Chocolate has a long and very interesting history and we had a
lot of fun learning "all" about it. But it's not all yummy food -
there's also chocolate trivia and fun facts sprinkled
throughout the newsletter. Enjoy!
The word "chocolate" comes from the Aztec word "xocolatl",
which means "bitter water". (Chocolate was originally
consumed as a bitter hot drink, seasoned with vanilla,
pimiento or chili pepper).
Leslie here! Kelly has asked me to guest comment on our
newest product – Illy Coffee. Naturally I gleefully took her up
on it – Illy Coffee is amazing.
My first introduction to illy was in Europe (naturally). I was
lucky enough to be sitting in one of those wonderfully funky
cafes, enjoying my favorite morning drink – cappuccino. It was
delicious. In truth, it was heads and tails better than any other
cappuccino I’d ever had – including numerous Starbuck lattes.
So I asked – what kind of coffee are you using? No prizes for
guessing the answer – it was illy.
When I got back home to Canada, I did some research – could I
get illy espresso here – and would it work in my standard old
drip coffee machine (produce the same delightful smell and
taste). Imagine my surprise to discover the answer was Yes,
and YES! Turns out that illy is the coffee of choice in all the
upscale snobby restaurants here in Montreal. Well I guess that
figured – we do often think of ourselves as the North American
Europe.
Anyway – I found the supplier – learned more than I wanted to
know about the ins and outs of illy coffee – and the result is
our new offerings – illy espresso beans and illy espresso
ground.
First a note about the coffee - illy makes only one blend – illy
espresso. And their logic gives you a bit of insight into their
Italian mentality – and I quote: “illy espresso’s full-bodied yet
smooth aroma and flavor are the result of a perfect blend of
nine types of pure Arabica coffee beans. And why only one
blend? "The fact is that it is a perfect blend, and perfection is
unique."
But illy is more than just perfect coffee. They are also about
sustainable fair trade. To quote illy again: “We.. work with
producers in a spirit of mutual respect, confidence, and
collaboration. It is only by giving growers their just desserts
for their efforts and commitment in bringing forth a quality
crop that general product quality standards stand to gain and
market prices improve.”
Not only is illy about the coffee – it’s about the packaging. Illy
uses a unique pressurized can that guarantees their coffee will
stay perfect for 3 years. And the nicest thing about the can –
it’s actually re-usable. So you don’t just get the coffee, you get
a re-sealable can as well.
But one question remained – does it work in a normal
household environment with our less than perfect grinders
and haphazard coffee makers. Well I’m pleased to report that
it most certainly does.
One important caution: Illy coffee is addictive. Once you’ve
enjoyed it – you’ll be disappointed when you run out. But we’ll
be right here to help you – not to worry on that account.
There are over 40,000 top hotels and restaurants around the
world serving illy’s perfect cups of coffee – why not at your
house?
Most people probably already know that the cocao bean is the
key ingredient that makes chocolate what it is. But where does
the cocao bean come from? From the cocao tree of course (big
surprise there). Cocao beans are the seeds from the hand-
sized fruits that grow on this special tree. The pulp of the
cocao fruit is mild tasting, with a subtle, bittersweet chocolate
flavor. Although the fruit is commonly eaten by locals, it's the
dark purple-colored seeds found inside that are prized by
millions worldwide.
So how do we get the smooth, creamy chocolate that we all
know today, from these little seeds found in cocao fruit?
Workers cut the cocao fruit (pods) open and scoop out the
beans. The beans are allowed to ferment and dry and are then
sorted by hand into different varieties. They are then cleaned,
roasted and hulled, leaving just the 'nib' of the bean. These
nibs are then blended, much like coffee beans, to produce the
desired flavors. The nibs are then ground up and the cocoa
butter is released. The heat produced from this process melts
the cocoa butter and ground nibs to produce chocolate liquor,
which is the basic and necessary ingredient in all 'real'
chocolate (see the definition of White Chocolate in the next
section for more).
And that, in a cocao pod, is how chocolate is made!
