Food: In Praise of Chocolate

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In Praise of Chocolate
Monday, August 22, 2005

If you want a piece of pure heaven on earth, go out and find yourself some chocolate. I don't mean the run of the mill chocolate bar that you can buy at the corner store, either. Go find some REAL chocolate. Sadly, most American chocolate is not the real, pure thing. Most products made in this country are weakened with waxes and other fillers to lower their cost. Sometimes the extra price is worth it, though.

You will find that imported chocolate is vastly superior to the local kind. Many stores carry these imports. Finer department stores, and even some of the large book sellers boast chocolate imported from France, Germany, and Switzerland. Even chocolate imported from Canada is better than the homemade variety from the larger companies.

Another place to find the "good" chocolate is from local candy-making companies. Here in the midwest, we have a number of these regional operations, and the chocolate that they make is superb. The small local candy-maker in the town next to this one has mastered the secrets of fine chocolate, and all of his confections are excellent.

And there is a flavor of chocolate ice cream that is divine, too. Look at your local ice cream shop for a flavor called "chocomania." This rich, dark ice cream is absolutely the most flavorful chocolate ice cream that I've ever had. The creamy, silky smooth texture is wonderful by itself, but the real treat happens when your tongue and taste buds happen to encounter any of the many chocolate nuggets that are mixed into the ice cream. These chunks are high quality chocolate and they are scattered through each scoop. Not only that, but they are different flavors of chocolate. One bit might be milk chocolate, and the next is a rich, full dark chocolate. Some are semi-sweet, and some are sweet as honey. It's a refreshing treat on a hot day, and it's delicious enough to be tempting even in the middle of winter!

Now that my children are older, they are watching me entirely too closely. A few days ago, they caught me with one of my few vices-homemade chocolate milk. They were somewhat astounded to find that I did not mix it in the same way that I've made their glasses of chocolate milk all of these years. For them, I followed the package directions and mixed a couple of spoonfuls of powdered chocolate into their glass of milk. When no one is looking, however, I make CHOCOLATE milk. This concoction is made by changing the ratio of chocolate powder to milk. Put about six spoons of chocolate into the cup and add about half of glassful of milk. Now here's the secret: don't mix them yet! You can sip off the slightly chocolate flavored milk and leave only a few tablespoons of milk in the bottom of the glass. NOW mix it together, and you will get a thick chocolate goo that will satisfy even the deepest chocolate craving. It's a handy method of getting your chocolate fix when there are no candy bars or other chocolates around.

No one will think about the calories of these treats. Last time I heard, your body expends so much energy enjoying the chocolate that it burns all of the calories that you consume. Right? I sure do hope so....I get chocolate cravings quite a bit, and I'd hate to think what they would do to my waistline if they had the usual number of calories!

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