Parish Map of Grenada

Prior to the 18^th century, cocoa production spread through the Caribbean islands of Trinidad, St. Lucia, Dominica, St. Vincent and Jamaica. It was a little slower getting to the island of Grenada. In the 18^th and 19^th centuries, however, Grenada became the hub of British cocoa production. In 1753, it was recorded that there were only 150,300 Theobroma cacao trees on Grenada. When the British took over control of the island in 1763, there were 42 estates that grew Theobroma cacao as well as coffee with a 3:4 ratio. Thirteen years later, more estates began growing Theobroma cacao. Just after this time, upheaval on the island in way of slave rebellion, a hurricane that devastated the island, a plague of red ants and an influx of foreign settlers limited the amount of cocoa production in Grenada.

Fermenting Cocoa in Grenada

Once the slaves were freed, the amount of cocoa produced in Grenada sunk even lower. There were no laborers for the cocoa plantations. At this point in time, Grenada was producing about a quarter of a million pounds of cocoa per year. Enter the age of the Theobroma cacao small farmer. Ex-slaves began to grow Theobroma cacao as a small-holder crop. There was an increase in acreage and production in the 1860s. Between 1856 and 1886, there was a ten-fold increase in cocoa production in Grenada all due to former slave cocoa farmers.

Rococo Chocolates Floral Bars are Made with Grenada (Photo Courtesy of Rococo Chocolates)

The Grenada Chocolate Company Team (Photo Courtesy of Grenada Chocolate)

In 1851, 1,130 acres were devoted to growing Theobroma cacao. By 1891, 12,607 acres were devoted to growing Theobroma cacao. During the year 1831, 337,903 pounds of cocoa were produced on the Caribbean island of Grenada and by the end of 1886 almost 5 millions pounds of cocoa was produced. A huge growth in rather a short amount of time. 79 percent of the cocoa was produced in the parishes of St. Mark and St. John. Theobroma cacao grew well for the farmers in Grenada and gained further momentum in the 19^th century. Today, Grenada continues to play an important role in the world of chocolate with many companies, including Grenada Chocolate Company and Rococo Chocolates using the beans of the Theobroma cacao to produce some of the world’s best chocolate and cocoa powder.

Grenada Chocolate Company (Photo Courtesy of the Grenada Chocolate Company)

The recipe for today is rich, colorful, sweet and tart.  It’s for Chocolate Cherry Almond Bars.  I found this recipe earlier this summer on the eCurry blog.  Chocolate, cherries and almonds work so well together.  They were easy to make and turned out most fabulously!  I promise you will be making this recipe again and again.  Everyone will be asking you for the recipe!

Chocolate Cherry Almond Bars

Serves 12

Ingredients:

For the base:
1  cup almond meal
1/2  cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, chilled
1 tablespoon lemon zest

For the top layer:
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
5 tablespoons water
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
1/4 cup self-rising flour
3/4 cup cherries, pitted and halved
3 tablespoons sliced almonds
powdered sugar for dusting (optional)
pitted and sliced cherries for garnish (optional)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degree F. Grease the base and sides of a 8 inch baking pan.

Grind the sugar. In a bowl combine almond meal, flour and lemon zest and rub the zest between your fingertips along with the flour to release the essential oils; combine the sugar along with the flour. Add the chilled butter and with your fingertips rub the butter till the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs, or process the flour and the butter in a food processor.
Pat the mixture onto the base of the baking pan in an even layer and gently press it down; bake for 25 minutes.

Preparing the top layer:
Heat butter along with water in a pan over medium heat. When the butter has melted, whisk in the cocoa powder and sugar. Let cool for 5 minutes. Add the salt and the vanilla extract. Whisk in the eggs and fold in the self rising flour. Dust the cherries and nuts with flour. Pour the batter over the pre baked crust. Spoon in the cherries and the nuts from the top in small amounts as evenly as you can. Some of them will sink, but it is okay.
Return baking pan to the oven and bake for about 20 minutes or until set.
Transfer pan to wire rack and let cool for for 5 minutes. With a sharp knife slice into desired number of bars.

Let cool completely and separate bars and transfer them to a wire rack. Dust with powdered sugar and sliced cherries if desired.

