Posts Tagged With: Chocolate

50/365: National Chocolate Mint Day

Posted on February 19, 2013 by Midwest Mark

Today we celebrate two great tastes that taste great together: chocolate and mint. It’s National Chocolate Mint Day!

Granted, it seems like we just celebrated this holiday last week with Peppermint Patties. But there are enough combinations of chocolate and mint that we could eat (or drink) something different every day for a couple of weeks. Not that we’d want to do that, of course.

Chocolate pairs well with many different foods. Classic pairings include chocolate and red wine, chocolate and strawberries, chocolate and orange, and chocolate and muenster cheese. Chocolate and mint are no exception, either. Mint is derived from the Latin word mentha, which in turn comes from the Greek word minthe. In Greek mythology, Minthe was a female spirit…okay, she was a nymph…who tried to seduce Hades with her feminine wiles and awesome cleavage, but Queen Persephone stepped in and turned Minthe into a mint plant. Boy, when they say there’s no such thing as a woman scorned, they mean it!

Mint is classified as an herb and belongs to the same family as basil, rosemary, sage, oregano, and catnip. It grows vigorously when planted, and can take over an entire garden. I know this firsthand: I once planted a single mint plant in the backyard, and before long every time I cut the grass it smelled like a Junior Mints factory had exploded. Good stuff, but man, be careful or it’ll get out of control, much like bamboo and the ridiculous claims over at Fox News.

We could have gone in a dozen different directions with today’s challenge, but since it’s Girl Scout cookie season, we decided to go with Thin Mint cookies. A timeless classic, if you will (and straight out of the freezer, ’cause that’s how we roll). Yum!

Thin Mints

Thin Mint cookies are in season, so we indulged!

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45/365: National Cream-Filled Chocolate Day

Posted on February 14, 2013 by Midwest Mark

Once in awhile these food holidays make perfect sense, and today is one of those occasions: it’s Valentine’s Day, and also, National Cream-Filled Chocolate Day. The two go together like peas and carrots, as Forrest Gump would say. (Forrest was also known to enjoy a box of chocolates every now and then, making the analogy especially appropriate).

Today’s history lesson is a little different. You’ll get the story behind Valentine’s Day, and how chocolate came to be associated with it.

There were no fewer than three Catholic saints named Valentine, making that name the “John Smith” of ancient times, I suppose. Most people believe the holiday honors the saint who defied Roman emperor Claudius II’s orders outlawing marriage for single men, who were forced into the army instead. Valentine performed the marriages in secret and, when caught, was sentenced to death. While languishing in prison he fell for the jailor’s daughter, and before his execution sent the girl a letter which he signed “from, your Valentine” – a phrase that has been around ever since. Because of his sympathy toward those in love, and his own romantic gestures, St. Valentine was given his own holiday, one that has come to symbolize love. By the 15th century, lovers were presenting gifts to one another to mark the occasion; these included flowers, sweets, and greeting cards. Why chocolate? Because it has long been a symbol of love thanks to its, ahem, “mood-enhancing” properties (read: it’s an aphrodisiac, yo). Even the Aztecs would give cocoa as offerings to their gods, as a sign of appreciation. Appreciation for not smiting them with bolts of lightning, I guess? Anyhoo, the tradition persists to this day. More than 36 million heart shaped boxes of chocolate are sold on Valentine’s Day, and it’s a good bet that many of those chocolates are filled with cream!

I have often said that if anything trips us up during this challenge, it won’t be something tricky like Peking Duck or Chocolate Souffle. It’ll be something deceptively simple, like cream-filled chocolates. Sure enough, I found myself digging frantically through nearly-empty shelves of Target today on my lunch, searching for a box of chocolates. We had all kinds of chocolate in the house, but none of it contained cream in the middle, and truffles don’t really count. Fortunately, I happened upon one overlooked box of Russell Stover – the last one in the entire store. Whew! I had a piece of coconut cream, and Tara indulged in butter cream. Good stuff. Happy V-Day!

Russell Stover to the rescue!

Russell Stover to the rescue!

