Chocolate – One Of Life’s Simple Pleasures – 28/52, BlackBerry 52 – WEEK 28 BlackBerry 52 response to Jump-Off from Lotus, Around the City: Simple Pleasures, July 15th, 2011, photo © 2011 by QuoinMonkey. All rights reserved.
It’s late in the evening at the end of a long week, so I’m going to make this Writing Topic short—and sweet (the way I like my chocolate). Though today we think of chocolate as having at least a hint of sweetness, it wasn’t always so. According to the Smithsonian’s article A Brief History of Chocolate it is estimated that chocolate has been around for over 2000 years, and for about 90 percent of that history, it was strictly a beverage, and sugar didn’t have anything to do with it. It wasn’t until Europeans came to the Americas that chocolate was sweetened with cane sugar and honey.
The Timeline of Chocolate History at The Gourmet Chocolate of the Month Club states that in 1765, the first chocolate factory appeared in the United States in pre-revolutionary New England, where the production of chocolate proceeded at a faster pace than anywhere else in the world. And in 1797, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe toured Switzerland and insisted on having chocolate available at all times, along with a chocolate pot.
According to the Smithsonian, we often misuse words related to the origins of chocolate:
Most experts these days use the term “cacao” to refer to the plant or its beans before processing, while the term “chocolate” refers to anything made from the beans. “Cocoa” generally refers to chocolate in a powdered form, although it can also be a British form of “cacao.”
Etymologists trace the origin of the word “chocolate” to the Aztec word “xocoatl,” which referred to a bitter drink brewed from cacao beans. The Latin name for the cacao tree, Theobroma cacao, means “food of the gods.”
Nectar of the gods. The Midwest Writing Group I am in never meets without indulging in a few bars of gourmet chocolate. (And it’s no secret that our teacher Natalie loves chocolate.) Reading, writing, and chocolate just seem to go together. Have you ever read Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory or delighted in Gene Wilder’s portrayal of Willy in the film (based on Dahl’s book) Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory?
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What is your favorite chocolate? Do you prefer milk chocolate or dark chocolate? Do you believe chocolate has aphrodisiac properties? Scientists have isolated phenylethylamine (PEA) which is a stimulant found in chocolate, and also in the brain. A miniscule amount of PEA is released at moments of emotional euphoria, raising blood pressure and heart rate. Is there a connection between food and the brain?
Last week Liz brought these chocolate bars home from Trader Joe’s. She chose the dark with walnuts and pecans; mine is the Swiss milk. Let’s put a slightly different twist on this Writing Practice. Instead of writing Chocolate at the top of your page, head into the kitchen and rip open your favorite chocolate bar. Slip a square right on top of your tongue, and write down what connects pen, page and a delicious chunk of chocolate — 15 minutes, Go!
-posted on red Ravine, Saturday, July 16th, 2011
Lotus and I will continue to respond to each other’s BlackBerry Jump-Off photos with text, photography, poetry (however we are inspired) for the 52 weeks of 2011. You can read more at BlackBerry 52 Collaboration. If you are inspired to join us, send us a link to your images, poetry, or prose and we’ll add them to our posts.
-related to posts: the velveeta cheese of donuts haiku, WRITING TOPIC — CANDY FREAK, Homage to a Candy Freak, On Candy, Candy Stash — Barter Is Better
As soon as I saw the topic was chocolate, I thought of the gourmet chocolate on our Midwestern Writing Group retreats. They disappear in quick order, don’t they? Two of us prefer dark, two milk. Good balance. Give me dark any day. 80% + cacao? Even better.
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Teri, they sure do! When I think of the retreats with the group, I think of sitting around the table after dinner, someone brings out the chocolate bars, and we are off! Two dark, two milk seems to be accurate for the polls I take when I bring out the chocolate. I wonder what the stats are? Do you think the world like half dark chocolate, half milk chocolate?
It reminds me of the difference between latte and espresso coffee drinkers. I’m a big milk drinker and can’t imagine chocolate not being sweet and creamy. But that’s just me. Oh, and I don’t chew it. I let it melt in my mouth. Some are chewers.
