The CookingBites recipe challenge: chocolate

Morning Glory

Morning Glory

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Welcome to the CookingBites recipe challenge. The current challenge ingredient is chocolate and medtran49 is our judge. To enter, all you need to do is post a recipe which contains chocolate*, tag it cookingbites recipe challenge, and post a link to it in this thread. The winner becomes the judge for the next challenge. Deadline: midnight, end of day, Weds 12th November, UK time (GMT+1). Detailed challenge rules can be found here.


*any type of chocolate except 'powdered'. Includes bars, chips, disks, nibs, cacao butter. Includes white chocolate.
 
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Just to clarify: by powdered chocolate you mean both cacao powder and cocoa powder?

Simple definitions:
Cacao powder is made from raw cacao beans and nibs that are fermented, roasted, and milled into a powder. It's similar to cocoa powder, but it's more nutritious because it's less processed.
Cocoa powder is the finely ground, unsweetened powder, which is made from roasted and processed cocoa beans.
 
Morning Glory said:
Just to clarify: by powdered chocolate you mean both cacao powder and cocoa powder?

Simple definitions:
Cacao powder is made from raw cacao beans and nibs that are fermented, roasted, and milled into a powder. It's similar to cocoa powder, but it's more nutritious because it's less processed.
Cocoa powder is the finely ground, unsweetened powder, which is made from roasted and processed cocoa beans.
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PAcanis said:
What about Hershey's Syrup?
I always have a bottle of Hershey's syrup on the refrigerator door. Right next to the milk :D

:rolleyes:
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Only the forms listed please.

Nibs can be very, very carefully ground into tiny chunks for spice/rub mixes. Craig has a recipe for a Mayan spice mix that uses nibs. Bars of very high percentage chocolate can also probably be ground into tiny chunks. From past experience I'd freeze first since either melts quickly.
 
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Morning Glory said:
Cacao powder is made from raw cacao beans and nibs that are fermented, roasted, and milled into a powder. It's similar to cocoa powder, but it's more nutritious because it's less processed.
Cocoa powder is the finely ground, unsweetened powder, which is made from roasted and processed cocoa beans
Click to expand...
Didn't know that.
Cacao, however, is the Spanish version of the nahuatl word cacua, which is the name of the tree. Cocoa is undoubtedly an English version of the Spanish version of the nahuatl version!
 
You may just be interested to know that chocolate comes from a tree which looks like this:
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They've been growing in Latin America for thousands of years, but probably the first commercialisations came when the Spanish invaded Mexico, back in the 16th century.
The trees are wierd, because they like heat, shade and humidity; which is why some of the best cacao plantations are close to the sea or, in certain cases, like the Amazon basin, close to abundant water.
The fruit, which is called a pod, actually grows on the trunk of the tree, rather than the branches. When the pod is ripe, it's split open to reveal white "fur"around the seeds. It the seeds which are extracted, and dried, traditionally, on a huge patio exposed to the tropical sun. ( That's why you can't dry cacao seeds in the UK. :hyper: :hyper: :laugh: :laugh: )
Once they're dried, then they can be ground and processed.
Chocolate arrived in Europe thanks to the Spanish, via Mexico. In the 18th century, Venezuela took over the main trade to Europe. By the 19th century, Ecuador was producing cheaper cacao, and then, gradually, cacao migrated to Africa.
There's a lot of argument about which variety of cacao is the best in the world, but the "criollo" variety, especially that from Chuao, in Venezuela, is generally considered the finest. Chuao, however, is a tiny village on the coast, where limited quantities are available.
The first commercial "milk" chocolate was formulated in Switzerland, in 1876. Since then, chocolate has been going downhill, especially thanks to multinationals like Mondelez, Nestlé, Mars and Hershey's. There has, however, been a considerable fight back in the past 20 years to commercialise the real thing.
 
In fact, we had a bar of Chocolate made with Hawaii Cacao while waiting for our flight back to Arizona.
This very nice gentleman gave this to me in thanks for watching his things while went to the restroom.
It was wonderfull!

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I want to say that this bar cost something like $12USD
He said that his friend who makes this gave him some to give out as promotion.
 
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Copycat Moose Munch® aka Dark Chocolate Caramel Popcorn

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We LOVE this stuff and making it at home is SOOOOOOOOO much cheaper than buying it online or at a Pop-Up Holiday store.
It's not that difficult to do really, just takes some time.
This makes wonderful Food As Gifts, especially around Christmas.
I like to fancy it up just a touch ...

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My Mother ate this ☝️ entire can in one go, she liked it that much 😸 it's that good!
 
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