TYPES OF CHOCOLATE

As it is commonly known, chocolate is a result of a long refining process that starts with beans from the fruits of the tree Theobroma cacao. The beans get fermented, dried, then roasted and ground. The end products consist of cocoa butter (a solid smooth fat employed in cosmetics and food), and chocolate liquor. The chocolate type is determined by different amounts of chocolate liquor and cocoa butter the chocolate has the amount of sugar and some other contents combined with the mixture.

Below are the most known chocolate varieties.

"Candy coating" chocolate

This chocolate variety is also called "compound coating," "confectionery coating,” or “summer coating." These involve flavoured candy products including milk, white or dark chocolate where palm or vegetable oils are used as substitutes for cocoa butter. These are cheaper than a lot of chocolates and do not contain much of chocolate liquor. They have exceptional moulding and melting properties, thus they are frequently employed for enrobing and dipping in candy making given that they can bear high ambient temperatures and do not need tempering.

Cocoa powder

This unsweetened pulverized powder is partially defatted chocolate liquor. Cocoa powder offers great chocolate taste and has natural or Dutch-processed varieties. Natural cocoa powder has strong chocolate flavour and is light brown in colour. It is preferable to be used in recipes which need baking soda since it is somewhat acidic. On the other hand alkalized cocoa powder is less acidic, has milder chocolate taste and has darker color. It is nice to be employed on recipes that call for baking powder.

Bittersweet chocolate

According to FDA, this chocolate has no less than 35% cocoa solids. A number of bittersweet chocolate bars have 50 % chocolate liquor at the least amount and some bars contain 70 to 80% chocolate liquor. These types of chocolate taste bitterer than semi-sweet or sweet dark chocolate. Sugar amounts of the bittersweet chocolate are not regulated thus they vary in sweetness depending on the manufacturers.

 

Unsweetened chocolate

This is also called “baking” or “bitter” chocolate. This variety is pure chocolate liquor, which merely contains ground cocoa beans.  It smells like chocolate but it tastes bitter and cannot be consumed on its own. It is combined with sugar to be used in cooking.  Unsweetened chocolate gives luscious chocolate taste to baked goodies.

Dark chocolate

This chocolate consists of lecithin (emulsifier), cocoa butter, vanilla, sugar and chocolate liquor. Dark chocolate does not contain any milk solids. Commercial dark chocolates contains cocoa in 30% ( for sweet dark) to 70-80% (super dark bars). Semi-seet and dark chocolate belongs to the "dark chocolate” category.

Semi-sweet chocolate

This American term is made popular by Nestle Toll House semi-sweet chocolate chips. Semi-sweet chocolate has cocoa solids of at least 35%, and is sweeter than bittersweet chocolate but darker than the sweet dark chocolate. Nevertheless, lack of regulations related to sugar content implies that these classifications are relative and is not constant across brands.

Sweet dark chocolate

Sweet dark chocolate is a dark chocolate which does not contain milk solids, however it has high sugar levels and is sweeter than other dark chocolate varieties. Several brands of this type contain merely 20 to 40% of cocoa solids.

Couverture chocolate

Couverture chocolate is commonly used by professional confectioners or bakers, this chocolate has high levels of chocolate liquor and high percentage (at least 30%) of cocoa butter. This high ratio makes the chocolate so pricey but the product is smooth and melts evenly and quickly. Couverture chocolate is commonly used for enrobing and tempering candies. It has milk, white and dark varieties and can be bought at well-stocked cake decorating shops and online.

Gianduja chocolate

Gianduja refers to European style of chocolate created from nut paste and chocolate. Commonly, hazel nut paste is used but almond paste can also be employed in making gianduja. It comes in dark or milk chocolate varieties. Gianduja chocolate can be substituted for dark or milk chocolate or used as a flavouring. At room temperature, it is adequately soft to be cut or rolled however it is so much soft to be used for molding chocolates.

Milk chocolate

Milk chocolate contains chocolate liquor and cocoa butter. Moreover it has either dry milk solids or condensed milk (commonly European varieties). Milk chocolate must consist of 12% milk solids, 3.39 % butterfat, and 10% chocolate liquor. Milk chocolate is usually much sweeter than dark chocolate, and lighter and color and less evident chocolate flavor. Milk chocolate is more susceptible to overheating and is much difficult to be properly tempered.

