Food and Drink Articles

You know what they say: ‘The best way to a man’s heart is through his stomach.’

Who ever said that you have to eat out this Valentines Day? A public restaurant is hardly the place to be intimate. And let’s face it, to do so is a bit cliché. If you want to impress your man with how much you care, it’s time to prepare something with your own hands.

Enter chocolate. When deciding what should be on the menu February 14, make sure that at least one meal includes this delicious ingredient. It is a natural aphrodisiac; it promotes that ‘honeymoon mood.’ It’s sensual and can be really delicate— a perfect prelude to either a relaxed discussion or a not-so-relaxed seduction! Even before the first meal is served, just the aroma from the kitchen will already have your partner excited.

More so, having chocolate on the table sends the clear message that the day is special. As this form of the cacao seed rarely finds its way to everyday recipes, your partner would immediately know that you’ve gone out of your way. Like champagne, having chocolate suggests that a celebration is in order. Isn’t it that you don’t start a party without at least an inch thick Black Forest cake?

Consider the following options:

Breakfast: How about some chocolate chips in your pancakes? Traditional roadside diners used to make scones, waffles and pancakes with the chips but the trend seems to have lost its appeal. Why not recover the nostalgia together and be like little kids again? When eaten straight from the pan, the chips would just melt in your mouth. Pair it with some hot cocoa and vanilla, and you’re good to go.

Appetizer: What is a better time to put up a fondue fountain than Valentines Day? Gather your favorite fruits — apples, bananas, pears, peaches, coconuts — and skewer them all up. Throw in a couple of marshmallows and some bread sticks. Your fondue can be kept warm and served all day long!

Lunch: Are you up for being bold and experimental? Mix some shavings in your barbeque sauce. The dark variety can serve as the sweetener of your marinade instead of sugar. Add some salty soy sauce and jalapenos. That will give your grilled beef a little kick!

Dinner: You can go back to the confection’s roots for the main course: pure cocoa is one of the most flavorful things there is. It has a tangy but slightly bitter taste that is a perfect complement to delicate meats like salmons and seashells. It’ll be like a little teaser every time you bite.

Dessert: Now for the fun part, dessert! Your choices are endless. Think cakes, flans, soufflés and mousses. Think interesting drinks too: shakes, hot blends and yes, liquor!

You’d certainly enjoy yourself! Chocolate is one of the most pleasurable things to prepare in the kitchen. It’s gooey and is great fun to fold into any batter, drizzle into any sweets or use as a dip. You’d also get to challenge yourself thinking of how you can use it outside of dessert. It’s like being an Iron Chef in Kitchen Stadium.

When we’re sad and stressed, what do many of us do? We resort to chocolate. There’s a long history of people using chocolate to make themselves happier, but the question still remains: is there a scientific basis behind it, or is the mood boosting ability of chocolate just an old wives’ tale? Here are the facts on the chemical composition of chocolate and how it can affect our moods.

One of the things that could account for the satisfaction we feel upon eating a lot of chocolate is that it’s so sweet and rich. Even dark chocolate has a high percentage of fat and sugar, and these properties stimulate the hypothalamus. The hypothalamus is the part of our brain responsible for pleasing sensations. When you eat chocolate to improve your mood, the sensations distract you from whatever’s making you upset.

In addition, chocolate can affect the amount of serotonin in the brain. This chemical is known for having an effect on mood, and is regulated by many anti-depressants. While the effect of chocolate is far less than that of medical remedies for depression, it does have a noticeable one on the way serotonin is released.

Chocolate also contains substances called unsaturated N-acylethanoamines. These may be responsible for activation of cannabinoid receptors or an increase of endocannabinoid levels - some of the same effects that occur with marijuana consumption, but on a much smaller level. That could result in euphoric feelings and heightened sensitivity - possibly responsible for chocolate’s reputation as an aphrodisiac.

One of the substances that makes unsweetened chocolate so bitter - theobromine - is similar to caffeine and theophylline. It, like those substances, is a stimulant. That means that consuming it could make you feel more alert and energetic, resulting in greater feelings of happiness. This chemical was first discovered in cacao beans in 1841 by a Russian chemist, but it wasn’t until 1878 that it was isolated from those beans.

It’s the primary alkaloid in cocoa powder and chocolate, with dark chocolate containing a lot and white chocolate containing only trace amounts. Theobromine also shows up in tea, kola nuts and guarana berries. Though it isn’t addictive, it might be responsible for the feeling we refer to as being a “chocoholic”, and has also been cited as one of the possible reasons some people consider chocolate to be an aphrodisiac.

Chemically, chocolate does have the ability to boost mood. However, to get much of an effect from these compounds, you’d have to eat a lot of chocolate. The fat and sugar content of this snack mean that it’s not ready to be used to fight depression, but a little bit might help you cure the blues.

Let’s just forget all the science for a moment though. I think most would say they are pretty happy while eating chocolate and after for a bit. Some things in life you don’t need a scientific test for. Eating chocolate is one of those times. If it tastes good and makes you feel good then enjoy your chocolate.

Ever wonder how this favorite dessert and ingredient for baked goods came about? What about the famous chocolate chip?

Our love of chocolate started back in 1828 when a dutch chemist Johannes Van Houten came up with a way of separating the fat (cocoa butter) from the ground cocoa beans. This provided cocoa powder which tasted a lot better than the whole bean. Soon enough people were coming up with ways to mix the powder with milk and make chocolate bars and the first bar (swiss of course) was sold in 1875.

Chocolate comes from the cocoa bean. These seeds are found in pods that grow on the trunk and lower branches of the cacao tree. This tree is native to the Amazon and Brazil but is cultivated in many tropical climates today. The pods take about 6 months to develop and cocoa can be harvested about twice a year.

Now that you know where it comes from, you might be wondering how chocolage ends up as a candy bar. First the pods are harvested, fermented and dried. (gourmet chocolates use coca that is dried using a natural process that takes 7 days, the mass produced chocolate is not and the difference is in the taste!). The powder is pressed to extract the cocoa butter then it is blended back together with other ingredients to make the chooclate. Other ingredients include sugar and cocoa liquor. If the desired result is milk or white chocolate, milk or milk powder are also added.

Today, we have 3 basic types of chocolate, milk chocolate, white chocolate and dark chocolate. Each is made with slightly different ingredients but the most important ingredient is the cocoa powder. If you have ever eaten gourmet chocolates, you will notice the difference in taste than that of a regular candy bar and this is because the mass produced chocolate contains little cocoa solids. In fact mass produced chocolate is made with inferior ingredients and the experience of eating it can not be compared to that of fine gourmet chocolates – they cost more but are well worth the money!

One favorite use of chocolate is the chocolate chip which can be used in anything from cookies to brownies or eaten as is!

The chocolate chip has an interesting history which dates back to 1930 when it was “invented” for use in toll house cookies by Ruth Wakefield. Wakefield was the owner of The Toll House Inn in Whitman Massachusetts and baked the meals for the guests herself. She was quite renowned for her cookies and one day while she was baking, a missing ingredient forced her to substitute broken up semi sweet chocolate bars for bakers chocolate. The result was chocolate chip cookies!

Once the cookies were invented, they became so popular that it was only a matter of time before the chocolate chip as a product was born. You see, the bar that Wakefield used as a substitute was given to her by Andrew Nestle and he struck a deal with her to print the recipe on the back of the package in return for a lifetime supply of Nestle chocolate!

But it wasn’t until 1939 that the chips were packaged as we know them. Prior to that Nestles printed the recipe on the package of the bars and even included a little chopper so that people could use them to make the cookies easily.