Chocolate. Could any one ingredient be more glorious? Doubtful.
In preparing for Easter this weekend, I thought I would post a article all about the wonders and delights that chocolate offers.
Tyran seems to think that I cannot live a day without chocolate, now that I am on a 10 day detox (which I might add is going really well, I have not given in to the chocolate temptation that surrounds me always – I mean sheesh Easter is this weekend and everywhere I go I see chocolate. I see that gorgeously wrapped Lindt bunny giving me the eye silently urging me to eat him!)
But to give Tyran credit, he does know me well…I am a serious chocoholic. But then most of you already know that hey ;)
Since I was a little girl, I loved anything sweet, especially chocolate. Perhaps it all started when I set sights upon Willy Wonka’s psychedelic wonderland full of chocolate rivers, giant edible mushrooms, neverending gobstoppers, lick-able wallpapers and sanctimonious Oompa Loompas. Roald Dahl must have been one serious chocoholic of note!
Nevertheless, I have developed a nose for it. No matter where my mom hid her stash, I always tracked it down and took my just reward! Having said that, I did at least put an IOU note on, just so that she would know it was me (like she didn’t know that already!).
Chemically speaking, chocolate really is the world's perfect food. So says a Mr Michael Levine, nutrition researcher, as quoted in The Emperors of Chocolate: Inside the Secret World of Hershey and Mars. Well I believe him.
I really don't understand why so many "so called" chocolate lovers complain about the calories in chocolate, when all true chocoholics know that it is a vegetable. It comes from the cocoa bean, beans are veggies, enough said.
I could give up chocolate but I'm not a quitter. Simply put... everyone has a price, mine is chocolate!
And I am not alone! Here are some amusing and factual quotes about chocolate…
“Life is like a box of chocolates...You never know what you're gonna get...”Forrest Gump in Forrest Gump”
"There's nothing better than a good friend, except a good friend with CHOCOLATE.”Linda Grayson "The Pickwick Papers"
“Chocolate causes certain endocrine glands to secrete hormones that affect your feelings and behavior by making you happy. Therefore, it counteracts depression, in turn reducing the stress of depression. Your stress-free life helps you maintain a youthful disposition, both physically and mentally. So, eat lots of chocolate!” Elaine Sherman, Book of Divine Indulgences
“I never met a chocolate I didn't like.” Deanna Troi in Star Trek: The Next Generation
“Exercise is a dirty word... Every time I hear it, I wash my mouth out with chocolate.” anon“Nuts just take up space where chocolate ought to be.” anon
“I have this theory that chocolate slows down the aging process.... It may not be true, but do I dare take the chance?” anon
“In the beginning, the Lord created chocolate, and he saw that it was good. Then he separated the light from the dark, and it was better.” anon
“Put "eat chocolate" at the top of your list of things to do today. That way, at least you'll get one thing done.” anon
So go forth and indulge yourselves in the sweet (or bittersweet, whichever is your fancy!) and heavenly Easter feast of chocolity delights. To deny such pleasure would be sinful...and I am not in such habit to encourage anything that will not soothe your soul and lift your spirits - it's good for you, I promise!
If you still feel that pang of guilt when reaching for those choccy eggs, why not venture to the 'dark side'? I saw an article now on www.skynews.co.uk confirming that dark chocolate is actually good for your heart. Here is the article:
It's the news Easter bunnies have been waiting for - chocolate could be good for you.
Laboratory experiments have suggested that dark chocolate can prevent blood flow problems and stave off heart attacks. It may also prevent arterties from hardening and reduce the risk of a blod clot.
Scientists are so excited about its health benefits that they are planning to prescribe it to heart patients to test it out. The news comes just days before Easter, when millions indulge in copious chocolate egg-eating.
Professor Roger Corder wants to give heart patients four squares of high quality dark chocolate every day.
Dark chocolate contains flavanols which some scientists believe can improve blood flow and reduce the risk of clotting, therefore preventing heart diseasae. They also believe it could lower blood pressure and help prevent strokes.
Prof Corder, head of experimental therapeutics at William Harvey Research Institute in London, has applied for approval to stage a formal trial in which any health benefits will be rigorously recorded.
He said it will be the first time that the effect of dark chocolate has been studied on heart patients who are already receiving traditional treatments.
The History of Chocolate
Most of us think of chocolate as a sweet candy created during modern times, but actually, chocolate dates back to the ancient peoples of Mesoamerica who mixed ground cacao seeds with various seasonings to make a spicy, frothy drink. For these people, chocolate wasn't just a favourite food, it also played an important role in their religious and social lives.