Chocolate Cherry Almond Bars (Photo Courtesy of eCurry.com)

Mayan Chocolate Pot

Today we’re going to learn about chocolate pots and we also have a lovely recipe for some European Hot Chocolate from Michael Recchiui Confections.  We have all heard of tea pots and coffee pots, but how many people have heard of the chocolate pot?  The chocolate pot is used to serve hot chocolate from.  The chocolate pot isn’t a modern day concept.  In fact, chocolate pots were first seen during the times of the ancients Mayans, but not again until the mid-17th century.  The earliest chocolate pots found in England date to this time.  The chocolate pots were primarily silver.  They were decorated around the top and base with a raised design and the family crest was often stamped into the side.  To be able to differentiate between a silver tea pot and the chocolate pot, the chocolate pot had a wooden handle and was angled at 90 degrees from the pouring spout.  One didn’t want to serve tea from the chocolate pot and vice versa.

English Chocolate Pot

Dutch Chocolate Pot

During the 19th century, when chocolate became more readily available to the masses, chocolate pots changed in look, design and materials.  The chocolate pots were still made of silver, but more frequently they were made from copper, china and porcelain. Floral decorations with roses became especially popular.  European porcelain chocolate pots became larger and more detailed.  In the 19th century, the shape of the chocolate pot changed in Germany and the new design followed in France.  The French took the design on step further and made the chocolate pots slimmer and taller than the German version.

French Chocolate Pot

Japanese Chocolate Pot

Although Japan did not consume much in the way of chocolate compared to other countries, the Japanese were responsible for making a lot of the porcelain chocolate pots for North America and Europe.  The styles, shapes and patterns were all similar with a floral motif.  The only difference was the flowers from Japan were more open and spread out.  They resembled Asian paintings.  The chocolate pots manufactured in Japan tended to be slender like those previously made in France, but they had a simpler handle.  Often times the design was created for a more three dimensional effect with raised surfaces called moriage.

German Chocolate Pot

American Chocolate Pot

American made chocolate pots did not start showing up until after 1850.  Metal chocolate pots were still found all over America and Europe, but the porcelain became more popular.  North American chocolate pots were decorated more simply than those of Europe with the floral motifs covering only part of the pots and the colors being more muted.

More about 20th century chocolate pots next week and a recipe for homemade marshmallows.

Recchiuti Confections European Hot Chocolate

Serves 2

Ingredients:
6 ounces dark chocolate, chopped
6 ounces water, boiling

Flavorings (choose one)
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/2 teaspoon grated nutmeg
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon chile powder

Spirits (choose one)
1 1/2 ounces single malt scotch
1 1/2 ounces eau de vie
1 1/2 ounces apple brandy

Garnishes (choose one)
loose whipped cream
crème fraîche flavored with vanilla
cinnamon sticks
Marshmallows

Directions:
In a small saucepan, pour the boiling water over the chocolate. Add any flavorings or spirits to the mixture now. The amounts listed are recommendations only…you can use as much, as little or any combination to suit your tastes.

Using an immersion blender, mix until the chocolate have completely melted and a foamy froth has developed. You may also use a whisk, but the hot chocolate will not be as frothy.
Pour into serving cups and garnish.

You can double, triple or quadruple this recipe if you’re entertaining a large group. Simply make the hot chocolate base and keep it warm in a double boiler. For a super-fast, super-frothy individual serving, I suggest using the steam wand on an espresso maker.

Rather than making it with milk, European way to make a rich, creamy cup of hot chocolate by stirring in a dollop of loose whipped cream.

European Hot Chocolate (Photo Courtesy of Recchiuti Confections)

Prior to the inventions the Dutch and English provided to the chocolate world, their was not much chocolate eaten. Chocolate was consumed in the form of hot chocolate made from a chocolate paste, sugar, vanilla and water. It was rather think and grainy. The concept of using milk instead of water developed in the late 17^th century in London chocolate houses which are similar to our coffeehouses of today. The reason? Solid chocolate was not particularly palatable in its current form. The chocolate was not only coarse, but quite crumbly.

Cocoa Powder

In 1828, Conrad van Houten saved the day for us chocolate lovers. Van Houten was a Dutchman whose family ran a chocolate business in Amsterdam. They had been experimenting with different techniques to make the hot chocolate less oily and lighter in texture and flavor. The reason for the oiliness? The cocoa bean is half fat which we know as cocoa butter. Van Houten developed a screw press that removed the cocoa butter from the ground beans. He then sold the defatted cocoa powder to make hot chocolate. It became known as Dutch Cocoa Powder. Everyone become extremely happy.

