[love], [make your own], [storing], [dogs], [cakes & cookies], [on my shelf right now],
[my middle name], [bibliography], [hyperlinks].
Storing Chocolate.
One of the great advantages of Chocolate is that it keeps very well. That combined with it's high energy content and mild stimulant effect have caused it to be used for centuries as special rations for by trekkers, travelers, adventurers and militaries.
The biggest problem that can arise is from the separation of the Cocoa Butter or, in the case of the very sweet bars, the sugar, from the rest of the mixture, causing a discoloration or 'bloom' on the surface. This is due to the fat melting and recrystallizing because of extreme temperatures, either warm or cold. It is not dangerous for eating, but it looks bad and it can effect the taste.
Chocolate can go rancid -- as can any fat, however you should never put Chocolate in the refrigerator. Cold will cause the 'bloom' described above, condensation will damage the Chocolate and extended periods of cold will cause a degradation of the flavor. (The flavor is best at a warm room temperature). The optimal storage conditions are cool -- but not cold, dark, dry, well ventilated and well wrapped. Notice that these precautions are the standard ones for any high fat content food. On the other hand, if the temperature is too high, this can cause flavor to be lost, and can also cause 'bloom'.
Properly stored, Chocolate can expect to have a 3-4 months shelf life. I
actually cannot imagine anyone having this problem, how can you keep it around
long enough to go bad?!? I never have. However, some of the imported bars can
be 7 to 12 months old before you even get them. This is becomming more and
more of a problem. I have had quite a few bars (especially organic bars) that
were rancid when we bought them; sometimes it is mild enough that you can't
really taste the difference, it might taste a little like dirt, often it is
almost inedible. Also, i have noticed in some of the finer quality bars that
were imported and were very old (i.e. more than 6 or 8 months) that the flavor
weakens considerably.
Theobromide is a poison to dogs, even rather small amounts of real Chocolate
can kill a dog. I do not believe that cats are equally susceptible, however it
is best to keep it away from all pets.
Chocolate has a very well established, long term, societal connection with
love and sex. Theobromide produces a feeling of well-being while stimulating
the body and this could, certainly lead to a lowering of inhibitions.
However, probably the most important issue is simply the knowledge of the
connection -- we have all (certainly anyone in a European based culture) grown
up in a society which draws a clear connection between Chocolate and Love, and
so we learn this early and are taught it constantly. We make a connection in
our heads and our rituals which cannot be diminished.
I think the most interesting connection with love and sex involves the
evolution of the heart shape and a long extinct Mediterranean cash crop.
A plant called Silphium was used for centuries as birth control. It was a
major export from North Africa and there are even Carthiginian coins with the
plant on them. The plant became extinct during late Roman times, possibly
because it wasn't cultivated successfully. Many people suspect that connection
between love and what we know as the 'heart' shape with came from the shape of
the cross-section of the the Silphium pod (as Silphium was, obviously,
connected with love).
It turns out that the Cacao Pod resembles the Sliphium pod slightly, and when
cut crosswise, it also produces 'heart' shapes.
When i was born, i was not given a middle name, nor was my brother. We were
told that when we turned 18 we could choose our own middle name. So as kids,
it was always a fun thing to play with. I tried several middle names, but the
one that stuck the longest (from about age 5 to about age
14.), the one that was on my first Social Security card at age 7, the
one that everyone said fit the best, was Chocolate. Mark Chocolate
Canizaro.
Global Exchange
Action on Slavery
Action on Slavery
http://mujweb.atlas.cz/www/chocolate/enlinks1.htm
Cocoa Tea & Coffee -- H.K. Ashby, Priory Press LTD or Crane Rusak & Co
Chocolate kills dogs
Chocolate's connection with Love.
Make your own.
The hard part, of course, is finding raw Cacao Seeds. Roast them in a teflon-
free pan stirring frequently. As the beans roast they start making "pop"
sounds like popcorn -- they are done when about 70% of the beans have popped.
Do not let them burn, though a bit of black on each bean is normal. Although
it is difficult, you must peel them while they are still hot because if they
are not hot when ground, they will not make paste. (I got only a coarse
powder.) Grind the hot beans into a dark oily paste. Use a manually operated
grinder, i have found that a coffee grinder does not work -- the granules are
too large. A mortar and pestle might work well, and would be traditionally
Aztec, but would probably require a lot of work. Spread the paste to cool
less than 1 cm thick. It is traditional to make cakes 4 to 20 cm in diameter.
After 8 to 12 hours you should have hard cakes of pure Chocolate. You can
pulverize them into water, or milk, or baking, or you can freeze them for
later use. When the paste is still hot, using a piece of linen you can
squeeze out the Cocoa Butter, (which is an oil at this temperature), to
produce a fat-free powder which is less bitter and has somewhat less Chocolate
flavor.
Chocolate we have around the house.
August 2001 -- updated July 2002
Cake & Cookies
29 Jul 2002
I really don't cover cake & cookies & brownies in the rest of my pages,
because it is pretty much just about Chocolate. Most Cake (and almost all
cookies) are just trash; it is amazing to me what people pass off for
Chocoalte cake, and amazing to me that people eat this nasty sticky sweet
artificial garbage, but there are some nice ones out there,
cakes made with a few high quality ingredients, low sugar and lots of
chocolate. I seek out these cakes with passion. Here's what i have found
in Seattle:
My middle name.
A few misc. Chocolate web links.
http://www.theobroma-cacao.de/land/fr.htm
http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/choco.html
http://www.botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/c/cacao-02.html
http://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/news.answers/food/chocolate/faq
http://www.choco.com
http://www.chem.ox.ac.uk/mom/chocolate/Theobromine.html
www.rain-tree.com/chocolate.htm
www.ucs.louisiana.edu/~khh6430/tcsi.html
Research on low polination rates
english-www.hss.cmu.edu/recipes
The entire bar list!
Chocolate history
An unfortunately incomplete bibliography.
Stollwerk Chocolate Museum, K&246;ln, Germany
Cocoa Association Ltd
Cereal House
58 Marks Ln
London EC3
American Cocoa Research Institute
7900 Westpark Dr #513
McClean VA 22101
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