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37/365: National Nutella Day

Posted on February 6, 2013 by Midwest Mark

Today is an unusually confusing day. As you know, we have an official food calendar we are consulting for these various holidays. Just for fun, I double check several other sites every day, to verify there isn’t a mistake. It’s all about authenticity, folks! 99% of the time there are no issues. Today? Ugh. Our calendar says it’s National Nutella Day. Some online sources agree, but others say that was yesterday. Depending on who you believe, today is either Nutella Day, Chopsticks Day, Frozen Yogurt Day, or even Food Checkout Day. Weird that February 6 is so full of disagreement. Since at least 4 or 5 different sites match our calendar, and we’d already planned for it, we are sticking to our guns. With that in mind, Happy National Nutella Day!

Nutella (like carrot cake) is another food item we can thank World War II for. Chocolate rationing left Italian baker Pietro Ferrero in a lurch. Chocolate was his bread and butter, so to speak. Looking for a way to make his supply last, he turned to hazelnuts, which grew like weeds in and around his hometown of Alba, in the Piedmont region of Italy. Ferrero initially created a solid block of hazelnuts and chocolate, but in 1951 he produced a creamy version he called Supercrema. In 1963 his son Michele (yes, son) wanted to sell the product all over Europe, so he modified the recipe and renamed it Nutella. It was an instant global success. But Nutella has lately suffered from some negative press. A class action lawsuit against Ferrero was settled just last year, after it was deemed that Nutella’s marketing claim of being “part of a nutritious breakfast” was, to put it mildly, not exactly the truth. Well, duh! One glance at the label – sugar, palm oil, hazelnuts, cocoa solids, and milk – should give a clue to even the most naive consumer that Nutella is not on par health-wise with, say, oatmeal. Half of the calories come from fat, and 40% from sugar. If you really think that’s nutritious, I’ve got a bridge for sale.

Nutritious or not, Nutella is good. I had never tried it before today! I know, I know. I lead a sheltered life. Since I was a Nurgin® (a Nutella virgin, and yes, I’m trademarking that), I figured the simplest presentation would be best. A slice of white bread toast topped with Nutella. I’m not a big fan of sweet breakfasts unless there is something savory to accompany them, which may be why I said, two bites in, that the Nutella toast would have been perfect if it were topped with bacon. I wish I’d thought of that sooner! But, it was good. Nutty and chocolatey and creamy and smooth. I get the appeal now.

IMAG0503

Nutella on toast. Not a bad morning pick-me-up!

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36/365: National Chocolate Fondue Day

Posted on February 5, 2013 by Midwest Mark

Anybody longing for the 1970s should get a kick out of today’s food holiday: February 5 is National Chocolate Fondue Day!

Fondue pots (along with disco, polyester, and Bert Reynolds movies) might be synonymous with the 70s, but fondue has been around for a lot longer. The Swiss have a lot of cheese, you know, and needed a way to use it up once it became hard, so they figured they could melt it down and dip things in it. Surprisingly, even though Switzerland is just as well known for its chocolates as for cheese, it was a restaurant in New York City called Suisse Chalet that actually created chocolate fondue. Chef/Owner Konni Egli was looking for inventive new dishes to promote his restaurant in 1966, and turned to the Swiss National Tourist Office, conveniently located a block away. They were looking to promote a new chocolate bar called Toblerone whose oddly-shaped triangular pieces were meant to be eaten individually, each one resembling the Matterhorn (the mountain in Switzerland, not the theme park ride in Disneyland). Konni hit upon the idea of melting down the chocolate and creating a new type of fondue, one that was sweet instead of savory.

Incidentally, Toblerone chocolates were at the heart of a Swedish political scandal in 1995 when Mona Sahlin, a candidate for Prime Minister, used taxpayer money to purchase two Toblerone bars. She ended up dropping out of the race. Which begs the question: if the chocolate is known for its distinctive shape and tastes so good you’d risk your political career for a bite, why were the chefs at the Swiss Chalet trying to melt it down in the first place? But they were, and they did, and the rest is chocolate fondue history.Chocolate Fondue ingredients

When we were discussing what to dip in our chocolate fondue, I suggested apples. Tara thought that was an odd choice, but it turns out apples and other fruit (strawberries and bananas) are popular accompaniments, as are marshmallows, pretzels, and graham crackers.

