Welcome to our series featuring Food Holidays: October 28th, 2022.Today is National Chocolate day. I don’t know about you but Charlie and I prefer Milk Chocolate why my sister prefers Dark Chocolate. Which flavor of Chocolate do you prefer and why?
National Chocolate Day
National Chocolate Day, celebrated each October 28th, is nothing short of a special tribute to mankind’s greatest culinary invention. Not Pizza its Chocolate. Chocolate can enhance even the most luxurious dessert items. On the other hand, you can get your fix from a Candy Bar. Try for Chocolate with a “high Cacao” percentage and low added Sugar.
NATIONAL CHOCOLATE DAY 2022 and its varieties are celebrated on National Chocolate Day on October 28th, 2022.
HISTORY OF NATIONAL CHOCOLATE DAY
The history of Chocolate goes back 2,500 years. Aztecs loved their newly discovered liquid Chocolate to the extent that they believed Quetzalcoatl, the God of wisdom, literally bestowed it upon them. Cacao Seeds acted as a form of currency. And this was back in the “bitter” Chocolate days before they added Sugar! Once Chocolate turned sweet in 16th-Century Europe the masses caught on and turned Chocolate into a powerhouse treat.
Several present-day Chocolate companies began operations in the 19th and early 20th Centuries. Cadbury started in England by 1868. Milton S. Hershey, 25 years later, purchased Chocolate processing equipment at the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago Milton S. Hershey started the company by producing Chocolate-coated Caramels. Nestlé, dating back to the 1860s, has grown into one of the largest food conglomerates in the world.
Did you know Chocolate is a fermented food? That’s right, once the Cacao Pods are picked, cleaned of pithy white material from the Fruit and dried, the Cacao Beans are fermented. The papery shell is removed and Cacao Nibs are revealed. Chocolatiers then grind them into Cocoa mass, separate them into Cocoa solids and Cocoa Butter, and combine them with Milk and Sugar, or in the case of White Chocolate, just the Chocolate Butter with Milk and Sugar.
Today there’s a move toward Dark Chocolate since it contains far less Sugar. Ghana, Ecuador, and the Ivory Coast, all near the equator, have ideal climates for Cacao Trees and produce some of the world’s best Chocolate. It’s best to look for Dark Chocolate from those regions.
But there’s a dark side. Child labor has become a serious issue. When you purchase “fair trade Chocolate,” you’re working to help make Cocoa farming more sustainable. Keep this in mind and choose your Chocolate wisely.
NATIONAL CHOCOLATE DAY ACTIVITIES
- Try making your own Truffles which may seem hard, but it’s actually easier than you think! Just look for a recipe online,
- Tour a local Chocolatier and get an up-close look at the process that Chocolate goes through from Bean to Bar at a local Chocolate factory or Chocolatier. Most places have tours available to the public and are more than happy to share their knowledge, experience, and love of the Chocolate profession and trade.
- Chocolate is amazing, family is amazing, and human connection over Chocolate is one of the most beautiful things! Most people like Chocolate, and really, even if they don’t, you know they’ll appreciate the offer to spend a moment with them and chat.
FACTS ABOUT CHOCOLATE
- Chocolate comes from the Cacao Bean, which grows on the Cacao Tree.
- White Chocolate is not Chocolate because it contains no Cocoa solids.
- The first Chocolate beverage Hot Chocolate was brewed in Aztec culture, and tasted really bitter.
- The Aztecs valued Cacao Beans so much that it was used as currency.
WHY WE LOVE NATIONAL CHOCOLATE DAY
- One study showed that people who ate Chocolate compounds had better cognitive performance and reported less mental fatigue than the control group. This may have something to do with how the chemicals in Chocolate interact with our brain: releasing serotonin, dopamine, and endorphins and giving us a good dose of antioxidants.
- Another study revealed that ingestion of Dark Chocolate prior to eating at an all-you-can-eat buffet triggered a 17% lower calorie intake for participants! It’s all about the Sugar.
- Per the American Heart Association: “Combining raw Almonds, Dark Chocolate and Cocoa significantly reduced the number of low-density lipoprotein, or LDL, particles in the blood of overweight and obese people. LDL is often called “bad cholesterol” because of the role it plays in clogging arteries.
Thank you,
Glenda, Charlie and David Cates