Fry and Son's Chocolate

No one realized that this invention of cocoa powder would lead to more than a better tasting chocolate beverage. It became an important by product of the cocoa bean that has been used ever since. In fact, we owe a thank to van Houten, because if it was not for his brilliance, we would not have chocolate today as we know it. Cocoa butter could now be added to the ground cocoa beans with a bit of sugar to make a smoother paste than what they previously had to make drinking chocolate. The next invention to come from this? The first solid chocolate called “eating chocolate” (as opposed to “drinking chocolate”) was invented by Fry and Sons in 1847. Fry and Sons was an English company which remained in existence until it merged with Cadbury in 1919. Eating chocolate was something that everyone had to have and it spread through Europe and the United States within months. The need for chocolate in all forms has been growing every since. Thank you to the Dutch and English!

Van Gogh Dutch Chocolate Vodka

Looking for recipes from the Dutch with chocolate I came across a company called Van Gogh Vodka.  If you’re a drinker, check them out.  They have a Dutch Chocolate Vodka, not to mention Espresso Vodka, Grape Vodka, Mango Vodka, Melon Vodka, Mojito Mint Vodka, Orange Vodka, Pineapple Vodka, Pomegranate Vodka, Raspberry Vodka.  Very creative.  The chocolate vodka would be nice in a dark chocolate ice cream.  If anyone has tried the chocolate vodka, let me know what you think.

If anyone is of Dutch descent and has some chocolate recipes they want to share, let me know.  It’s hard to search for Dutch recipes with chocolate because Dutch chocolate and Dutch cocoa powder keep coming up.  This recipe is outstanding.  How do I know?  I made it this morning and then made a panini with it!  I used the butter on the outside of the bread and on the inside I used the Dutch Chocolate Butter, brie and basil.  Was going to try some figs with it too, but thought it would be too much.  Tomorrow, just the Dutch Chocolate Butter and figs in the panini.  Dutch Chocolate Butter.    In all seriousness, how can you go wrong with chocolate and butter?

Dutch Chocolate Butter

Makes 1 jar

Ingredients:
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, preferably dutch process
1/2 cup hot water
1 cup sugar
1 pinch salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, cut into 10 or 12 slices
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/8 teaspoon almond extract

Directions:
Sift cocoa powder into top of double boiler. Add hot water; stir until smooth. Place over simmering water. Stir in sugar and salt. Cook, stirring to dissolve, about 1 minute. Remove top of double boiler from simmering water. Whisk in butter, a slice at a time, mixing after each addition just until butter is blended in. Whisk in vanilla and almond extract. Let cool completely. When completely cool, whisk to lighten texture. Scrape into clean, completely dry jar. Cover tightly.

Be careful when tasting when it’s hot.  I couldn’t wait to try it and burned my finger!

Dutch Chocolate Butter and Brie Panini

I had to share this with you!  I love trivia and chocolate trivia to boot!  This was published in the Wales News (UK).  The title?  20 Things You Never Knew About Chocolate.  Here we go…

What a cocoa bean would buy.

The Aztecs used cacao beans for currency.

In 1847, JS Fry & Sons produced the first ever moulded chocolate bar and by 1919 had merged with Cadbury.

66,000 Creme Eggs are made every hour.

One chocolate chip provides enough energy for an adult to walk 150 feet.

In July 1942, rationing of sweets and chocolate was introduced. Each person was allowed 2oz a week.

Chocolate doesn’t cause acne.

Chocolate syrup was used as blood for the famous shower scene in Hitchcock’s 1960 film, Psycho.

Chocolate Chips

White chocolate is technically not chocolate.

The amount of chocolate in one Smartie would be enough to kill a robin or a blackbird. The lethal dosage of chocolate for humans is 22lb, or 40 bars of Dairy Milk a day. (Yikes)

In 1939, Nestlé introduced chocolate chips

The chocolate tree’s scientific name is Theobroma Cacao. Theobroma means “food of the Gods” in Greek. If it’s good enough for them…

Napoleon Bonaparte

French leader Napoleon insisted wine and chocolate be available during military campaigns.

The largest chocolate sculpture ever was a 10ft high Easter Egg constructed in Melbourne, Australia.

The melting point of chocolate is just below human body temperature, so it literally melts in your mouth.

Chocolate supposedly made its film debut when Jean Harlow ate candy in the 1933 comedy Dinner at Eight. (hmmm, mints?)

Eating chocolate gives you the same feeling as falling in love because of Phenylethylamine.

Chocolate Mousse

In Japan, the Valentine’s Day tradition of Giri Choco requires that women give inexpensive chocolate to all of the men in their lives. Not bad, eh, fellas?

When chocolate mousse was first invented it was known as chocolate mayonnaise.

In 1824, John Cadbury opened his first chocolate shop in Birmingham.