The melting point of cocoa butter is just below the human
body temperature (98.6 degrees), which is why it literally
melts in your mouth.
If your chocolate knowledge stops at deciding between a Mars
Bar or a Twix, then there are a few terms and concepts that
you should get cozy with before tackling some of the trickier
chocolate recipes. Have a quick read through this, and soon
you’ll be ready to try the fun and fancy chocolate treats in the
next section!
Conching – When chocolate is raw and unprocessed, it has a
gritty and grainy texture. Conching is the process of rolling
and kneading chocolate to give it a smoother, richer quality. It
ensures that the liquid is evenly blended and the longer
chocolate is conched, the more luxurious it will feel on your
tongue.
Couverture - This is a special type of high quality chocolate
containing extra cocoa butter. It is used for dipping, coating,
molding and garnishing, as it is more fluid than regular
chocolate. It must be tempered before use to stabilize the
cocoa butter.
Bloom - Bloom is the greyish-white stuff that you sometimes
see on the surface of your chocolate. It occurs when chocolate
is stored at high temperatures or experiences widely
fluctuating temperatures, both which cause the cocoa butter
to separate. Bloom isn't harmful, and disappears if the
chocolate is melted for cooking.
Seizing - Have you ever been melting some chocolate and
suddenly it went from a shiny, smooth liquid to a dull, thick
paste? Well, this is seizing. Unfortunately, if this happens,
there's nothing that can be done to save it. You'll have to
throw out your chocolate and start again. To find out how you
can avoid this tragic death for chocolate, see the next section
for more details.
Tempering - This is a method of melting and cooling
chocolate. It gives chocolate its bright luster and the sharp
snap when you break it. The tempering process is necessary to
stabilize the cocoa butter crystals found in chocolate so that
they become more uniform in size. I'll go into step-by-step
details of this process in the next section.
Chocolate Varieties:
Chocolate Liquor (AKA unsweetened chocolate) - This is the
pure stuff - unadulterated ground, roasted chocolate beans.
Milk Chocolate - Milk chocolate contains chocolate liquor,
cocoa butter, vanilla, milk solids and lecithin. It must contain
10% chocolate liquor, 3.7% milk fats, and 12% milk solids. It
contains much less chocolate liquor than dark chocolate,
which is why it has a less pronounced chocolate flavor. Due to
its high sugar content, milk chocolate is very heat sensitive
and should never be substituted in recipes that call for semi-
sweet or bittersweet chocolate.
Dark Chocolate - Dark chocolate is simply chocolate without
milk as an additive, sometimes called plain chocolate. In the
US, it requires a 15% concentration of chocolate liquor, and
European rules specify a minimum of 35% cocoa solids.
White Chocolate - This is actually not really chocolate at all.
White chocolate is typically a mixture of sugar, cocoa butter,
milk solids, lecithin and vanilla. To be officially classified as
chocolate, it must have chocolate liquor in it, which white
chocolate does not.
Cocoa Powder - The dry powder that remains after the cocoa
butter is pressed out of chocolate liquor.
Chocolate syrup was used to represent blood in the famous 45
second shower scene in Alfred Hitchcock's move, "Psycho", a
scene which took 7 days to shoot..
If you're making a batch of chocolate chip cookies, you
probably won't need to know too much about how to cook
with chocolate (empty the bag of chips into the cookie dough,
mix and bake - it's all pretty straightforward :-) ). But if you'd
like to try your hand at something with a little more difficulty,
such as chocolate-dipped fruit or truffles, knowing how to
properly cook with chocolate is absolutely essential. A few
extra seconds of heating or the mere hint of water could ruin
your entire recipe. So I'm going to go through instructions for
making chocolate dipped strawberries in your own homemade
chocolate bowls. You can then apply these basic tempering
guidelines to all the fancy chocolate recipes you've always
wanted to try!
Before we even get into actually melting the chocolate though,
we need to learn how to avoid a term we all learned in the last
section - Seizing. Seizing can be caused by a number of
factors, but the most common three causes are as follows:
Moisture - Moisture is death for your chocolate. Chocolate is
very fussy about liquids and even the smallest hint of water
can separate the chocolate and ruin the batch. To prevent this,
always make sure that all your ingredients, tools (especially
your spatula that you'll be using to stir the chocolate) and
work environment are completely dry during the entire
process.
