Womans Best Friend.

For those who know me, they know I love cooking. It's one of my favourite hobbies.
And what goes hand in hand with cooking? Eating.

And today, I'ma talk about something I wish I could make, but love to eat.




That's right, chocolate.

But I don't have a lot of time to right about it today, unfortunately. I have a lot to do, and a very busy weekend work-wise. (It's Mothers Day. The one day people decide to show appreciation for their mothers by taking them out on the busiest day of the year where the food will be rushed and the service sub-standard. Do I sound cynical? It's because I am.)

I'ma be brief.

Chocolate is made primarily from the cacao bean from the cacao tree, originally found in brazil and venezuala, but now found all over the sub-tropics. The pods are left in the sun to ferment, and then the beans are removed and roasted at 250-350 degrees for varying lengths of time dependant on the bean. After that, the outer shell of the beans are removed and sold as animal feed. The inner nib is crushed to extract cocoa butter. A thick paste, this stage is called cocoa liqeur, but there isn't any actual alcohol in it. To make cocoa powder, a heavy press is used to extract all but 15-25% of the cocoa butter. If making baking chocolate, the chocolate liquer is molded and hardened.

Cacao Beans



Depending on what type of chocolate you want (flavoured, white, dark, milk) more ingredients are added to the cocoat butter; milk, sugar, flavouring, vanilla, delicious. After the mixing, the chocolate is refined, molded, and packed away for later eating.

The Chocolate Molding Process. Oh, Yummy.

Chocolate has a long and extensive history;

I highly suggest you check it out. The history of chocolate is an interesting one.

Why is chocolate awesome?
Because it's filled with delicious. It can have many different fillings that are also filled with delicious. Chocolate is something that is a comfort food for me and others world-wide. It melts in your mouth (sometimes with bubbles!) and is bloody wonderful. Not only that, but it releases the chemical seratonin and other endorphins within the brain, quite literally cheering you up. And it makes sex sexier.

What do you think?


Clearly, Chocolatiers are pimpin'