The British built ecoF3 racing car developed in Warwick University is powered by chocolate extracts.

ecoF3

Grinding Cocoa Beans by Hand

In the late 17^th century, you could enjoy drinking chocolate either in your own home or partake of the hot beverage in a chocolate house which compares to the coffeehouses of today. All of the processing of the cocoa bean into chocolate was all done by hand at this time. The use of the cacao bean for anything other than hot chocolate was very limited. In 1662, a man by the name of Henry Stubbe wrote an article on chocolate stating that the Spaniards and their colonies enjoyed chocolate in a different form. Stubbe told of chocolate being made into shapes called Lozenges which means shaped into almonds. He noted that the Spanish were using this form of chocolate to give people energy and soldiers stamina.

Example of a 17th Century Chocolate Cake for Making Hot Chocolate

Although we do not see many baking or confectionery recipes in cookbooks during the 17^th century, we do start to see a few of them show up in the cookbooks of the 18^th century. Some of the recipes include dragées, marzipans, biscuits, creams, ices, and mousses. Some of the recipes that may have seen off at that time or even in the distant past include an Italian recipe for a chocolate lasagna that featured almonds, walnuts, anchovies and chocolate. They also used chocolate paired with liver as well as polenta. The French Encyclopédie shows a first listing of “chocolat” in the late 18^th century. The listing describes chocolate as a “half-sugar cake flavored with some vanilla and cinnamon, and was not so much a delightful confection as an emergency meal.” Basically, all that was done to make the beverage was to place this tablet in a cup, add hot milk or water and stir until the cake was completely dissolved and blended. Instant hot chocolate.

18th Century Chocolate House (Photo Courtesy of Cadbury)

In a book entitled Gunter’s Modern Confectioner published in the late 19^th century, only four of the pages out of 220 were devoted to chocolate. If we look at any confectionery book today, we are bound to find at least half of the pages devoted to chocolate.

Making Chocolate Candy at Home

The 20^th century is when everything began to change for chocolate. A cookbook was published in 1917 by Alice Bradley called The Candy Cookbook. This was the first cookbook to devote an entire chapter to chocolate. She also noted that over one hundred different chocolates were now being offered by confectioners manufacturers. The cookbooks devoted to chocolate now take up entire shelves in libraries, bookstores and our our collection of cookbooks at home. Thank you for starting the beginning of a trend that still continues to evolve today Alice Bradley!



Dark Chocolate, Cocoa Pods, Cocoa Powder & Cocoa Beans

“Chocolate is food; chocolate is medicine.”  Most people are surprised when they hear that chocolate is a health food.  Let us first be clear that the chocolate I am referring to is dark chocolate that contains 70 percent or more cocoa solids or pure, unsweetened cocoa powder.

Mayans and Chocolate (Talk to the hand!)

Many centuries ago, chocolate’s medicinal properties were touted regularly by the Mesoamericans.  They used chocolate for stomach ailments, infection, diarrhea, fainting spells, skin eruptions, seizures, and cough and cold.  The Aztecs traveled with it on long journeys for endurance.  In 1592, Agustin Farfan published Tractado Breve de Medicina, where he stated that chocolate brewed with very hot water created a laxative.  Childhood diarrhea was treated with consumption of five ground cacao beans.  To relieve fever or faintness, a combination of 8-10 ground cacao beans should be blended with dried maze and flavored with herbs.  For a cough or cold, drink a beverage of opossum tail followed by a chocolate beverage mixed with a variety of herbs.

Europeans Drink Chocolate for Breakfast

Between the 17th and 19th centuries, many Europeans started to use chocolate for medicinal purposes such as for treating exhaustion and weakness.  In 1631, chocolate was thought to help digestion, cough, lessen symptoms of the plague, to help jaundice and inflammations.  It was also used to clean the teeth, sweeten the breath and increase urination, cure kidney stones, rid the body of poisons and prevent infections.  Chocolate was thought to help women conceive and to strengthen the stomach.   As early as 1662, chocolate was used to invigorate the body.  Two glassfuls were the typical prescription.

Medici Use Chocolate as Medicine

The Medici household physician used chocolate to treat a variety of ailments as well for an overall feeling of wellness.  Other nutritional and medicinal uses included strengthening the heart, being part of a nutritious breakfast, and taken for exhausted spirits (depression), wasting away of muscle during disease, hypochondria, hemorrhoids, hangovers, insomnia, winter concentration (Seasonal Affective Disorder), and as an aphrodisiac.
In the late 1800s, chocolate was used to treat jaundice, asthma, anemia, cancer and women’s problems.  Asthmatics were advised to eat fresh foods from the animal, bread, tea and chocolate.  For people afflicted with indigestion, they were told to eat light chocolate or cocoa in the morning and as an afternoon snack for relief.  It was also suggested that chocolate keeps the digestive, respiratory and urinary tracts strong.  It was considered a preventative for stomach cancer, healing when applied externally to hemorrhoids, and an emollient when applied to nursing mothers’ nipples and chapped lips.