White chocolate

The name "white chocolate" is derived from the cocoa butter contents, but this variety doesn't have chocolate liquor or some other cocoa products. Subsequently it has great chocolate taste, though its flavor is usually similar to vanilla or any additional flavorings. White chocolate has a at most 55% of sugar, 14% milk solids and at least 20% of cocoa butter.

CHRISTMAS JELL-O OR CATHEDRAL WINDOWS RECIPE

Adapted from Smartparentingdotcom forum

Christmas is near and Cathedral Windows Jelly is here!!!! The name clearly implies the appearance of the dish which is similar to stained glass cathedral windows. Brightly colored gelatin cubes are embedded in a white creamy mold. The sweet treat is colorful and yummy so kids may love it as well. It commonly consists of red and green jelly for the colors of Christmas. The recipe can  be called Cathedral Windows, Christmas Jell-o, Cathedral Broken Windows or Broken Glass Jell-o.Any deep bowl or molds can be used .

Note: you can use any colors and flavors of gelatin, tangy or fruity flavored one works best.Same colored fruits can be used.

For Jelly cubes:

-A-
1 box or pack of  red flavored/unflavored gelatin
1 1/2 cups 7 up or Sprite
1/4 cup sugar

Dissolve gelatin and sugar and sprite in a pan. Boil on medium heat. Mold. Then cut into cubes when cooled.

-B-
1 box or pack green flavored/unflavored gelatin
Pandan leaves
2 cups water for boiling the pandan leaves
and 1 1/2 cup water for molding the gelatin
1/4 cup sugar

Boil the pandan leaves in water until the flavors have set in. Take off the leaves then add the sugar and gelatin. Constantly stir then bring to a boil. Mold then cut into cubes later.

-C-

1 box or pack orange unflavored gelatin (orange)
1 1/2 cups pineapple juice(remove this for flavored gelatin and use Sprite instead)
1/4 cup sugar

Dissolve gelatin and the sugar in pineapple juice. Stir constantly and boil. Mold then cube later.

For the Binder or Creamy gelatin:

4 packets of clear or white Knox unflavored gelatin 25g
1 Can condensed milk( I substituted coconut milk and sugar for this)
2 383-g cans Nestle Cream or 3 250ml Tetra Packs of Nestle Cream
1 tsp vanilla(optional)
1 can Condensed Milk
1 teaspoon vanilla (optional)

-Mix condensed milk with Nestle cream in a bowl. Add in vanilla then stir well. Then set aside.
-Dissolve the gelatin in just enough amount of water. Boil while stirring constantly. Turn of the heat.
- Add the milk mixture. Mix well. Add the cubed gelatins then mix again. Mold then cool.

Please give some suggestions or make some comments.. Please post questions if ever you have one..: :)

FIVE BASIC TYPES OF PASTRY

Creating pastries was originally done by ancient Egyptians. Ancient Rome and Greece’s classical period had pastries made of seeds, flour almonds and honey. Since sugar was used for European cookery, several new pastry recipes in Switzerland, Spain, Italy and France. Marie-Antoine Carême was a great innovator who achieved the perfection of puff pastry and made detailed patisserie designs.

A number of dishes like pies have pastry casing that completely contains or covers a filling of different savory or sweet ingredients. Several pastries are created with the use of shortening, any fat food product which is solid in room temperature. Shortening’s composition lends to the production of shortcrust style crumbly pastry crusts and pastries.

The five fundamental types of pastry are choux pastry, filo pastry, shortcrust pastry, puff pastry and flaky pastry.

Choux Pastry

Choux pastry, also known as pâte à choux, is light dough for creating St. Honoré cake, profiteroles, éclairs, beignets, gougères, croquembouches, Indonesian kue sus and. It consists of flour, eggs, butter and water. Similar to David Eyre's pancake or Like Yorkshire Pudding, choux pastry uses high moisture content as alternative to raising agent to be able to create steam while cooking so the pastry can be puffed. Usually choux pastry is baked but it is fried for beignets. In Latin America and Spain, churos are created from fried choux pastry which is sugared and immersed in chocolate blancmange and served for breakfast. In Austria, it is boiled to create the sweet apricot dumpling Marillenknödel; in this instance, it does not puff but is still relatively dense. Sometimes, they are filled with cream to create éclairs or cream puffs.

Filo pastry

Fil, fillo or phyllo is from a Greek word which means filo leaf. Originated from Greece, filo pastry is a thin pastry used in cheese, vegetable, egg, meat and several sweet dishes.  Creation of this needs enough ingredients, time and proper handling.

