Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Chocolate week: not as satisfying as hoped

     What is made from a mixture of cacao parts and coco butter, originally drank by Mayans, and made me gain two pounds in one week? Chocolate. All of these things are true. It was a learning experience, however. Did you know that the difference in Hershey's milk chocolate that is good and Lindt's milk chocolate that is amazing is largely the amount of time that they "mill"  the chocolate concoction before hardening? Hershey only uses 4-6 hours of "milling" because it is cheaper that way. Higher quality chocolates do it longer which makes the chocolate smoother. Ta-da!
    I have not mentioned the effect of the caffeine. I had a little trouble sleeping for the first few nights because of all the caffeine I ate that I don't normally eat. Eventually my body got used to it. Now, I'm pretty sure my love handles are at least 33% chocolate.
    During this experiment I ate chocolate from Puerto Rico, Switzerland and the U.S.A. I ate it with 31%, 64%, 77% and 99% cacao. Don't eat 99% cacao- I died a little on the inside.  Plus I ate it with strawberries, potato chips, bacon, filled with caramel, toffee and chilies. It still amazes me that chocolate goes with almost every type of flavor: sweet, salty, sour and spicy. Would bacon count as salty or umame?
     My advice is not to try this. Do a small tasting. Enjoy occasionally. Don't fill a week with it.
     Next week, well, this week is meditation week. After a week gaming and another eating chocolate, I need to try and calm my heart rate. I don't want this year to result in my untimely end because of high blood  pressure. So off I go to get in a few Oms before work.

2 comments:

cindar7@aol.com said...

chocolate is best eaten in the company of someone you you love. Case in point, grandmothers....mine made the best chocolate pie just for me and I remember it fondly. Also my first love gave me the most wonderful chocolates for special occasions. I remember chocolates more perhaps than I remember him...just joking. Lastly, this entry has made me wish that I was there sharing a chocolate something with you! :)

treasureislandcrafts said...

Dark Chocolate covered raisins=health food (almost)