Chocolate

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Chocolate.

Let me say that again. Chocolate.

It’s the flavor most everyone loves, the snack we all crave, the thing some of us don’t want to live without.

First, let’s talk a little about the history of chocolate. Chocolate comes from the beans of the cacao tree. The beans were first used by the Mayans about 1900 years ago. They mixed the bitter tasting beans with water into a potent drink.  The uses of the beans were passed on to the Aztecs. They also used the cacao beans as a currency.  That meant most of the poor couldn’t afford to eat it and became a luxury reserved for royalty. When the Spanish conquered the Aztecs in the 1500s, they brought the beans back to Europe as one of the many riches of the New World. Chocoholics quickly spread across Europe. Chocolate first became synonymous with Valentine’s Day in 1861 when Richard Cadbury made a heart shaped box for his company’s chocolates to be marketed for the holiday. And the rest is history, so to speak.

Alachua County Library District has many materials to check out on the history of chocolate and chocolate recipes.

These are my personal favorites:

• The Essence of Chocolate by John Scharffenberger and Robert Steinberg

This book is the essential book of chocolate recipes. From the traditionals - chocolate chip cookies, fudgey brownies, and hot chocolate- to the not so traditional- orange chocolate baklava, chocolate barbeque sauce, and cocoa ice bars, this book has something for everyone!

• The Joy of Chocolate by Judith Olney

From a simple fudge to chocolate cabbage cake, this book delievers pages and pages of chocolate joy.