The process of stretching raw dough to create paper thin pastry sheets may have came from the kitchens of Topkapi Palace in Turkey. Yufka can be "an early form of filo" because the Turkic dialects dictionary by Mahmud Kashgari called Diwan Lughat al-Turk recorded folded or pleated bread as a meaning for the term yuvgha, which is associated to yufka, which means "thin",  and also the modern Turkish name pertaining to phyllo and a Turkish flat bread also referred to as yufka.

Shortcrust pastry

Shortcrust pastry is the kind of pastry commonly used as a base of pie, quiche or tart. It doesn’t have leavening agent thus it doesn’t puff up while baking. However, a shortcrust pastry can be created using self-raising flour. Shortcrust pastry can be employed when baking savory sweet pies like chicken pie, apple pie, lemon meringue or quiche. A lot of shortcrust pastries are created with the use of vegetable shortening, a name for a fat food product which is solid at room temperature. The composition of vegetable shortening helps to create crumbly pastry.

Puff Pastry

A puff pastry refers to a light, flaky, leavened  pastry consisting of many layers of fat with a solid state at a temperature of  20 °C (68 °F). When raw, puff pastry is a dough covered with solid fat and for many times folded and rolled out (not mashed since the  layering will be destroyed) . Sometimes it is referred to as détrempe or "water dough". The gaps that develops between the layers were formed because the puff pastry rises as the water evaporates as steam while baking. Excessive puffing will be prevented by piercing the dough and the layers will stop from flaking to the edges by crimping along the sides.

Flaky pastry

A flaky pastry is also light and flaky like like puff pastry , but it is unleavened. Large chunks of shortening (about 1-in./2½ cm. across) are combined with the dough whereas in puff pastry, large rectangle of shortening is used. Next, the dough is rolled and folded same with the puff pastry. The lump of shortening makes the rolled dough particles remain separated from each other in order that when the dough is finally baked they turn into flakes. Thus the texture is varied from puff pastry, wherein rectangles of fat and dough are rolled then folded together hence the outcome are uniformed pastry sheets. The flaky pastry is used in making plates, turnovers, sausage rolls and pasties.

FILIPINO DELICACIES

Every country boasts of its very own specialty dishes and delicacies uniquely associated with them. These cannot be disregarded since these have been crucial parts of its recognition. Filipinos will never be left out in terms of these. Let me introduce to you a number of native foods adherent with some places in the Philippines. This is as a guide for those who wish to travel around the country and try its prestigious foods.

In the southeastern part of Luzon, Bicol is famous for its Bicol Express. This is a spicy hot dish mainly containing slices of pork combined with shrimp and made more mouth-watering with chilies, coconut milk, garlic and onion. In addition, Bicol is also popular for natong, also known as pinangat which are fish or pork stewed with taro leaves.

Pancit Malabon is exquisitely found in Malabon city, located on the National Capital Region, Metro Manila. This tasty noodle ("pancit" in Filipino) cuisine is seasoned with crab fat and fish sauce resulting to its yellow-orange color. It is topped with lots of seafoods like oyster and hard boiled eggs.

Another of Luzon's noodle variety is Pancit Habhab or Pancit Miki, a local food of Lucban in the province of Quezon. It is wrapped loosely in banana leaves and eaten unusually without a use of any utensil.

Bulacan, being the home of desserts, is the place of origin of halaya ube, suman, cassava cake, sapin-sapin and kutsinta (a rice cake variety). The sweet and tasty pastillas de leche, made of carabao's (water buffalo) milk, is the pride of San Miguel, Bulacan which is the King of Sweets. Moreover, Bulacan is known for its rinds of pork called chicharon.

You may also want to venture to Western Visayas in Bacolod City, Negros Occidental and try its distinctive chicken inasal. The grilled aromatic chicken dish is made attractively reddish by annatto or achuete seeds.

The Philippine culinary center, Pampanga, is known for longganisa (sweet and spicy Philippine chorizos), tocino (sweet cured pork meat) and kalderetang kambing (goat stew). Kare-kare, a stew mainly made of peanut sauce, vegetables and oxtail, is also a remarkable cuisine of Kapampangans.