The history of chocolate starts about 2,000 years ago when the tasty secret of the cacao (kah KOW) tree was discovered by ancient Maya, in the tropical rainforests of the Americas. The pods of this tree contain seeds that can be processed into chocolate. The Maya and their ancestors in Mesoamerica took the tree from the rainforest and grew it in their own backyards, where they harvested, fermented, roasted, and ground the seeds into a paste.
By 1400, the Aztec empire dominated a sizeable segment of Mesoamerica. The Aztecs traded with Maya and other peoples for cacao and often required that citizens and conquered peoples pay their tribute in cacao seeds, a form of Aztec money.
Chocolate also played a special role in both Maya and Aztec royal and religious events. Priests presented cacao seeds as offerings to the gods and served chocolate drinks during sacred ceremonies.
The history of chocolate in Europe came during the conquest of Mexico in 1521. The Spaniards recognized the value attached to cacao and observed the Aztec custom of drinking chocolate. Soon after, the Spanish began to ship cacao seeds back home, they doctored up the bitter brew with cinnamon and other spices and began sweetening it with sugar. They managed to keep their delicious drink a Spanish secret for almost 100 years before the rest of Europe discovered what they were missing, but then only those with money could afford to drink it as cacao and sugar were expensive imports. Eventually, to keep up with the demand for chocolate, Spain and many other European nations established colonial plantations for growing cacao and sugar.
For centuries, chocolate remained a handmade luxury sipped only by society's upper crust. But by the 1800s, mass production made solid chocolate candy affordable to a much broader public. The first European chocolate factury was setup in France in 1761 in the town of Bayonne. Exports at the time were limited to mainly Spain and Paris. The first hydraulic machine for crushing and mixing the chocolate paste was invented in 1778 and in 1819 the first steam-powered production plant was built.
Many famous chocolate companies today were founded as family run businesses in Europe such as Van Houten in the Netherlands in 1815, Menier in France in 1824, Cadbury and Rowntree in England; and Suchard, Nestlé, Lindt and Kohler in Switzerland.
After about 1850 the production of chocolate became a global business and production facilities were setup all around the world. To meet the demands of today's global market, chocolate manufacturing relies on both ancient techniques in the field and new technologies in the factory.
What Makes a Good Quality Chocolate?
Chocolate quality is very much dependent on the quality of the raw ingredients and also the care taken during the production process: roasting and crushing the cocoa beans and mixing the cocoa paste with sugar and any other ingredients such as milk.
High quality chocolate is shiny brown, breaks cleanly and is smooth, not containing any lumps, bubbles or white specs. Good chocolate should melt on the tongue like butter and should taste of pure chocolate rather than cocoa powder.
Fine chocolate should not be greasy or sticky at ambient room temperature. The higher the cocoa butter and vegetable fat content the better, with poor quality chocolates usually lacking sufficient quantities of these. For producing cakes and dessert a chocolate with a high cocoa content is recommended, whereas for decoration and fondants, a chocolate couverture is normally used.
The Milk, The Dark and the White
Chocolate comes in many forms: unsweetened, semi-sweet, bittersweet, milk chocolate and white chocolate (which technically isn't chocolate at all, but does have similarities so we'll include it here as well).
Chocolate is unique among vegetables in that its fat (cocoa butter) is solid at room temperature. Since this fat melts at mouth temperature, chocolate is an excellent flavor conductor. Cocoa powder is made by separating most of the cocoa butter out of the liquor.
Similar to coffee, cacao beans are dried and roasted before being hulled.
"Chocolate liquor", made from the roasted, ground cocoa bean nibs (the meat of the cacao bean) is what makes chocolate chocolate. Thus, unsweetened chocolate is pure chocolate liquor and about 50% cocoa butter. Bittersweet chocolate blends at least 35% liquor with as much as 50% with cocoa butter, sugar and vanilla. Semisweet chocolate has the same ingredients as bittersweet with the addition of more sugar. Milk chocolate, which contains about 10% chocolate liquor, takes the process a step further by adding about 12% milk solids.
White chocolate is made from cocoa butter, milk solids, sugar and vanilla. When buying white chocolate, look for a brand that contains cocoa butter. There are cheaper versions (which by law cannot be called chocolate) that don't contain any cocoa butter, but their flavor is inferior to those that do.
How To Melt Chocolate
Care must be taken when melting chocolate or you can easily end up with a grainy mess.
The lighter the chocolate, the higher the chances of this happening. The most important thing to remember is that chocolate melts better and faster at lower temperatures. Never let your chocolate get above 115° F.
The best method is using a double boiler (one pot that holds the chocolate that fits over another which contains about an inch of simmering water). If you don't have a double boiler, you can use a heat proof bowl which is large enough to be suspended over a pot without its bottom touching the simmering water. Simmer the water over low heat and stir the chocolate often. Remove from the heat as soon as the chocolate is melted and stir until smooth. Be extremely careful not to get any water (not even a drop) into the chocolate. Water will turn the chocolate into a grainy, lumpy mess. If this happens, you can add a little vegetable oil in order to make it smooth again, but this will affect the flavor.
