Harry & David Truffles
November 29, 2010
Harry & David is a large direct marketing and e-commerce company that sells many edible products, including chocolate.
Harry & David may be best known for their gourmet fruit and gift baskets. Recently, I sampled a bag of gold foil wrapped chocolate truffles from a gift basket.
They looked good on the outside, meaning the packaging was nice. But once opened, I saw that they had been taken over by bloom – perhaps stored in a place that with fluctuating temperatures. I can’t imagine it myself, but could it have been the last thing left in the gift basket???
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Pure Chocolate?
November 26, 2010
As reported by the Associated Press from Brussels, at least according to the high court of the European Union, there is no such thing as pure chocolate!
In Europe, unlike in the United States, chocolate can contain other vegetable oils and still be called chocolate. Chocolate makers in some of the European countries typically include other oils, whereas some only use cocoa butter.
Most notably Italian law permitted the use of "pure chocolate" as a designation, contrary to the 1999 legislation where all EU nations agreed that the label would make clear whether the chocolate contained cocoa butter and/or other oils.
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Chocolate Chip Cheesecake
November 24, 2010
Bryn let's me make the cheesecakes at our house. In my opinion there's nothing like a good cheesecake to help celebrate any worthy event.
For your Thanksgiving chocolate fix this year you might want to try a chocolate chip cheesecake.
| Chocolate Chip Cheesecake • 1 1/2 cups finely crushed cream-filled chocolate sandwich cookies • 2 to 3 tablespoons margarine or butter, melted • 24 ounces cream cheese, softened • 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk • 3 eggs • 2 teaspoons vanilla • 1 cup mini chocolate chips • 1 teaspoon flour Read more |
Cacao Grown in Fiji
November 23, 2010
There is small chocolate company revitalizing cacao and chocolate production in Fiji.
Adi Chocolate Fiji, is located on the island of Vanua Levu. They make chocolate using two crops grown on the island; Trinitario cacao beans and raw cane sugar.
The owners of the company fell in love with chocolate while running a restaurant and serving homemade chocolate ice cream. In 2007, they began making dark chocolates from their native Fiji cacao.
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Rocky Mountain Orange Peel
November 22, 2010
The Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory is an international retail franchisor of chocolates and confectionery products. 21 years ago a man named Frank Crail started the company in the old-west town of Durango, Colorado.
I recently tried their version of chocolate-covered candied orange peel. Chocolate-covered orange peel is one of my favorite chocolates, and I like to try various recipes from chocolate shops around the globe.
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Austrian Style Hot Chocolate
November 20, 2010
This hot chocolate recipe is big enough to serve your entire crowd for a holiday party!
Cook it up, grab a mug, and share.
| Austrian Style Hot Chocolate • 30 ounces semi-sweet chocolate, broken in pieces • 10 small strips of orange peel, finely grated • 2 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon • 15 cups milk • 2 1/2 cups whipping cream • Grated chocolate or cocoa powder • 30 cinnamon sticks (each approx. 3 inches long) Read more |
Samuel Adams® Chocolate Bock
November 19, 2010
Hey, let’s talk about beer again. A few months ago we had a guest author blog about chocolate AND beer. This time we’ll talk about chocolate IN beer!
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The Fineness of Grind
November 18, 2010
Why does one brand of chocolate bar feel so velvety smooth in your mouth but the next one feel so rough?
Let’s get down to the nitty gritty, shall we? (pun intended!) It all depends on particle size, or the fineness of grind.
When cocoa beans are shelled and roasted, the nibs are ground up and heated to form fluid chocolate called chocolate liquor, cocoa mass, or unsweetened chocolate. When chocolate liquor is then blended with other ingredients like sugar and milk powder, the resulting paste is ground up even further. This process is called “refining.”
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Chocolate-Banana Swirl Cupcakes
November 17, 2010
Here a delightful combination of chocolate and banana, in a cupcake form.
For a delicious variation of this recipe you can replace the banana with your favorite winter squash or pumpkin!
| Chocolate-Banana Swirl Cupcakes • 6 tbsp butter, softened • 2/3 cup sugar • 1/2 tsp salt • 2 large eggs • 3/4 tsp vanilla extract • 1 ¼ cup flour • 1/2 tsp baking powder • 1/2 tsp baking soda • 1/2 cup mashed ripe banana (approx. 1 large ripe banana) • 3 oz bittersweet chocolate, melted over a double boiler Read more |
Cacao, a Product of Global Warming?
November 16, 2010
There is evidence of a past warming period in Earth’s history. A previous spell of global warming, if you will.
Scientists at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute participated with other organizations in a research study to find out what effects global warming on our planet’s past vegetation – and by past, I mean the Paleocene Epoch!
Something really interesting caught my attention as I was reading a summary of the findings. Contrary to the belief that tropical forests were devastated under the conditions of global warming, new plants evolved at a faster rate than ones that became extinct. Pollen from the cacao plant family (and the passionflower plant family) appeared suddenly, for the first time, during this warming event.
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