Burning - Melting chocolate is a tricky business, and even a
few seconds more or a few degrees higher than it needs will
burn and ruin your batch. To prevent burning your chocolate,
you should use a cooking thermometer to continually monitor
the temperature of your chocolate. Also, never leave your
melting chocolate unattended - this isn't the sort of thing you
can do during commercials :-)
Solidifying - This can happen if you add cold liquids (such as
cold cream or milk) to your melting chocolate. If your recipe
calls for additional liquids to be added to your chocolate, the
easiest way to avoid solidifying is simply to heat your
additional liquids to the same temperature as the chocolate
before mixing the two.
Before you begin, you'll need:
- 12 oz or more Couverture (If you can't find any, use a high
quality semisweet or bittersweet chocolate with a high cocoa
butter content)
- Saucepan
- Metal bowl that fits on top of the saucepan (or a double
boiler if you have one)
- Cooking thermometer
- Rubber Spatula
- Candy forks (or a regular fork, if you don't have one)
- A cookie sheet lined with parchment paper
- Strawberries and Bananas, washed, cut into pieces and dried
very well (even a little liquid from the fruit can ruin the
chocolate)
- Small balloons (one for each chocolate cup you'll be
making), blown up to about the size of a coffee cup
- A hat pin (to let the air out of the balloons)
** There are 3 main methods of tempering: By double boiler,
microwave or oven (the lesser used of these). I'll only be
covering the double boiler method, but for more information
on tempering, see our chocolate sites section for more links.
1. Fill the saucepan 1/3 of the way with water and heat to
almost a boil. You want the water to be steaming hot, but don't
let it boil.
2. Get out your couverture. If it is not already cut up, cut it
into small pieces of equal size.
3. Put 2/3 of the couverture into your steel bowl and place the
bowl on top of the sauce pan. It's very important to make sure
that water never directly touches the bottom of the bowl. The
chocolate should slowly begin to melt. Try not to disturb the
chocolate during this process. A few stirs with a rubber
spatula near the end of the process should help mix the melted
chocolate.
4. As the couverture melts, monitor the temperature with your
thermometer. The melting temperature of the chocolate will
vary, depending on the manufacturer, but should not exceed
115 degrees. As soon as the chocolate has melted, remove the
bowl from the saucepan. Use a towel to wipe away moisture
from the bottom of the bowl (This will prevent any water from
finding its way into the bowl).
5. Place the bowl on a table and add 1/3 of your remaining
chocolate to the bowl. Stir until the introduced chocolate
completely melts. Take another third and repeat the process.
Monitor the temperature of the chocolate as you mix it. You
should notice the temperature drop to around 100 degrees,
and then closer to 90 degrees. Take the remaining third of
chocolate and place it in the bowl.
6. Using the rubber spatula, mix the chocolate until all of it is
completely melted. If the chocolate is not fluid enough, place
the bowl over the hot water for a few seconds and stir. Then
remove from the heat and wipe the moisture off the bottom of
the bowl. Check the temperature one more time - dark
chocolate should be between 85-90 degrees and white or milk
should be around 85-86 degrees.
(at this point, your chocolate is ready for use in your own
recipes)
Chocolate Bowls:
1. Take your blown-up balloons and, one at a time, dip them
halfway into the melted chocolate, making sure the 'tied' side
is up. Swirl the balloon gently around to produce an even coat.
Then lift the balloon slowly to let some of the excess chocolate
drip back into the bowl.
2. Place the balloon on a lined cookie sheet. The chocolate
should start to settle and the balloon will stand up on the pan.
Once you've finished with all your balloons, place the pan into
the fridge for 5-8 minutes. When you remove the pan, the
chocolate surrounding the balloons should be hard.
