If you are a “Chocoholic” like this writer, you’re not along, and you will love today as it is National Chocolate Day! Just what us chocolate lovers have been waiting for – another reason to eat more chocolate! Americans consume an average of 12 pounds per person per year. Do you help contribute to this staggering stat? Millions of people around the globe agree that chocolate makes everything in life better.
Valentine’s Day and Easter are two of the top holidays for buying chocolate, but you can’t forget about Christmas or Halloween! However, many will argue that chocolate is best enjoyed year-round.
To celebrate National Chocolate Day, enjoy some chocolate with each meal today! Try hot chocolate or chocolate donuts for breakfast. A fun lunch idea is to pair your favorite dish with a tall glass of chocolate milk. For dinner, try a traditional mole sauce, made with cocoa powder. Top it all off with a decadent chocolate dessert! ENJOY TODAY
National Chocolate Day is observed annually on October 28. While there are many chocolate related holidays throughout the year, National Chocolate Day is a day to celebrate all things chocolate. As America’s favorite flavor, chocolate is well deserving of its own day of honor and celebration.
Did you know Chocolate is a vegetable? It is made from the seed of the tropical Theobroma cacao tree found in tropical rain forests. Cacao, which has been cultivated for at least three millennia, is grown in Mexico, Central America and Northern South America. The earliest known documentation of use, of cacao seeds, is around 1100 BC. The cacao tree seed have a very intense bitter taste that must be fermented to develop the flavor. How did people learn to extract this sublime pleasure from the bitter seeds of the cacao tree? No one knows exactly but when the Europeans reached the capital of the Aztec Empire, they found a people who used cacao seeds to make a frothy, spicy drink used in royal and religious ceremonies.
Once the seeds have been fermented, the beans are then dried, cleaned and roasted. After roasting, the shell is removed to produce cacao nibs. The cacao nibs are then ground into cocoa mass, which is pure chocolate in rough form. The cocoa mass is usually liquefied then molded with or without other ingredients; at this point of the process it is called chocolate liquor. The chocolate liquor may then be processed into two components: cocoa solids and cocoa butter.
The different kinds of chocolate are:
Unsweetened baking chocolate – cocoa solids and cocoa butter in varying proportions.
Sweet chocolate – cocoa solids, cocoa butter or other fat and sugar.
Milk chocolate – sweet chocolate with milk powder or condensed milk.
White chocolate – cocoa butter, sugar and milk but no cocoa solids.
Mmm, chocolate. There are 38 days each year and at least 1 day per month to celebrate chocolate; 1 week in March to celebrate chocolate and of course the entire month of February.
Today, October 28th, National Chocolate Day is the perfect opportunity to eat your favorite chocolates in ample portions. Do you really need another excuse to over indulge with your favorite food treat?
Chocolate is America’s favorite flavor. It’s the flavor of choice in candies, ice cream, cakes, breakfast cereal, toppings, and a whole host of desserts. Unequaled in popularity, it certainly deserves a day in its honor.
We don’t need to tell you what to do to celebrate this day, do we? Give a friend a box of chocolates, try a new recipe using chocolate, or treat yourself to some!
Plain and simple…Eat some delicious Chocolate TODAY!
