This has to be one of my most-favorite guilty pleasures of all. Deep, dark, rich, taste-bud electrifying, salivary gland enticing, pleasure-inducing flavors ever created on this planet. Dark Chocolate.
The name alone oozes of sinful goodness. Growing up allergic to chocolate, I ate a lot of White Chocolate (which we all know, is not actually Chocolate at all due to its lack of Cocoa Solids). Then as the allergies subsided, my taste buds were introduced to the most common and average of Chocolates here in the US - Milk Chocolate; a sweet, tasty confection not to be ignored. But oh, you Dark Chocolate, you!
So what is it? What is Chocolate and why the obsession? Deep in the tropical jungles of South America, the Cacao Tree bears large green fruit pods. These 6-12 inch pods weigh about a pound each. Embedding in the pulpy white flesh are about 60 seeds known as beans. These beans are 40-50% fat... a delicious fat known as Cocoa Butter.
These beans are intensely bitter and require fermentation to develop their flavor. Next, these little unassuming beans are dried, cleaned, and finally roasted. Once the shells are removed we have cacao nibs which are ground and turning into a pure chocolate liquid known as chocolate liquor. [My mouth is watering just typing this!] Separate the fat (cocoa butter) from the chocolate liquor and the what remains is cocoa solids. The ratio of cocoa butter to cocoa solids is what defines our chocolate.
Unsweetened or Baker's Chocolate is Pure Chocolate Liquor. But start adding sweeteners and other fats (usually milk) and world begins to engulf the possibilities. In a nutshell, about 25% Cocoa Solids is required for Milk Chocolate (milk being an added fat) and a minimum of 35% Cocoa Solids is required for Dark Chocolate.
But enough science and history... taste it. Savor it. Crave it. If you don't know the difference you can conduct a very simple test. M&Ms. They now make a Dark Chocolate version and the flavor between this and their original formula is night and day.
Regular M&Ms (bring back Tan!) are as delicious as ever. But I've begun to find them ubiquitous, appearing everywhere from ice cream toppings to cupcake decorations, turning batter into faux chocolate chip cookies, living in places it doesn't belong, like trail mix and all sorts other products. I have grown tired of this 'melt in your mouth, not in your hands' snack.
But bite crunch into a new Dark Chocolate M&M and holy smokes. This IS the difference between Milk Chocolate and Dark Chocolate.
So dig through your kids Halloween Haul tonight and find some Dark Chocolate. Try it. Your grown-up taste buds will dance, your eyes will roll, a deep sigh will emanate from the most-inner core of your being. Return will never be an option.
Once upon there was a little boy who had allergies. He was allergic to everything. Rumor has it, he was allergic to his own body chemistry. His eyes were so puffy when he was born, people joked that he looked like Edward G. Robinson (google him if you're too young to remember him). The first baby photos of him weren't even taken until he was three months old! (A real Uggo.)
Over the years, the allergies consolidated themselves to Chocolate, Peanut Butter, Grass (not weed you pot-heads, but lawn grass... as in rolling around in it with his shirt off), Mustard, Ice and I'm sure a few others things (although the memories are conflicting and contradictory - see Conflicted Memories for an alternative universe).
One day, this little boy visited an Allergist (Dr. Lecks of Philadelphia) who scratched his back many painful times until he bled and spit on the Nurse who was holding him (the Nurse yelled at him and his Mom yelled at her!). After that, seven years of allergy shots followed - sometimes once a week, sometimes twice.
This was not all bad as the little boy's regular Doctor kept a little box of toys for his patients atop his filing cabinet. Since this little boy was in so often, he was allowed to root through the box to pick out his favorites after every new box arrived - these were set aside in a special box just for him!
What followed was seven years of nary a sniffle, until one say (in May of 1983 - on a US Submarine Tender in Guam to be precise), he got Congested and it has never gone away. Over time, he grew miserable
Flash forward to October 2007. After about six months of every OTC Decongestant and Antihistamine on the market, someone suggested an ancient Chinese secret (not Calgon Water Softener - click there for a blast from the 70s). OK, so it's not much of a 'secret' but definitely 'ancient' and definitely considered 'Chinese' - although it dates back to Neolithic times which pre-date the Chinese, but as usual, I digress).
Acupuncture. A therapy wherein very fine needles are used to stimulate specific points in the body (in the most layman of terms). Western Medicine is hesitant to embrace it... a large majority of our society still pooh-poohs it (but how can one accept the pooh-poohs from a people who won't believe in a 4000+ year-old medical treatment, but have no problem putting their faith in a less-than 2000 year-old fairytale - but again, I digress).
All I can say about it is (and I HATE needles) that it does not hurt (but it can be a little uncomfortable) and usually I can feel the positive effects by the time I reach my car. After about twelve treatments, my allergies... er, ah... the little boy's allergies subsided for the first time in a long time. He's even gone back for other issues of a digestive nature and found immediate relief.
If you have not tried it and have anything going on that you would prefer not to be going on, take a stab at Acupuncture (pun intended). You will be most likely be extremely and pleasantly surprised at the results!
Recently, I've begun to encounter some scrambled memories. What are they?
I know for a fact that as a child, I was allergic to Chocolate and Peanuts. I know this because: I could only eat Frankenberry or BooBerry (not Count Chocula); Fruity Pebbles (not Cocoa Ps); Cream Cheese and Jelly Sandwiches were in my lunch box (not PB&J); White Chocolate Easter Bunnies were the norm, Strawberry Quik and Strawberry Shortcake Bars are all my norms. I endured seven years of allergy shots from Dr. Ravetz. The serum lived in our fridge (on the door) and we'd bring it with us to his office - sometimes twice a week for periods of time, sometimes less.
Yet as as I've been blogging and reminiscing in this blog more often, I remember: making chocolate milk with my Cocoa Puffs; eating Peanut Butter on Celery Sticks; trying to eat Peanuts (shell and all - I figured if Elephants could, so could I - blecch! I couldn't); Ice Cream Sandwiches as school. I remember trading my Halloween with Michael and Susan and accumulating as much chocolate as possible, Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and Nestlé Crunch Bars were my favorites (that would be a double no-no!).
So what gives? Both sets of memories are just as vivid, just as real - but only one can be right. My Mom denies my allergy, but I remember it... strongly. If I had my to choose, the Allergy Memories are the strongest.... but the I'm now remembering the others and they are growing. Can they possibly live side-by-side? Where is this discrepancy coming from? What's causing this gap in my linear thoughts. It feels as if I lived two different lives during the same time frame. I just don't understand. I am utterly conflicted.
Unfortunately, I have no pithy ending to this tale; no insight into what's going on... just this strange double set of memories, completely 180 degrees of each other.
Highly curious.
This has to be one of my most-favorite guilty pleasures of all. Deep, dark, rich, taste-bud electrifying, salivary gland enticing, pleasure-inducing flavors ever created on this planet. Dark Chocolate.
Regular M&Ms (bring back Tan!) are as delicious as ever. But I've begun to find them ubiquitous, appearing everywhere from ice cream toppings to cupcake decorations, turning batter into faux chocolate chip cookies, living in places it doesn't belong, like trail mix and all sorts other products. I have grown tired of this 'melt in your mouth, not in your hands' snack.
