Filed under: Green, Uncategorized | Tags: affordable, boutique chocolates, cadmium, Chocolate, Chocolate chip, Confectionery, Cooking, fair trade, fondue, Food, fruit, Home, hot chocolate, Shopping, superfood, vanadium, Vanilla
I read this as a category on a friend’s Facebook page, and I immediately thought “How right on!”
How much of life is simply the blind pursuit of bliss in one of its momentarily perceived forms? What, exactly, is the flavor of comfort? For me, that flavor is nearly always chocolate- sometimes alone, or with one of it’s natural buddies- Vanilla, Almond, or yes, on a really good day- Razzzzberry. Orange is quite something too.
Cacao Fruit
They say (“they” being the biochemists and nutritionists that I later make reference to) that the craving for chocolate is the body’s attempt to obtain more vanadium, a trace mineral that affects mood and alertness. But isn’t it just as likely that the human taste-bud becomes enamored of certain tastes, and the simple sensory experience is what the spirit really wants? Sensuality is very much present in the mouth, and chocolate is one of it’s most potent satisfiers. There must be a receptor that the chocolate molecule seeks out and bonds to, that triggers the “chocolate effect”. This poison to other mammals intoxicates and seduces humans utterly.
Split Cacao Fruit
But hey, the economy sucks, my diet is shot to hell, and where can you find boutique chocolate experiences that pack the right punch without breaking your budget?
Here are several ways to have your chocolate and eat it too, and not generate overdrafts:
One, obviously- look in the candy aisle at your local supermarket. High-0ctane chocolate is all the rage right now. You can find a surprising selection of powerful chocolates in discount grocery stores these days, and quite a range of prices. Consider also what it is you are after in your chocolate experience- are you just looking for some nicely camou’ed sugar? (In that case, stick with Hersheys!) Or are you INTO CHOCOLATE! The rush of it, the richness of it? Then you owe it to yourself to take a little tour off the beaten path.
Dried Cocoa Beans
First, read up on the truth behind “fair trade”. Know also, that recent work of nutritionists and medical biochemists have discovered that chocolate is actually a “superfood” with marvelous properties, which gives us all a first rate excuse to eat it! But, there are conditions: your chocolate must have a minimally processed cocoa content of 70% for you to realize superfood-caliber benefit from it. Even the strongest commercial chocolate, up until very recently, contained no more than approximately 45%! and that was the “good stuff”. Also watch out for the word “dutched” or the phrase “dutch processed”. Cocoa that has undergone this process has been exposed to the toxic metal cadmium. Learn to read labels, even on chocolate!
Let me add, though, that there are very large bars available from Lindt Confectioners for around $2.25, and when the chocolate is that intense, you don’t need very much. This stuff packs such power, it’s meant to be savored, anyway.
Dark Chocolate
If you are truly broke, you can swallow your pride, and resort to chocolate chips. Ghirardelli makes exquisite 60% chocolate chips, they’re not quite “there” as far as eating them solo, when compared to Lindt’s 70% smooth dark bars; but they make amazing cookies; and when melted and spiked, with fruit dredged through it, it is the absolute best chocolate fondue-shell you’ve ever tasted. Just be restrained with the booze, because a high water-based liquid content will cause the melted chocolate to “seize” and ruin the texture. Start with a pat of butter in the bottom of the pan, keep the temperature low, and if you have a double boiler- use it. Restrict your alcohol addition to a tablespoon or so, or you will screw it up. Trust me on this! Strawberries dredged through chocolate that’s been spiked with Amaretto or Gran Marnier is to die for! (Make sure your berries have been trimmed, washed and dried off.) Pear slices are surprisingly wonderful, and they are divine if a little granola is sprinkled on top of the melty chocolate before it hardens! D’Anjou pears work the best for this. You can score a 12 oz package of choc chips that can work magick on a pound of berries for about $3. Be patient, and let the loaded plate of chocolate covered fruit sit in the fridge for about 30 minutes, (if you can contain yourself that long).
Chocolate Covered StrawberriesHot Chocolate
Finally, one of the last great affordable luxurious chocolate fixes that lurks somewhere in many urban groceries- Mexican Hot Chocolate! Often adorned with benignly grinning Grannies, cheerfully colored pillar boxes with odd angles contain several tablets of an almond flavored chocolate that must be melted into milk and whisked as the alchemy occurs. Melting chocolate infiltrates the milk, and this amazing synergy takes place. The texture is purest velvet, and the presence of ground almonds and cinnamon gives this lovely concoction floral/spicy overtones and a richness that almost makes you believe there’s a liqueur in it. This beautiful chocolate experience can be had !!!several times!!! for a total price under $3!
Hot Chocolate
That’s chocolate worth questing for.
Go my children!
Find the chocolate elf upon the road, and when you do- EAT HIM!
- Edible Elf
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