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The last time you brought chocolate to the retreat, the dark ones had chunky, nutty, spicy, crunchy pieces added. Delicious.
I think most people prefer milk chocolate. Dark chocolate is an acquired taste perhaps. Of course you let it melt, QM. Savor is your middle name.
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I remember that. Liz helped me pick out the dark chocolate for that trip. 8) Maybe it is an acquired taste. Didn’t I bring one that had sea salt or something in it? I think it was the chocolate section at Byerly’s. Savor, savor, savor!
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Dark chocolate, with possibly a hint of orange and spices. Oh and it needs to be organic and fair trade
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Crafty Green,
You’ve got that right!
Quion,
Yes, it was the sea salt one that left us wanting more. More!
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Even I might be able to wax poetic when it comes to the subject of chocolate. 😉
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Oh, QM, I do exactly what you do! I do not chew it, I let it melt in my mouth allowing my taste buds to savor the flavor! I like both dark & milk chocolate, but it depends on my mood. I recently purchased a small sign that reads “Nine out of ten people like chocolate. The tenth person always lies.”. (You know me & my signs!) Add a salty element to chocolate & I’m in heaven!
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I’m salivating as I read all these yummy comments, as well as your post! I used to be a milk c. fan, but have acquired a taste for the darkies…ever since the so-called experts stated that dark is “better for you.”
I had the great pleasure of having my oldest, dear friend, whom I named Liz after, visit me this summer. “Santa Barbara Liz.” We have been friends since we met each other on the first day of First Grade…Victory Blvd. Elementary School, No. Hollywood, CA!
We hadn’t seen each other since I visited her on my move to Cody, 11 years ago. She knows me well…she brought me a pound of Mrs. See’s Chocolates…in my estimation, the BEST!! Love and chocolate…are they not synonyms?
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Mmmmm. so many fond memories of chocolate. I loved that sea salt chocolate bar you brought to one of our Midwest writers gatherings. Yum. I also love chocolate with fruit in it. Dark chocolate with orange rind or raspberry bits. Or ginger. mmmm. Ginger. And Curry. I found a dark chocolate bar with curry in it recently. That was extraordinary. I always keep some chocolate in the back of my refrigerator. Currently it’s caramel filled chocolate kisses, Hershey’s. Milk chocolate. I like just 1 or 2 or, okay, 3, after a meal. I also have a stash of peanut butter m’s. that is M & M’s but a young friend of mine named them M’s when she was in kindergarten.
Wish I had time to do a longer write on this yummy topic. But am off to New York tomorrow. Maybe I will find a gourmet chocolate shop there somewhere. What do you think? I’ll let you know.
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On Monday I bought a Lindt Creamy Milk Chocolate bar, my first chocolate in weeks, and ate it all. Half was gone in the first block and then it started to soften in the intense heat of the day. I dropped a square which immediately melted on the sidewalk. Before I could finish the bar, it had melted to the point it was all over my hands and face. What luxury! What happiness! What ecstasy!
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Tonight at the grocery store I found a carton of almond milk–chocolate flavor–DARK chocolate. I kid you not.
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I love chocolate almond milk. The vanilla is good, too.
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Some great comments on Chocolate. I’ve got a few Writing Practices to post in the next few days. And I’m going to do my own practice with a piece from a box of See’s Famous Old Time Chocolate that was a gift from oliverowl! It’s delicious.
Over the last few weeks, I have been on two road trips, including one up to the North American Bear Center for the Lilypadders Picnic. Just back this week and now my mother-in-law is in town and we are having a great visit. Will work to catch up at red Ravine over the next few days. Thanks to all for your patience.
Last night we stopped and Liz bought a few caramels with sea salt. Delicious. I am noticing the problem of melting chocolate in this extremely hot July weather. I don’t ever remember it being this hot and humid in Minnesota in the summer. Oh, I’m also a big fan of chocolate milk!
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