Homemade Chocolate! Yummmm!

The Cocoa Pod Is a Sweet, Delicious Fruit!

Cocoa bean (also cacao bean, often simply referred to as cacao) is the dried and fully fermented fatty seed of Theobroma cacao, from which cocoa solids and cocoa butter are extracted. They are the basis of chocolate, as well as many Mesoamerican foods such as mole sauce and tejate.

A cocoa pod (fruit) has a rough leathery rind about 3 cm thick (this varies with the origin and variety of pod). Yes, the cacao pod is a fruit. It consists of a thin layer of sweet, fruity flesh surrounding the cacao bean, sort of in the way a lychee fruit has a layer of delicious white fruit flesh surrounding its central seed. Cacao fruit tastes a little bit like fresh lychee fruit, in fact, with a hint of chocolate flavor in it.

The fruit is a sweet, mucilaginous pulp (called 'baba de cacao' in South America) enclosing 30 to 50 large seeds that are fairly soft and pale pink or lavender in color. Seeds usually are white, becoming violet or reddish brown during the drying process. The exception is rare varieties of white cacao, in which the seeds remain white. Historically, white cacao was cultivated by the Rama people of Nicaragua.

Isn't chocolate a interesting subject? There are so many aspects of it that very few people know about.

Till next time... Donna

To the left is the fruit within the cacoa shell. It is such a remarkable plant. The pods, above right, are ripe cacoa. And, the first picture shows the "fruit of the Gods," as it was originally referred to, growing on the tree.  Did you ever imagine chocolate starting out in this way? Awesome, isn't it!

Have a great day... Eat some pure, unadulterated, rich, 60% plus chocolate today, and enjoy!

Can Chocolate Reduce Stress?

High quality, dark Chocolate can be very beneficial.  Now mind you, as always, I encourage eating very dark, 60% plus chocolate with no milk, soy lecithin, or artificial anything!

Stress causes our bodies to deplete its supplies of magnesium, ultimately leading to a biochemistry that is out of balance. There are 56 mg of magnesium in a 50g, 2oz bar. Magnesium levels in high quality chocolate may help to restore the body's imbalance caused by stress.

Chocolate, also, has a more direct stress-reducing effect. It contains a compound called anandamide. The name is taken from the Sanskrit word ananda, which means "bliss and delight".  It binds to certain receptors in the brain to promote relaxation. More is explained with audios  HERE. It is most interesting.

Till next time ...

Stay happy, & eat chocolate-good, healthy chocolate,
Donna

Happy Valentines Day & Enjoy Chocolate!

http://www.old-forge.net/val1n.html

CHOCOLATES
play an important part on St.Valentines day.  Richard Cadbury created the first heart-shaped Valentine's Day boxed
candy sometime around 1870.

Today we still enjoy the fruit of his labor!

  Wishing you a magical Valentine's Day with your special someone,

Donna

What is Chocolate Liquor?

Chocolate liquor is a combination of cocoa solids and cocoa butter which is obtained when cacao beans are processed to make chocolate products. Once chocolate makers have produced chocolate liquor, there are a number of ways in which the substance can be handled to make various chocolate products ranging from cocoa to baking chocolate.

As a general rule, chocolate liquor is created in the factories of chocolate producers, allowing the companies to have control over the composition of their chocolate, although smaller chocolate makers may order chocolate liquor and other products from bigger companies to bypass the expensive and time-consuming process of making chocolate from scratch.

Getting to chocolate liquor requires several stages. To begin with, the large pods of the Theobroma cacao tree must be harvested, split to expose the beans, and allowed to ferment, taking some of the bitterness out of the beans inside. Once the beans have fermented, they must be roasted and cracked to remove the hulls, leaving behind the cacao nibs. These nibs are then ground to produce chocolate liquor.

Chocolate liquor turns liquid because the grinding process melts the rich cocoa butter inside the nibs. As the nibs are ground, they break apart into a gritty, runny paste. While the paste smells like chocolate and even looks like it, it wouldn't be very appetizing, because it is unsweetened and the grainy texture is not very enjoyable.

After a factory has produced chocolate liquor, it is pressed to form what is imaginatively known as press cake. During the pressing process, the cocoa butter runs out of the chocolate liquor, leaving behind the cocoa solids. The separated components of the chocolate can be blended back together in varying amounts and conched with ingredients like sugar, milk, and spices to make bar chocolate, or they may be processed individually to make things like cocoa and white chocolate.

Processing chocolate liquor requires a great deal of care and precision. Nibs from different parts of the world have distinctly different flavors much like grapes for wine of coffee beans for coffee, so chocolate producers must think carefully about the blend they want to produce. The beans are typically blended during the roasting process. Consequently, it is most important that they be inspected carefully before being submitted to grinding to make sure that they adhere to the producer's standards. Improperly fermented or roasted beans can ruin a batch of chocolate, and given the high cost of this coveted ingredient, this is not desirable.