Puto is considered the "white gold" of Calasiao town in Pangasinan province. It is a suman or a small rice cake produced from fermented and ground semi-glutinous rice. The delicacy is much appetizing when paired with bagoong, a strong-odored salty paste made by fermenting small shrimps or fish.

From Central Visayas, Cebu is famed for their own style of lechon, having a juicy meat covered with a crispy skin. The recipe is made worth craving for by an exclusive combination of spices. Also famous in Cebu are caramel tarts and dried mangoes.

Butse-Butse is a local food from Region VII in Central Visayas. The dessert is made by mashing sweet potatoes and shaping them into a number of balls. Cassava is stuffed inside the balls making it more appealing to the taste.

Binagol is a dessert from another Central Visayan Province, Leyte. It is prepared by mixing its main ingredient, shredded gabi, with condensed and coconut milk. The mixture is served in coconut shell which is finally wrapped in banana leaves. 

MOST WELL-KNOWN DESSERTS IN AMERICA II

Now let's continue with the best desserts in America.

 Brownies

Brownies are flat baked bars started at the end of 19th century in the US. Served whether at room temperature or piping hot, made from a mix or from scratch, brownies probably belong to those most versatile desserts existing, but only if you enjoy extensive amount of chocolate. A number of brownie connoisseurs make their creations similar to cakes, while others like them to have moister and fudgier consistency. Generally the end result of brownies depends upon in amount of fat (found in cooking oil or butter) and eggs used, and the length of time you bake them for. Brownies can also be customized to suit ones taste buds. The variation without chocolate and is made out of brown sugar is referred to as blondie. The traditional chocolate type is an enjoyable choice though a number of chefs try to employ additional ingredients for extra oomph. Known add-ins are icing, white chocolate, coffee and chocolate chips. Individuals with exotic tastes can choose to add dried herbs, pepper, spices or salt.

Apple Pie

Nothing says America like hot dogs, baseball and apple pie. Apple pie hasn't originated in the United States however. Apple pie is a tart or fruit pie in which the main filling is apples. Apple pies started in Europe during the 14th century. They used honey instead of sugar. In 18th century, apple pie is frequently a part of the American cookbooks. During the celebration of America’s independence from England on the 4^th of July, apple pie is served on picnic tables anywhere in America. The two prominent varieties of the sweet treat are the crumb or Dutch apple pie and the common flakey crust version. While frozen apple pies sell big, people highly favour them warm and fresh from the oven.

Jell-O

Jell-O is always one of the favourite desserts. Actually, Jell-O is a brand name however it has been identified with any gelatinous dessert. It is referred to as "America's Most Famous Dessert" and the jiggling conveys a fun appeal. It is effortless to create and there’s essentially no needed cleanup. You just have to add boiling water to the gelatine powdered mix, transfer to mold then chill for some hours. No wonder it’s favoured by a lot of moms all over America. Gelatin is a flavourless, colorless, translucent solid substance which originated from collagen and created from animal by-products. Collagen is a natural protein derived from tissues, ligaments and tendonsa of mammals. Irreversibly, gelatin is a hydrolysed version of collagen, and is labelled as foodstuff. For Jell-O the collagen originated from pig and cow hooves and bones. Get the powdered gelatin, put some food color and articial sweetener then your Jell-o is done.

Check out my CATHEDRAL WINDOWS/ CHRISTMAS JELL-O RECIPE

 Ice Cream

It is not certain where ice cream originated but food historians says it is credited to Chinese including the flavoured ices they indulged in 3000 B.C. it is claimed that Marcolo brought it to Italy where the recent ice creams have originated in the 17^th century. "The New Art of Cookery, According to the Present Practice," was a 1792 cookbook where the United State’s initial recipe of ice cream was thought to have came from. In 1843, hand crank ice cream maker was invented which allowed people to create their own ice creams. Homemade ice cream is a well-known dessert in American families until today. Over the years, various flavours come and go, but nothing have shook the ice cream world. Cookies N’ Cream started in 1983 while Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough was in 1991. These flavours belonged to the top 10 favourites in haste. Several other flavours also exist for the adventures pallets.

Fudge

In the world of fudge, several flavours are available. Anyone who likes the traditional ones can pick dark, milk or white chocolate versions while nut enthusiasts might try those which have macadamia nuts or walnuts for crunch. What’s highly favourable with this dessert is that it’s easy to whip up. Moreover, fudge is a great gift for whatever occasion. This sweet treat has been loved by Americans for over 100 years.

