CHECK OUT : NEW ON THE SHELF.

Dannon has add three new Double Delights low-fat flavors to its yogurt line - Caramel Praline, Caramel Apple Cinnamon and Lemon Meringue Pie. Caramel Praline is a pecan-flavored lowfat yogurt with a fat-free caramel topping, and Caramel Apple Cinnamon is an apple-and-cinnamon-flavored lowfat yogurt with a fat-free caramel topping. Lemon Meringue Pie is a lemon chiffon-flavored lowfat yogurt with a lemon topping. All have only 1 gram of fat and 220 calories or less each. Look for them in supermarkets now.

Northridge farmers' market 

Add one more farmers' market to your list in the Valley. The latest to join the ranks is the Northridge market at the corner of Nordhoff Street and Wilbur Avenue (1/2 mile east of Tampa Avenue), which is open 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturdays. You'll find more than 30 California farmers and vendors selling a selection of fruits and vegetables, eggs, honey, baked breads, cut flowers and seafood.

Chocolate chunks

A few good thoughts on chocolate, the food we don't need but can't live without:

``Chocolate: How It Helps Your Health'' - Headline on the June 10 cover of Women's Day magazine.

``Chocolate lovers enjoy unvarying health and are least attacked by a host of little illnesses which can destroy the true joy of living.'' - Anthelme Brillat-Savarin (1755-1826)

The average shopper buys chocolate at the supermarket, convenience store or other outlet once every 25 days, according to American Demographics.

A national survey commissioned by Cooking Light magazine found, among other things, that Americans like chocolate birthday cake better than any other flavor.

Ramen cookbook

It's hard to imagine a world without ramen.

The 10-for-a-dollar instant noodles have become a staple in the pantry of every starved college student during finals, bachelors, latch-key kids and senior citizens. At the very least, it has offered a viable alternative to boxed macaroni and cheese. It is no longer ``foreign'' food.

Yet it was only 25 years ago that Top Ramen, the instant Japanese noodle soup, was introduced to consumers in the United States. Ramen was invented by Momofuku Ando in 1958.

Over the years, ramen has become so ubiquitous that there is now an Instant Ramen Manufacturers' Association. The organization notes that more than 40 billion packs of instant noodles are sold each year. That comes to about seven packs for every man, woman and child on the planet. Ramen has come a long way from simple soba and miso soup.

Ramen is part of a larger noodle boom, which is chronicled in Nina Simonds' excellent cookbook ``Asian Noodles'' (Hearst).

To celebrate ramen's 25th anniversary, Nissin has published the ``Top Ramen Noodle Cookbook.'' To receive one, send $3.95 postage and handling to: Cookbook Offer, Nissin Foods, 2001 W. Rosecrans Ave., Gardena, Calif. 90249.

Trappist treat

Tasters liked the full flavor and dense texture of Trappist Abbey's Monastery Date-Nut Cake, filled with walnuts, pecans and cashews and soaked in brandy. The product is made by Benedictine monks of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Lafayette, Ore. Cost is $18 for two 1-pound cakes and $23.50 for a 3-pound cake; shipping is $3.75. To order, call [phone].

Freebie leaflet

Roasted Garlic Cheese Pita was the $5,000 grand prize-winning recipe for Jeanne Holt of Mendota Heights, Minn., in Mr. Food's Grilled Cheese to the Rescue recipe contest recently. This recipe, along with the runners-up - including Homestead Grilled Cheese (from Angeline Kozlowski of Simi Valley), Crabby's Grilled Cheese, Bacon and Blue on Rye, Breakfast Grilled Cheese Mexican Style and Grilled Apple Melt - are now available in a leaflet, Mr. Food's Grilled Cheese to the Rescue. For a free copy, send a self-addressed, stamped, business-size envelope to Mr. Food's Grilled Cheese to the Rescue Winners, c/o American Dairy Association, P.O. Box 760, Rosemont, Ill 60018-7760.

More jobs for cooks

A culinary education these days isn't cheap. Costs for 18 to 24 months of chef's training at a top school average around $24,000, says the International Association of Cooking Professionals. But at least there are jobs.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics says restaurants and hotels will need an additional 500,000 chefs, cooks and kitchen workers over the next 10 years, an increase of 16 percent over current employment.