Chocolate

This new feature aims to provide our foodie fans with news, tips, skills and flavor ideas. We hope that you enjoy reading and learning as much as we enjoy teaching and sharing.

Today’s Foodie Friday is all about Chocolate.  It’s my favorite ingredient. We kind of love it!

Where to even begin…. Chocolate on its own is delicious, but it also pairs nicely with many different flavors. We never hesitate to try chocolate with almost anything, and we encourage you to do the same.  As the summer nears, try dipping your favorite fruits and berries in chocolate. Use Raspberries to top a chocolate cake. Strawberries dipped in chocolate make an elegant gift.  By adding coffee or espresso to a chocolate icing or buttercream you can bring out the acidic notes in chocolate.

Chocolate is made from the Cacao plant, commonly grown in South America and West Africa. When I studied in Ghana in 2006, we visited a Cacao farm and saw the big beautiful trees and the tiny seeds they produce. The seeds go through a long process to be harvested and are eventually dried and shipped elsewhere to be processed.

If you are lucky enough to find yourself in Hershey, Pennsylvania (Home of Hershey Chocolate) you should visit Hershey Park. Most people visit this place for the fun rides and roller coasters, the water-park, or the huge stadium-sized music venue. I like to go for the free ride at the Visitors’ Center where you get to see how chocolate is made and they give you a mini-chocolate bar at the end!

Clearly our love of chocolate spreads farther than the kitchen. We love to eat chocolate, visit places where chocolate is made or celebrated, and even decorate with deep brown chocolate tones.  We hope that you can spread the love of chocolate through your life as we try to do with ours.