Valerie Beck
Who would you be and what would you accomplish if all things were possible? Best wishes to you, my friend, in this new year and always.
Onward and upward - uplift through chocolate!
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Is this simply a case of tom-AY-to / to-MAH-to, or is there a difference between hot cocoa and hot chocolate?
Night and day.
Technically, hot cocoa is made from cocoa powder, which contains no cocoa butter, while hot chocolate is made from actual chocolate, melted into milk or cream. Imagine drinking molten chocolate. That's breakfast in Spain! Sigh.
Today's Chicago Chocolate Tour group got to sample rich molten chocolate at both Godiva and Ghirardelli. We practically swooned with delight over true hot chocolate. Other purveyors of close-your-eyes-and-you're-in-Europe-or-South-America hot chocolate in our fair city include Moonstruck Chocolate Cafe, Intelligentsia - carried in their shops and at Sarah's Pastries and Candies, and Spiaggia and Cafe Spiaggia. Yours truly was at the latter establishment over the weekend and loved her thick hot chocolate, blended with a bit of cream and a smidge of vanilla, in a tiny cup.
From the time the Olmecs prepared chocolate drinks around 4,000 years ago, through the time of the Aztecs and their cold chocolate beverages spiced with peppers and honey, to the Spaniards in the 1500s who added vanilla and cane sugar, chocolate was consumed as a liquid. It wasn't until the 19th century that chocolate was first put into bar form.
And every winter, we come full circle, melting luscious chocolate bars down into a splash of milk or cream and enjoying chocolate as a rich drink. Cheers!
If it tastes good, it must be bad for you, right? Great question, Jonathan, as to whether chocolate causes us to add pounds. Of course, anything eaten in excess can add weight (have you heard that dinner plates today hold 25% more food than they did 15 years ago?), including peaches, pecans, or pumpernickel - all treats that the Chocolate Girl enjoys in addition to enjoying chocolate.
But here's the good news: chocolate itself does not make you fat.
Many of us tend to think of chocolate as junk food, but that is a misconception. Chocolate is a fruit; it grows on trees. Most of the fat in the American diet comes from animal products. Also, chocolate itself is bitter and contains no sugar unless it is added. The Olmecs, Mayans, and Aztecs drank chocolate not with sugar but with chiles. Most of the sugar we consume in the U.S. comes from sugary beverages, baked goods, and frozen desserts such as ice cream.
Milk chocolate contains milk and sugar, so if you're interested in avoiding or cutting down on those ingredients, develop a taste for rich, satisfying dark chocolate, to which little sugar has been added. (Believe me, dark chocolate is easy to fall in love with!)
More good news: the oil in cocoa butter is similar to olive oil, which does not raise bad cholesterol and may even have a positive cholesterol effect. And, while we're on the subject of cocoa butter and health, chocolate does not promote tooth decay more than any other food, and the cocoa butter in chocolate may even rinse away plaque and promote a healthy mouth.
Nor does chocolate cause acne. Studies have confirmed this, and in fact chocolate contains antioxidants that are good for the skin and heart. And of course chocolate is good for the mood! It is now generally thought that people who swear that chocolate causes them to break out are probably having a reaction to the milk or other additives. Again, try a nice piece of fine, dark chocolate if you want to avoid other ingredients.
When people ask me how I stay svelte while running a chocolate tour company (thank you for the compliment!), I smile and say that chocolate is a fruit, and that my chocolate tour is a walking tour!
Chocolate is compatible with a healthy lifestyle - hooray!