I decided, in the interest of authenticity, to make Konni Egli’s original chocolate fondue recipe, using Toblerone, heavy cream, and a splash of brandy. We don’t own a fondue pot, which is a bit shocking considering our (ok, MY) penchant for anything retro. But I set up a poor man’s double boiler (a small pot inside a big pot), melted the chocolate, added the cream, and – voila! We had a chocolate fondue dish that would make ol’ Mr. Egli proud.

By the way, the Toblerone chocolate bar itself? Out of this world! I balked at the $2.69 price tag, but man, that’s some seriously good chocolate. And the little chocolate triangles really do look like the Matterhorn. Groovy.

Dig the fancy plating, yo.

Dig the fancy plating, yo.

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10/365: National Bittersweet Chocolate Day

Posted on January 10, 2013 by Midwest Mark

It’s National Bittersweet Chocolate Day, and upon learning this, my first question was: what in the heck is bittersweet chocolate? The answer, my friends, is blowing in the wind. And also on the internet. Chocolate is broken down into different categories based on the amount of fat it contains. Chocolate starts out as “chocolate liquor,” which is simply pure chocolate in liquid form. Sugar and a fat, such as cocoa butter, are added to this substance. To be classified as bittersweet, chocolate must contain a minimum of 35% chocolate liquor. The rest is cocoa butter, sugar, vanilla, and an emulsifier.

My second question was: what in the heck is an emulsifier? But then I figured the science was getting too intense, and I should just appreciate the chocolate for what it is. Which is, delicious! Who doesn’t like chocolate?!

Chocolate dates back to ancient times. The Mayans, when they weren’t assembling calendars meant to freak out otherwise highly advanced 21st-century people who falsely interpreted them as “the end of the world is coming!” warnings, were busy growing cacao trees in their backyards. They used the seeds to concoct a frothy and bitter beverage, an early precursor to Yoohoo. The Aztecs took over Mesoamerica, started adding spices like chile peppers and achiote to chocolate, and made sacrificial chocolate offerings to Xochiquetzal (pronounced Beverly), the goddess of fertility. Ever since, women have been craving the stuff during a certain time of the month. Coincidence? You be the judge. Europeans got their first taste of chocolate in the 16th century, and by 1839 had invented the modern-day chocolate bar. It only took them 200 years to figure out how to solidify it! Milk was added in 1875 by a Swiss candlemaker and his neighbor, Henri Nestle. Rodolphe Lindt figured out how to easily blend liquid chocolate, paving the way for Milton Hershey to mass produce affordable chocolate bars. 132 years later, Tay Zonday went viral with “Chocolate Rain.” 

Yeah, that's Ghirardelli. We roll with the best around here!

Yeah, that’s Ghirardelli. We roll with the best around here!

I’ve always been partial to milk chocolate, which contains only 10% chocolate liquor. Tara’s a dark chocolate fan, and it doesn’t get much darker than bittersweet chocolate, which is most often used in baking – its bitterness cuts down on the sweetness inherent in sugary desserts. Tara has a recipe for brownies with a chocolate ganache (check it out here), so she took a couple of bittersweet chocolate bars, melted them down with some half-and-half and butter, and poured them over the brownies. “The chocolate is melted,” I said, once it had blended in with the ganache mixture. “That’s kind of bittersweet.”

Cracking food jokes is part of the fun. And the brownies were delicious with coffee.

Oh, and our coworkers are loving this project, because they’re ending up with all the leftovers! Well, the sweet leftovers. The beans, not so much.

By the way, we’ll be revisiting bittersweet chocolate towards the end of our challenge. November 7 is bittersweet chocolate with almonds day. Hard to believe there were two separate bittersweet chocolate lobbyist groups (check out another interesting article on how food holidays are created here) while nobody campaigned for white chocolate. What a crime.

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