Read the first part MOST WELL-KNOWN DESSERTS IN AMERICA.

MOST WELL-KNOWN DESSERTS IN AMERICA

We constantly longed for sweet things. Historic people desired honey and berries, and then refined sugar was introduced so dessert was invented. Dessert was derived from “desservir,” a French word meaning “to clear away” like to clear away the dinner table. There are several varieties of these post-meal sweets around the world. In Mexico, the flan similar to custard is part of the menu. In China, it has ingredients like dates or red beans. In the US, sweeter desserts are preferred. And now I will discuss about the most well known desserts in United States or maybe even around the world.

Chocolate Cake

Chocolate cake is created from chocolate and it can also comprise of other ingredients like vanilla creme, fudge as well as other sweeteners. The earliest chocolate cake has been baked in 1674 which served as a way to enjoy chocolate, a new delicacy during that time. While being extremely loved in the US, the fact that it is frequently served in birthday parties have made it mainly the most desired cake all over the world. When “German chocolate cake” is heard, people’s mouths water as they are grateful to Germans for this contributed dessert but it is not related to the European country. The name “German chocolate cake” is derived from the recipe inventor from Texas, Sam German. He invented the well-known dessert during the late 1800’s however it wasn’t popular until the 1950’s.

Cupcakes

A cupcake is referred to in Australian English as patty cake and in British English as fairy cake. It is a small cake created for one person and can be baked in an aluminium cup or small thin paper. For larger cakes, frosting and decorations like sprinkles are applied.

Cupcakes are created for people who want to ward off the urge to eat an entire cake. Several cupcake shops exist in America since people there excessively love cupcakes. They offer miscellaneous flavours. Expect to find flavours like chocolate and vanilla or exotic varieties like peanut butter, lemon or coffee. Cream or jelly fillings can add extra zest and calories to your sweet treats although baking homemade cupcakes needs enough practice. Favourably, you can easily bake your own cupcakes with the help of some recipes and using a muffin pan and fancy paper liners.

Cheesecake

Various recipes exist for this dessert and its key ingredient is of course CHEESE. Commonly used for the recent cheesecakes are Neufchatel, ricotta, cottage cheese and cream cheese. The remarkable New York version makes use of cream cheese including sugar, cream and eggs and commonly graham cracker crust. New York style cheesecake is eaten plain having no toppings or any additional ingredients. On the contrary, some cheesecakes contain or topped with cookies, fruits, peanut butter and several other ingredients.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

The classic chocolate chip cookies are commonly the most beloved by cookie lovers. The cookie dough comprises of both white and brown sugar and butter along with semi-sweet chocolate chips. This mixture is indescribably good. A varied recipe contains other types of chocolate and may include oatmeal or nuts.

Chocolate chip cookie is served completely cooled or fresh out of the oven. They are served with just enough sweetness and not overdone regarding richness. If you desire a little bit of contrast and texture, you can eat your cookies with one or two scoops of vanilla ice cream or you can also top them with chocolate icing.

 Carrot Cake

Carrot cake! yeah! It is a delicious and creamy dessert. Originated in mid-20th century in the U.S., is a luscious combination of spicy and sweet flavours on a cake perfected with cream cheese frosting (made out of powdered sugar, butter, vanilla extract and cream cheese). Similar to some sweet treats, carrot cake can be baked making use of a traditional recipe or decorated with coconut, pineapple and macadamia nuts. If ever calories and fat are watched out, a carrot cake recipe can be revised by minimizing the amount of oil and sugar then using additional crushed pineapple to keep up the moistness. Whatever is done, considering carrot cake as a healthy treat will be a stretch, however it will still remain tasty.

Continued .... MOST WELL-KNOWN DESSERTS IN AMERICA II

MOST DELICIOUS CHOCOLATES II

DELAFEE CHOCOLATE

In 2004, Sébastien Jeanneret founded DeLafée and was established in Neuchâtel, Switzerland. Being adorned with edible gold, DeLafée's chocolates won the media’s high praises especially in Forbes Magazine 2005 edition. Since then, the company manufactured several gourmet products such as edible gold flakes and gold-leaf, gold cigars, tea and lollipops which are extremely expensive. It is now regarded as the most luxurious chocolate ever. The priciest DeLafée chocolate can be 357 dollars per box given that it contains a Swiss gold coin at the middle. DeLafée chocolate’s taste is also superb and competitive compared to other top-billed manufacturers of chocolate. DeLafée sells its products through selected retailers, exclusive distributors and directly on www.delafee.com.

