On this page I have included some interesting trivia about chocolate, as well as a few humorous bits here and there. Chocolate has always held an exalted position in the annals of history. It's not just a fix for women with PMS, although without it, there would be far more acts of violence committed by women. (This statement is undocumented, as far as I know. It would not behoove anyone to attempt a double blind study of chocolate deprivation - that can only be very dangerous!!) Chocolate has been the beverage of choice for Kings and Queens, a comestible once touted as "nourishing", and today as ubiquitous as milk, bread and eggs. To me, however, chocolate is the food of the gods (and WebGoddesses, hee hee). If you know of anything interesting I should add to this page, or if you have anything in general you would like to share, recipes included, please e-mail me.

The first chocolate was grown, harvested, and consumed by the Aztecs. They called the tree cacahuatl and the final elixir xocoatl. The Spanish explorer, Cortes, brought cocoa beans to Europe, along with the means of producing the chocolate drink. He had seen cacao pods picked from trees; how the beans inside were removed, then spread in the sun to ferment and dry; how the dried beans were roasted over a fire, then crushed in a stone trough between stone rollers, to an aromatic pasted which was mixed with water to make a beverage. The Spanish emperor, Charles V thought the flavor was nice, but that it could use a little sugar. Sugar cane at that time was being imported from the Orient, so together with the chocolate, made for a very expensive treat that was popular with the royals and nobles of the Spanish court. Sometimes the cocoa paste was mixed with honey and spices, other times with orange or rose water, or cinnamon, vanilla, almonds, pistachios, musk, nutmeg, cloves, allspice, aniseed. Always the drink was served cold, thick enough to hold up a spoon, and swirled to a froth with a utensil called the molinet. The molinet, still used in Latin America to this day, is a wooden stick with several concentric, loose disks at one end.

Twenty Reasons Why Chocolate is Better Than Sex 1) You can GET chocolate anywhere. 2) "If you love me you'll swallow that" has real meaning with chocolate. 3) Chocolate satisfies even when it has gone soft. 4) You can safely have chocolate while you are driving. 5) You can make chocolate last as long as you want it to. 6) You can have chocolate even in front of your mother. 7) If you bite the nuts too hard the chocolate won't mind. 8) Two people of the same sex can have chocolate without being called nasty names. 9) The word "commitment" doesn't scare off chocolate. 10) You can have chocolate on top of your workbench/desk during working hours without upsetting your co-workers. 11) You can ask a stranger for chocolate without getting your face slapped. 12) You don't get hairs in your mouth with chocolate. 13) With chocolate there's no need to fake it. 14) Chocolate doesn't make you pregnant. 15) You can have chocolate at any time of the month. 16) Good chocolate is easy to find. 17) You can have as many kinds of chocolate as you can handle. 18) You are never too young or too old for chocolate. 19) When you have chocolate it does not keep your neighbors awake. 20) With chocolate size doesn't matter.

	Baking Chocolate is unsweetened chocolate for cooking. One of the first chocolates formed in the chocolate-making process. Excellent for use in baked goods. Semisweet Chocolate is the most useful type for cooking, as it gives good strong chocolate flavor. Quality varies according to the proportion of cocoa solids. It should contain a minimum of 34% - the best chocolate contains 50% or more. Basically, unsweetened chocolate with sugar added. Milk Chocolate contains either liquid or powdered milk solids. It is not satisfactory for use in cooking, but melted it might be piped for a decorative effect. Children often prefer the flavor of milk chocolate. White Chocolate is not really chocolate at all, as it comprises cocoa butter, milk and sugar, and no chocolate liquor. It is not usually used for cooking because of its lack of flavor, but it is good in cold desserts such as mousses. Unsweetened Cocoa Powder is a convenient and inexpensive way of achieving strong chocolate flavor. It is formed by taking out most of the cocoa butter from the chocolate, then grinding the resultant dry cake into a powder. Compound or Confectionery Coatings In my opinion, these are not chocolate! There is chocolate in it, of course, but vegetable oil has been added to replace some of the cocoa butter, which gives a far inferior flavor compared to chocolate with the requisite amount of cocoa butter. It is far more fluid after melting, and makes for easier coating. However, adding one tablespoonful of oil to every eight ounces of real melted semisweet chocolate makes it equally fluid for coating and dipping.

Phenylethylamine, PEA for short, is the chemical found in the brain of happy people. Fall in love, and your PEA level shoots up. You become peppy and full of optimism. If things go wrong in your life, especially your love life, your PEA level drops and you become listless and tired. Chocolate is loaded with PEA. It has been observed that people disappointed in love eat lots of chocolate. Does chocolate really simulate the feeling of being in love?? Is every chocolate bar a "passport to romance?" It's certainly more affordable than the real thing, and doesn't cause a heartache when it's finished. ( And contrary to popular belief, chocolate doesn't cause acne either!)

Chocolate and Passion by M.F.K. Fisher "This...kind of passion that I speak of, romantic if ever any such brutal thing could be so deemed, is one of sex, of the come-and-go, the preening and the prancing, and the final triumph or defeat, of two people who know enough, subconsciously or not, to woo with food as well as flattery. "The first time I remember recognizing the new weapon I was about eight, I think. There was a boy named Red, immortal on all my spiritual calendars, a tall, scoffing, sneering, dashing fellow perhaps six months older than I, a fellow of withdrawals, mockery and pain. I mocked back at him, inadequately, filled with a curious tremor.... "I was won, though, being but human and having, at eight as now, a belly below my heart. Red... slipped into my desk the first nickel candy bar I had ever seen....It was a clumsy lump of very good chocolate and fondant, with a preserved cherry in the middle....It was, to me, not only the ultimate expresion of masculine devotion, but pure gastronomical delight.... My heart was full. I knew at last that I loved Red. I was his, to steal a phrase. We belonged together, a male and female who understood the gastronomical urge."

How do I love thee? Rich brown and mellow Or milky sweet and amber-hued, Thou art a noble fellow, With thy such humble beginnings Merely a pod on a tree Which by human hands and care Becomes such a joy. Such glee I have when I consume Your glorious creamy flesh. Passionately licking you from my fingers I receive such a rush Which makes my head spin And my heart leap. Oh! Theobromine! My love for you runs deep! ~Kathy

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