More next time... And remember, a little of the very best, 60% or preferably higher, chocolate every day is good for you. There's no guilt with that: So enjoy!!

Stay happy,
Donna

A Magical Cocoa Plantation

There is chocolate. And, then there are those rare companies that produce exquisite, dark chocolate. The chocolate that is made with devoted care and love. Chocolate that is free from additives, lecithin, and other ingredients that can mask the true consistency and natural flavors. I will endeavor to bring you the stories, as I have in the past, of chocolatiers round the world over who produce fine chocolate that arouses and delights the senses: A true "chocolate experience."

This is a most interesting story about the Rabot Estate cocoa plantation. It is said to be very beautiful. In front of the plantation are the twin Piton peaks which emerge symmetrically from the Caribbean Sea. Behind them is the rain forest that stretches into the distance, studded with the gigantic peaks of Mount Gimie and plunging valleys. Right behind is the Soufrière volcano and Sulphur Springs.

The 140-acre estate is in the South West of St Lucia, near Soufrière – the original French capital. The estate is divided up into 16 different cortès or areas of terroir, with evocative names steeped in history, such as L’Hermitage, Ti Jardin, Marcial, Mathilde and Rameau.

The rich and fertile volcanic soil, and rain forest water all create a unique environment (terroir). It is perfectly suited to cocoa production, in which the cocoa trees flourish.

The following is a video of the plantation with this pristine cocoa. The cocoa trees of the Rabot Estate are primarily Trinitario species rich in Criollo genes, which give exceptionally fine cocoa which is made twice a year from the harvest.

They use no vanilla or soya lecithin which is very important for a truly exquisite chocolate. This allows the beans’ full personality to be expressed.

The chocolatier of the Rabot Estate, worthy of acclaim, is responsible for the growing of the bean to the end production of the fine chocolates. That is quite unusual. All this hard work earned the renown Hotel Chocolat the Bronze Award at the Academy of Chocolate Awards, 2006, for its 72% Dark Chocolate. Hope you enjoy watching the video.Luxury Chocolate gifts from Hotel Chocolat




Have a blessed day.

Love chocolate,
Donna

Where Did the Little Gold Foil Wrapped Chocolate Bunnies Come From? Big Legal Case

This is an interesting piece to read. Who would ever have known that the little Chocolate Bunnies wrapped in gold foil was such a literal gold mine to chocolatiers, and that famous brands would be juggling the topic in the courts of Europe? Hope you enjoy this article. I had to post it for it's a very good example of the amazing World of Chocolate.

Legal Limbo for Chocolate Bunnies:Posted June 12 2009, 11:22 AM by Catherine Holahan - Click HERE for link.

"Can you trademark a chocolate bunny? Swiss chocolate maker Lindt & Sprüngli thinks so. The confectioner is a bit bitter about rival chocolatiers producing their own chocolate bunnies wrapped in foil. It says that it owns the rights to cocoa bunnies covered in gold foil and is pursuing its case in Europe's highest courts.

Recently, chocolate bunnies have become something of a legal hot potato. Lindt's case revolves around whether companies can trademark a three-dimensional shape and not just a logo. As a result, a ruling in Lindt's favor could have legal ramifications for all manner of businesses...(See article link above)

Rival confectioner Franz Hauswirth is arguing that the trademark that Lindt received for the chocolate bunny back in 2001 was sought in bad faith. After all, chocolatiers have been manufacturing bunnies wrapped in foil for more than 50 years. The chocolate bunny in foil has become a secular symbol of the Easter season.

Still, Lindt argues that it's responsible for that symbol. Thus, it should be the only chocolatier to dress its bunny up in a gold foil wrapper, with or without a ribbon around its neck.
The little gold wrapped bunny is something of a gold mine for confectioners. Lindt sold $44 million worth in Germany alone last year, according to the Journal. In the United States, Easter is the second biggest season for chocolatiers after Christmas. The heart-shaped box of chocolates, apparently, has nothing on the killer-combo of chocolate bunnies and candied Easter eggs.

Where do chocolate bunnies come from?
Another question central to Lindt's case is where chocolate bunnies originated from. If Lindt can prove its company was first to manufacture the shape, it will have a stronger case. But that could be difficult. Some say the chocolate bunny can trace its roots back to medieval Europe, stemming from German legends about magical rabbits that laid colored eggs in the spring for children.

A Pennsylvania company, Bortz Chocolate, began making chocolate rabbits in 1934, according to a 1989 NY Times article. Instead of sitting on their haunches, waiting expectantly to be eaten, their bunnies played accordions and drove cars. Bortz did, however, manufacture a "classic" bunny in foil as well."

Next time you see a chocolate bunny, you might look at it differently from now on.

Have a magical day,
Donna