Chocolate

Restored from the Empower Network archive (2011–2017), lightly edited to meet our current advertising standards. Views are the original author’s.

Did You Know these Facts about Chocolate?

Cacao, the seed that chocolate is mainly derived from, has been cultivated for at least three thousand years in Mexico, Central America and Northern South America. Its earliest documented use is around 1100 BC.

The Mexican/Aztec versions were always bitter to the taste. It was the Europeans who sweetened and fattened it by adding refined sugar and milk, two ingredients unknown to the Mexicans.

The Europeans also used it only in sweets and desserts. It wasn’t until the 1800s that a Briton, John Cadbury, developed the modern chocolate bar.

Cocoa was originally grown in the Americas, however today Western Africa produces almost two-thirds of the world’s cocoa, with Côte d’Ivoire growing almost half of it.

I discovered all this from Wikipedia.

La Maison du Cacao – The House of Cocoa, Guadaloupe, Carribean.

Giant Chocolate Syrup Slip-n-Slide

Every New Year’s Day, my nephew Mat in Newcastle just north of Sydney makes a giant slippery slide. He and all his friends get drunk and slide like mad devils down it into Lake Macquarie!

This slippery chocolate ride reminds me of it.

Just amazing, the uses we make of chocolate these days!

Here’s one of my favourite sources of chocolate, though in moderation as I’m sure it packs on the kilos – Nutella. My trouble is I can’t stop eating the jar every day until it’s all gone, plus I put way too much on every piece of toast or muffin.

Where Do I Get My Favourite Chocolate?

Aldi came to Australia from Germany just 10 years ago. The owner is in the top 5 wealthiest people on the planet from memory. I just LOVE Aldi cos it competes with a duopoly we have in Australia of Woolworths and Coles who control most of the food sales here.

Aldi’s prices are at just two thirds of the two big boys, so you would think their products are not so good. Not true.

Their range of desserts, cakes, biscuits and chocolate is mainly European, German and Belgian in particular. Astounding quality! I grew up eating Cadbury’s but I am now hooked on the German and Belgian chocolates.

Chocolate in Easter Eggs

Another cultural festival that has developed into an excuse for munching copious amounts of chocolate is Easter.

Easter in Australia can be summed up in one, sweet and very commercially oriented word – chocolate! For at least a month leading up to Easter chocolate eggs and bunnies can be spied creeping their way all over the supermarket shelves. While the religious meaning of Easter is pertinent for some, most Australians enjoy the four day weekend and chocolate fest that ensues.

Popular options include the Lindt gold bunny, Cadbury crème eggs and the uniquely Australian chocolate bilby, a chocolate incarnation of a near extinct native animal, similar to a bandicoot. People also love to scoff hot cross buns which appear in bakeries during the month leading up to Easter.

The Easter bunny traditionally leaves chocolate eggs for kids overnight in the vein of Santa Claus, while some families have adopted the Easter egg hunt, though this isn’t something that has always been typical of the Australian Easter (when I was a kid no-one did this – I think we’ve adopted this from Europe and the US in recent years). However the chocolate arrives, as long as it does I say!

OK, after all that, I am craving a good munch!

Til Tomorrow

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