3. Use the hat pin to carefully poke a small hole at the top of
the balloon, near the knot. As the balloon deflates, gently pull
it away from the chocolate cups. Store your cups in the fridge
until you're ready to use them.
Chocolate-Covered Fruit
1. Take your cut fruits and dunk them in the chocolate. Using
a (candy) fork, pull them out and place them on a lined pan.
Refrigerate for 5-10 minutes, remove them from the pan and
they're ready to serve in your chocolate cups!
Nonstick cooking spray
4 eggs
1 cup heavy cream
1/3 cup sugar
1 tbsp vanilla extract
8 slices thick day old bread
Butter
1/3 cup grated bittersweet chocolate
3/4 cup sliced strawberries
Whipped cream
1. Spray a large skillet or griddle with the cooking spray and
heat over medium heat. Beat the eggs, cream, sugar, and
vanilla in a large flat bowl or pie plate.
2. Place half of the bread slices in the egg mixture and flip over
a few times to let the bread absorb the mixture.
3. Place the bread on the hot griddle or skillet and cook for 2-
3 minutes or until golden brown. Flip over and cook for an
additional 2-3 minutes more.
4. Place the toast on a plate and immediately butter and
sprinkle with the chocolate. Tent with foil and place in a warm
oven. Repeat with the remaining egg mixture and bread. Top
the French toast slices with strawberries and whipped cream
and serve.
The Best Big Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies
Makes around 18 cookies
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1 egg
1 egg yolk
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Grease
cookie sheets or line with parchment paper.
2. Sift together the flour, baking soda and salt; set aside.
3. In a medium bowl, cream together the melted butter, brown
sugar and white sugar until well blended. Beat in the vanilla,
egg, and egg yolk until light and creamy. Mix in the sifted
ingredients until just blended. Stir in the chocolate chips by
hand using a wooden spoon. Drop cookie dough 1/4 cup at a
time onto the prepared cookie sheets. Cookies should be
about 3 inches apart.
4. Bake for 15 to 17 minutes in the preheated oven, or until
the edges are lightly toasted. Cool on baking sheets for a few
minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.
11 ounces of bittersweet chocolate
4 ounces of marscapone
1/2 cup of heavy cream
3 tbsp brewed (decaf) coffee
9 tbsp of Marsala wine (choose a good quality one)
1 tsp vanilla extract
And for the coating, 12 -16 ounces of bittersweet or semisweet
couverture (coating) chocolate
1. Use a mixer (or a spoon) to blend the marscapone, coffee,
vanilla extract, and Marsala wine together. Then add the heavy
cream and stir until homogeneous. Don't over-beat if you're
using a mixer (the result is not to be whipped).
2. Melt the 11 ounces of chocolate and then stir in the
marscapone/cream/Marsala mixture until fully mixed.
3. Chill for a couple of hours. Then scoop out in 1 inch balls.
(If the balls are a bit crumbly on the edges, press with your
fingers to make them smooth.) Chill the balls for an hour.
4. Melt the coating chocolate and stir until completely melted.
Dip each center (ball) to coat it and place on a tray covered
with waxed paper.
Once upon a time, money did grow on trees. Cocoa beans were
used as currency by the Mayan and Aztec civilizations over
1400 years ago. When they had too much money to spend,
they brewed the excess into hot chocolate drinks
"The chocolate bars were out of this world excellent and I am
a chocolate afficienado. The maple butter was so very good - I
thought I'd try it on an English muffin and ended up eating a
whole package of English muffins with the maple on them. I
loved both of these products and hope to try more soon."
Gail Murphy, ON
"Thank you SO much for adding the Flavigny pastilles to your
line. I just placed an order for a bunch of them. My
grandmother bought me a tin of the Violet pastilles when I was
a little girl. I love them, and they're hard to find. Your price is
also quite reasonable. I ordered some of each flavor for gifts
and some just for me. Can't wait to try the vanilla. The Anise
will be a great stocking stuffer for my brother in law, as he is a
licorice addict! Thank you!"
Stephanie Thompson, CO
"I tasted the Cote d'or chocolate bars, and I have got to tell
you, they are REALLY good. The wrapper looks so luxurious,
duping me the first couple of times, thinking the price would
be higher than expected...I was wrong! All around a great
product."