The Swiss vs The Belgians
Who makes the best chocolate? Some argue the Swiss, others the Belgians…well you should make up your own mind, every chocoholic to their own!
Belgian Chocolates
From the beginning of its history in Belgium, chocolate was considered as a gift.In 1912, the Belgian confectionery created the "praline", a filled chocolate mouthful which perfectly complied with its gift vocation. The Belgian chocolate manufacturers take care to select the best cocoa as well as the finest components in order to produce the Belgian chocolate.
The expert Belgian artisans make almost all their chocolate by hand, and take particular pride in its decoration, as this has become a bit like their own, individual signature on the chocolate.
Swiss Chocolates
At the beginning, the Swiss chocolate pioneers had to struggle hard for their subsequent sweet success. In 1875 a Swiss manufacturer, Daniel Peters, found a way to combine chocolate with milk to produce the first milk chocolate. The Swiss pioneers continued to improve the quality and taste of the chocolate giving the country the reputation they have today.Quality Swiss chocolate melts in your mouth like butter. It is smooth and delicious, there is no grit. It does not cling stickily to the palate or leave any after-taste. Its flavour is fine, delicate and unique.
The Price of REAL Chocolate (5 Most expensive chocolate makers)
Chocopologie by Knipschildt = $2,600 per pound
Noka Vintages Collection = $854 per pound
Delafee = $508 per pound
Godiva "G" Collection and Richart = $120 per pound
Don’t feed chocolate to animals!
My mom has a parrot named Buddy. Buddy is the most spoilt parrot on the planet – he gets everything his little parrot heart desires except two things: avocado and …chocolate!
Health benefits – yes there are!!
Recent studies have shown that cocoa or dark chocolate has potent health benefits for people. Dark chocolate, with its high cocoa content, is full of the flavonoids epicatechin and gallic acid, which are antioxidants that help protect blood vessels, promote cardiac health, and prevent cancer. It also has been effectively demonstrated to counteract mild hypertension. In fact, dark chocolate has more flavonoids than any other antioxidant-rich food such as red wine, green and black tea, and blueberries. Chocolate is also a calorie-rich food with a high content of saturated fat, so daily intake of chocolate also requires reducing caloric intake of other foods.
Chocolate as a drug (well we knew that already hey - why else are we addicted?!)
Current research indicates that chocolate is a weak stimulant because of its content of theobromine.
However, chocolate contains too little of this compound for a reasonable serving to create effects in humans that are on par with a coffee buzz. The pharmacologist Ryan J. Huxtable aptly noted that "[Chocolate is] more than a food but less than a drug".
Chocolate also contains caffeine in significant amounts, though less than tea or coffee, according to careful scientific studies and despite a few websites which claim otherwise. Some chocolate products contain synthetic caffeine as an additive.
Pleasure of consuming chocolate (why else do we really eat it?!)
Part of the pleasure of eating chocolate is ascribed to the fact that its melting point is slightly below human body temperature; it melts in the mouth. Chocolate intake has been linked with release of serotonin in the brain, which is thought to produce feelings of pleasure.
Research has shown that heroin addicts tend to have an increased liking for chocolate; this may be because it triggers dopamine release in the brain's reinforcement systems – an effect, albeit a legal one, similar to that of opium.
Chocolate as an aphrodisiac
Romantic lore commonly identifies chocolate as an aphrodisiac. The reputed aphrodisiac qualities of chocolate are most often associated with the simple sensual pleasure of its consumption. More recently, suggestion has been made that serotonin and other chemicals found in chocolate, most notably phenethylamine, can act as mild sexual stimulants. While there is no firm proof that chocolate is indeed an aphrodisiac, giving a gift of chocolate to one's sweetheart is a familiar courtship ritual.
Significant chocolate makers
Popular or historically significant chocolate makers include:
Cadbury (UK)
Caffarel (Italy)
Callebaut (Belgium)
Côte d'Or (Belgium)
Dolfin (Belgium)
Fazer (Finland)
Ferrero SpA (Italy)
J. S. Fry & Sons (UK)
Godiva (US - Formerly Belgium)
Green & Black's (UK)
Hershey's (US)
Kraft Foods (Milka, Suchard, Toblerone, Côte d'Or, and many others)
Lindt & Sprüngli (Sprüngli developed conching) (Switzerland)
Mars Incorporated (M&M's, Dove) (US)
Nestlé (Switzerland)
Neuhaus (Belgium)
Perugina (Italy)
Ritter Sport (Germany)
Teuscher (Switzerland)
Thorntons (UK)