Nursing Mothers Should Drink Chocolate

J. Millam Ponce, MD stated that when nursing babies became ill, the wet nurse should consume a light diet including coffee with either milk or chocolate.  He also found hemorrhoids to be eased with the use of a chocolate’s cocoa butter used as a suppository.  It was, even as recent as one hundred years ago, still claiming to ease chapped lips, to treat bronchitis and to provide energy. There were many diseases and ailments chocolate was thought to aid in the healing of or cure throughout its lifetime.  Ironically, an astounding number of them continue to be researched today.

ORAC Scale

In the 20th century in the United States, recent findings show that many of these previously touted medicinal and nutritional uses for chocolate have some substantial research behind them.  Further research needs to be done in many different areas, but the foundation is there.  Dark chocolate and cocoa powder is a nutritious and healthy addition to your daily diet.  In fact, it may not only help with a variety of diseases, but could prevent many diseases of our time.  A German chemist by the name of Baron von Liebig stated in the mid-nineteenth century, “Chocolate is a perfect food….It agrees with dry temperaments and convalescents; with mothers who nurse their children; with those whom occupations oblige them to undergo severe mental strains; with public speakers, and with all those who give to work a portion of the time needed for sleep.  It soothes both stomach and brain, and for this reason, as well as for others, it is the best friend of those engaged in literary pursuits.”

Eat Dark Chocolate Daily! (But not this much!)

You can never be too careful, so make sure you get your daily dose of dark chocolate or cocoa.  Try this fantastic recipe and start your morning off on a high note! I don’t use milk because dairy has been shown to prevent absorption of the nutrient rich benefits found in dark chocolate and cocoa, that’s why milk chocolate isn’t good for you-not to mention all the sugar…

Simple Hot Chocolate

Serves 6

Ingredients:

6 oz dark chocolate, chopped
2 c. unsweetened soy, rice or hazelnut milk
(sugar, honey or agave to sweeten is optional)

cinnamon and/or unsweetened cocoa powder to garnish

Place the chocolate and the “milk” in a heavy saucepan over medium heat.  Whisk periodically until the hot chocolate is warm and frothy.  Top with cinnamon, unsweetened cocoa or mix the two together, dust on top and serve.

Basic Hot Chocolate

Chaco Canyon, New Mexico

Latest research indicates that chocolate was being passed along pre-Columbian trade routes from Mexico up to the American Southwest. Analysis of chemical residues on painted potsherds from Chaco Canyon, New Mexico have been identified as theobromine, the base compound in both cacao beans and chocolate. Current World Archaeology (#35, 2009)

Archaeologists have found a whisk known as molinillo in a plastic container inside the storerooms at St. Augustine’s Government House in the US, which suggests that chocolate may have been made and eaten in St. Augustine in the 1500s.

According to a report in the St. Augustine Record, the whisk is a slender wooden stick with a carved knob on one end.

“It shows a probable connection to Mexico or Central America that St. Augustine had,” said City Archaeologist Carl Halbirt. “It’s evidence for the presence of the chocolate drink (in St. Augustine),” he added.

The cacao bean, the basis for chocolate, was originally grown from rainforest trees and used in Central America and Mexico as currency.

For thousands of years, chocolate was known as a drink rather than as candy.

Archaeologists found the molinillo in a well during a dig on the south side of St. Augustine.

Halbirt said that the finding of the molinillo as well as pits of oyster, clam shells and animal bone shows the area may be associated with street vendors or a feasting place.

That well and the water in it are the reason the wooden stirrer survived.

The structure of wood would normally disintegrate; the water kept that from happening and preserved the stick.

For now, the stirrer, light in weight and about five inches long, is in a plastic bag filled with a solution that keeps it from disintegrating.

Researchers speculate that the stirrer ended into the well by a Spanish merchant sipping a cup of hot chocolate, who might have knocked the whisk into the well.

In his digging, Halbirt found another reminder of chocolate’s role in St. Augustine, a gold strip that was once atop a box of candy.

The words “Utopian Chocolate” are on the strip of real gold.

“We found that while digging,” Halbirt said, holding up the delicate strip. “Maybe it dropped off a box of candy, or maybe someone just threw away the box once it was empty,” he added. (ANI)