VOSGES HAUT-CHOCOLAT

Katrina Markoff own the Chicago-based Vosges Haut-Chocolat which offers exotic chocolate variations flavoured with bacon, spices as well as other ingredients. Several flavour combinations were inspired by the travels of Markoff.

The botiques in Las Vegas, New York and Chicago offers various gourmet chocolates. Flavours of Vosges include Red Fire Spice, Red Fire Toffee and an Oxaca blend which was claimed as made from the world’s finest spices and cacao. Huffington Post's reviewers offered great marks to the chocolates because of the notable products like Ginger plus Fresh Wasabi with Black Sesame Seeds and Wild Tuscan Fennel Pollen with Floral Anise. The recipe of Vosges Haut-Chocolat is claimed to have extraordinary ingredients.

Visit the site vosgeschocolate.com

PIERRE MARCOLINI CHOCOLATES

This great tasting chocolate has various healthy ingredients. Pierre Marcolini was identified as “World Champion of Pastry” in 1995. Subsequently, he started a chocolate manufacturing company named after him. His chocolates commonly consist of fruits like melon, pear and apple. Weird ingredients like pepper and sandalwood are also used in his chocolates. Since the Pierre Marcolini chocolates have been greatly popular, he began to create chocolate flavoured cakes as well as pastries.

Visit their webpage marcolini-eboutique.com.

DEBAUVE & GALLAIS CHOCOLATE

Debauve & Gallais chocolates have evidently high quality because it has been a known chocolate supplier to a number of history’s royalty like Louis XVII, Charles X and Louis Philippe. It was established in 1800 thus it is quite old and proven to be a well built chocolate manufacturer. Sulpice Debauve was the company’s founder and his nephew named Antoine Gallais is the lead chocolate recipe maker. Marie Antoinette had taken the Debauve & Gallais’ “Pistoles” recipe to get rid of the unpleasant taste of her medicine thus she praised it.

Buy their chocolates at www.debauveandgallais.com.

RICHART CHOCOLATES

The magnificent taste and the simple packaging make Richart Chocolates a well-known manufacturer of chocolate. Their manufacturing process is highly commended because of the product's natural deliciousness since organic ingredients are employed. Established in 1925, Richart Chocolates recently belongs to the most expensive however great tasting chocolates around the world. You can make orders by entering their website ----which is dedicated to USA and French online buyers.

Visit www.richart-chocolates.com.

Read the first post MOST DELICIOUS CHOCOLATES PART I.

MOST DELICIOUS CHOCOLATES

I’m gonna begin with the world’s yummiest food.-CHOCOLATE. With all its benefits and luscious taste, everybody’s not gonna resist taking a bite. Chocolate is a processed and sweetened food from cacao seeds. Cacao has been cultivated for several years in Northern South America, Mexico and Central America.

Now I am enumerating some of the word’s most delicious chocolates.

RICHARD DONNELLY CHOCOLATE

Richart Donnelly chocolates have been existent for almost 25 years now. Since 1988, these chocolates were made by hand using the finest Belgian and French couvertures. Richard Donnelly started his own line of chocolates after studying with famous chocolatiers from Brussels and Paris. The most bought products are caramel bars, cookies, cakes, mixes for brownies, chocolate bars, ganaches and truffles, marshmallows and assorted chocolates.

Donnelly Chocolates belongs to the Ten Best in the magazines including Dessert Professional, Chocolatier and Bon Appetit thus they belong to the best selling chocolates in the US. The fact that the chocolates are handmade makes the taste near to perfection. Price of these chocolates can be $75 per pound.

CHUAO CHOCOLATE

Chuao chocolates are made by Chuao Chocolatier which is the initial Venezuelan Chocolatier located in the US and founded in 2002 by Michael Antonorsi with his brother Richard Antonorsi. The company is the premier artisan chocolatier in Southern California. Its name is derived from central Venezuela’s Chuao, which is a legendary cacao-producing village. Chuao is the origin of the pure Criollo as well as other cacao hybrids thus it is the primary producer of cacao beans for several chocolate manufacturers.

The company first started with a lone boutique in Encinitas, CA with a unique confectionary menu of hot chocolate, bonbons, truffles and chocolate bars. The signature flavour was called Spicy Maya, giving a twist to the ancient Mayan’s hot chocolate by incorporating cayenne pepper and pasta chile.

