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Tuesday, October 28, 2014

NO SWEETER DAY HAS EVER DAWNED (Until Next Year)




SWEEEEET--Our online friends at NationalDayCalendar.com went to a lot of effort to let us all know that today is National Chocolate Day, one of those new annual events that’s too sweet to pass up.  Here’s what the Calendar folks had to say on how chocolate is made:

“...Chocolate comes from the seed of the tropical Theobroma cacao tree.  Cacao, which has been cultivated for at least three millennia, is grown in Mexico, Central America and Northern South America.  The earliest known documentation of use, of cacao seeds, is around 1100 BC.  The cacao tree seed have a very intense bitter taste that must be fermented to develop the flavor.

Once the seeds have been fermented, the beans are then dried, cleaned and roasted.  After roasting, the shell is removed to produce cacao nibs.  The cacao nibs are then ground into cocoa mass which is pure chocolate in rough form.   The cocoa mass is usually liquefied then molded with or without other ingredients, it is called chocolate liquor.  The chocolate liquor may then be processed into two components: cocoa solids and cocoa butter.

Unsweetened baking chocolate –  cocoa solids and cocoa butter in varying proportions.
Sweet chocolate –  cocoa solids, cocoa butter or other fat and sugar.
Milk chocolate – sweet chocolate with milk powder or condensed milk.
White chocolate – cocoa butter, sugar and milk but no cocoa solids...”

Yes, yes, other breakthroughs in science have aided mankind and today happens to be Dr. Jonas Salk's 100th birthday, but aside from curing polio, there are few other more tasty scientific discoveries than the following: RESEARCH HAS FOUND THAT CHOCOLATE, WHEN EATEN IN MODERATION, CAN LOWER BLOOD PRESSURE.

To celebrate National Chocolate Day, try one of the following “tried and true” recipes:

http://www.food.com/recipe/chocolate-lasagna-502197


http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Fudge/Detail.aspx?evt19=1



http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/No-Bake-Chocolate-Oat-Bars/Detail.aspx?evt19=1

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