, first; Peppers, second; O’Hana’s Hot Grille, third
Most unusual - Cirelli’s, first; Peppers, second; Retro Café & Grille

Professionals
Cookie - Mary Gaffney, first; John Michalek, second; Randi Hearn, third
Brownie - Austin Andrews, first; Cheryl Tilton, second; John Michalek, third
Pie - Marti Austin, first; John Michalek, second; Mary Gaffney, third
Cheesecake - John Michaelek, first; Lynne Chichi, second; Gary Sloan, third
Candy - Dorian O’Connell, first; John Michalek, second; Carrie Geyer, third
Cake - John Michalek, first and second; Terri Futty, third
Most Unusual - Marti Austin, first; Carrie Geyer, second; John Michalek, third

Bakeries
Cookie - Pasqualini’s, first and second; Bake Shoppe, third
Brownie - Bake Shoppe, first; Pasqualini’s, second and third
Pie - Bake Shoppe, first; Pasqualini’s, second and third
Cheesecake - Dorsey Johnson, first; Bake Shoppe, second
Candy - Pasqualini’s, first and second; Bake Shoppe, third
Cake - Bake Shoppe, first; Pasqualini’s, second; Bake Shoppe, third
Most Unusual - Pasqualini’s, first, second and third

Amateur
Cookie - Elizabeth Roskowski, first; Randi Hearn, second; Carol Knopp, third
Brownie - Terri Carr, first; Jessica Harrison, second; Rose Viramntes, third
Pie - Treacy Boyette, first and second; Terri Carr, third
Cheesecake - Elizabeth Roskowski, first; Taylor Wade, second; Samantha Brown, third
Candy - James Kerr, first; Lynn Joos, second; Nancy Stauffer, third
Most unusual - Michael Gates, first; Angie Davis, second; Nancy Stauffer, third

Kids 12 and under
Cookie - Matthew Minakowski, first; Ava Caruso, second and third
Brownies - Baylon McGuiness, first; Annalise Holcomb, second; Jacob Decyk, third
Pie - Sarah Ashmore, first; Finbar Rishko, second; Sarah Ashmore, thid
Candy - Davis Taylor, first; Shannon O’Neill, second; Anthony Caruso, third
Cake - Madeline Smith and Olivia Taylor, first; Matthew Minakowski, second; Christopher Smith, third
Most unusual - Hannah and Zac Tilton, Molly Smith and Lauren Kelly; Nolan Witman, third