CHOCOPOLOGIE CHOCOLATE

This is regarded as the most delicious however the most pricey chocolate. In 2000,  Fritx Knipchildt from Odense, Denmark established Knipschildt Chocolatier in East Norwalk, Connecticut and was moved to South Norwalk (CT) where Chocopologie Café was also opened. Knipschildt Chocolatier have won several awards including NASFT Fancy Food Sofi Award for Innovation in Packaging Design or Function,  the Best of the Gold Coast Connecticut for Best Chocolate Shop and Best of the Golf Coast Connecticut for Best Tasting Wedding Favors.

Price of orders of Chocopologie Chocolate can be $2,600 based on the weight of the products you want to buy. The chocolates can only be bought from the company and restaurant of Fritz Knipchildt.

NOKA CHOCOLATES

This is a different delicious but expensive chocolate which can be 4870 per pound. This chocolate variety is produced by the American company Noka chocolate based in Plano, Texas. Noka chocolate specially offers goumet chocolate gifts. The company sold its chocolates through its retail partner,the department store called Neiman Marcus. The products were claimed to be sourced from known chocolate roots including Ecuador, Trinidad, the Ivory coast and Venezuela. Every box has a "Tasting Guideline". The chocolate is well known to be a healthy variety since the manufacturer haven't include vanila making it a great option for those people who are eager on losing weight.

Continue MOST DELICIOUS CHOCOLATES PART II.

EXOTIC FOODS FROM AROUND THE WORLD III

Harissa - Tunisia

The Harissa of Tunisia is a hot chilli sauce consisting of several spices, herbs and peppers including Serrano and piri piri peppers, caraway, red chilli powder, garlic paste, corriander seed as well as olive or vegetable. It is a loved hot sauce for the African dishes-especially Moroccan. It is also found in places with strong Arab presence like Germany and France. In Israel, harissa is usually used as a falafel topping. In a number of European countries, it is sometimes used as spreads for rolls or tartines.

Harissa helps lower blood pressure, burn fat and is rich in Vitamin C. It is sold in plastic bags, tubes, bottles, jars, cans and some other containers.

Black Garlic - Asia

Black garlic is fermented garlic used in Asian cuisine as a food ingredient. It is created by fermenting garlic bulbs in high temperature, thus resulting in black cloves.  It has sweet and syrupy taste with hints of tamarind or balsamic vinegar. Black garlic has also become popular in United States since it became a sought after ingredient for preparing high-end cuisines. It is not related to the plant Allium nigrum or with the black garlic or six clove garlic known in Korea.

 Black garlic has twice the amount of antioxidants in regular unfermented garlic and has natural antibiotic properties as said by the private chef and nutitionist Tricia Williams. She suggests that households use it like an ordinary garlic for stronger immune system specifically

 during cold and flu months.

Horned Melon - Southern Africa

Horned melon also called melano, jelly melon, hedged gourd, or African horned cucumber or melon is an annual vine of the cucumber or melon family. It is known in the southern United States as blowfish fruit and is bred for its oval fruit with horn-like spikes. The fruit is used for food as well as for decoration. Once ripe its texture becomes similar to cucumber, its jelly like flesh acquires a tart taste, and its skin becomes yellow orange in color. Native to southern Africa, horned melon is now grown in New Zealand, Australia, Mississippi, California and Chile.It has low calorie content thus it is great for a weight loss diet and is rich in minerals and beta-carotene.

Baobab - Africa

Baobab trees are native to Africa and has fruits with coconut-like shells. The pale powder coating the seeds are mixed with drinks and foods within centuries for boosting health. Baobab is rich in magnesium, calcium and potassium. It has also great anti-inflammatory properties and has much antioxidants.

Monkey brains - China

Monkey brains are a debatable foodstuff in Chinese cuisine and that of some other countries. Eating monkey brains resulted to overhunting in Indonesia because of the belief that it can cure erectile dysfunction. Consumption of monkey brains have been portrayed and debated over and over in Western popular culture often in connection with portraying exotic cultures as cruel, strange and callous. The brain is portrayed as eaten raw or cooked.

However, eating monkey's brains also poses a number of risks. It can cause diseases such as Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.

Read the first two articles :

EXOTIC FOODS FROM AROUND THE WORLD

EXOTIC FOODS FROM AROUND THE WORLD II