Jonathan Laberge, QC
"Your soups are extraordinary. I thought they might taste like
packets I've gotten from the store, but they are delightfully
rich and full bodied meals! Yum! And then there is the Pure
Canadian Maple Syrup...Well, there is no going back to the
corn syrup variety now!!! Thank You for the real taste treat."
Dawn Contreras, MI
"Ok, I got your soup samples because my friend, who is very
picky, recommended them. I usually make homemade soup,
but she said yours was just as good as mine so I had to see.
Guess what...it is! I tried the tomato soup first because I hate
tomato soup, so I thought if it was edible that would be a good
indication. Wow, it was great. Looked good, smelled divine and
had a lovely feel in my mouth as well as it obviously tasted
good. Thanks for a great product"
Kelly Stratford, ON
"Your chicken noodle soup went far beyond my expectations
of what it would taste like! My family loved it, right down to
my wife who HATES chicken noodle soup! I've already ordered
more, and sent my wife to your site to decide what else she
wants to try."
Bruce Griffin, FL
"Hi, Received my first order and am extremely delighted! My
family and I have tried the following: Tomato and the Cheese
Enchilada Instant Soups. We also have tried the Bean & Bowtie
Soup and the Onion Soup...they were all DELICIOUS! I added
one package of Instant Tomato Soup to the Bean & Bowtie
Soup and it was simply TERRIFIC! I will definitely be back for
more and now look forward to trying the other soups in my
pantry. Thanks so much!"
Anastasia De Sanno, CA
"I just tried your Cream of Broccoli soup. I added some black
forest ham and some shredded sharp cheddar cheese.
Wonderful."
Joanne Burkin, AB
Share your latest creations or favorite recipes with us - it could be featured in our next newsletter, and might even appear in our Customers Recipe section. Click Here to send us your recipe.
Virginia's WOW Soup
"I used the Santa Fe Tortilla soup, made as directed. Then had
a bag of frozen Birdseye grilled summer squash with pasta and
Italian herbs and fixed it as directed. I mixed them and WOW! I
didn't believe your soups alone could be topped but this was
it. Gourmet taste and speedy fixin's."
Virginia Harbison, OH
'Dressed Up' Carbonara Sauce
"I used your Carbonara sauce and added diced tomatoes,
bacon bits, diced red peppers and made a fantastic sauce for
my pasta shells. Delicious. I also added some milk for extra
calcium and richness"
Y. Butt, ON
Tortilla Couscous
"When I was making my tortilla soup that I realized that this
would be a great way of cooking couscous. And indeed, it is! I
tried cooking my couscous in it and it was absolutely
delicious."
Stephanie Myles, QC
"WOWZA!!! ARE THESE EVER GOOD!!! I am sooo addicted to your
tomato soup, I just can't stop eating it. The sauce mixes are
just devine and so easy to use. The chili is fantastic and the
seasonings are to die for. Everything has been grade A++++.
This is my 4th order, and will definitely be coming back for
more. Keep up the great products!!!"
Kathy Lapointe, CT
"Strength is the capacity to break a chocolate bar in four
pieces with your bare hands - and then just eating one piece"
- Judith Viorst
"Exercise is a dirty word. Every time I hear it, I wash my mouth
out with chocolate"
- Charles M. Schultz
"I could give up chocolate, but I'm not a quitter"
- Unknown
"My therapist told me the way to achieve true inner peace is to
finish what I start. So far I've finished two bags of M&M's and
a chocolate cake. I feel better already"
- Dave Barry
"Man cannot live on chocolate alone; but woman sure can!"
- Unknown
"A new British survey has revealed that 9 out of 10 people like
chocolate. The tenth lies."
- Robert Paul
"All I really need is love, but a little chocolate now and then
doesn't hurt!"
- Lucy Van Pelt (in Peanuts, by Charles M. Schultz)
"Chocolate is cheaper than therapy and you don't need an
appointement"
- Unknown
