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
No comments:
Post a Comment