"Fuel your body...Delight your senses"
Stephanie Brina-Herres, MS, RD, CDN
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Mar
20
2013
Springtime conjures up images associated with the season of specialty chocolate bunnies, Easter chocolate eggs, and more.
Easter is coming on March 31, 2013 (except for those who belong to the Eastern Orthodox Church and celebrate it on May 5, 2013). Image of chocolate eggs courtesy of gesinek at rgbstock.com.
As Lent ends, often consumers look at engaging in some type of chocolate indulgence.
Those of the Jewish faith in the USA who celebrate Passover from sunset on March 25, 2013 through April 2, 2013 may also consider a Kosher chocolate indulgence as well.
If chocolate has been properly stored, then the item(s) should have no “chocolate bloom” once any packaging is opened. If it has been improperly stored, however, then “chocolate bloom” may be evident.
Will that chocolate bloom put a damper on the experience?
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Mar
9
2013
It’s March once again and National Nutrition Month (NNM) is here!
National Nutrition Month helps remind us of the unmistakable link between food, nutrition and health. You can find out more by visiting this year’s NNM site.
In honor of the 40th anniversary of National Nutrition Month, we’d like to share 10 categories of tips with you.
Won’t you join us in making this the best celebration ever of NNM?!
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Feb
27
2013
In Part 1 of this blog series we provided some background on chocolate and cacao including some cultural information surrounding the growing of theobroma cacao trees around the world and processing cacao beans from grower through manufacturer.In our Part 2 of 3 blog post we discussed some of the best known varieties of cacao trees, as well as some of the flavor notes associated with beans grown in different places in the world.
Choco pieces courtesy of lusi via rgbstock.com.
In this blog post, we’ll provide some infotainment regarding perceptions of “chocolate cravings” and a bit about flavor sprays, as well as mention some potential antioxidant (including flavonol) health-related attributes of consumption of natural (not alkalized Dutch process) cocoa powder and prudent consumption of true dark chocolate.
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Feb
18
2013
In Part 1 of this blog series we provided some background on the highly successful, inextricable link between chocolate and Valentine’s Day.
We also mentioned some cultural information surrounding the growing of theobroma cacao trees around the world.
Finally we included some steps involved in processing cacao beans from grower through manufacturer.
Image courtesy of albion80 at rgbstock.com
Three of the best known categories of cacao beans that may make their way into chocolate worldwide include:
- Criollo which means “native” and this type of cacao bean may be found in Central America, and then in Venezuela in South America and some other locations;
- Forastero which means “foreign” and often this type of cacao bean thrives in the Amazon Basin, as well as in Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire and other locations. Although most Forastero variety beans have deep, classic cocoa flavor, those from Madagascar might be said to have citrus flavor elements reminiscent of tangerines, while those from São Tomé might be said to have coffee undertones; and
- Trinitario (actually a hybrid of the Criollo and Forastero) which means “sent from heaven” and often this type of cacao bean is grown mainly in the Caribbean, having actually originated in Trinidad. Trinitario cacao trees may still be found growing in Cameroon, Ecuador, the Indonesian island of Java, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Sri Lanka, and some still in Venezuela and some other locations.
Most of what is considered to be the bulk chocolate flavor in mainstream chocolate products is contributed from primarily Forastero cacao beans mainly coming out of West Africa & South Africa combined supplying ~70-80% of the world’s cacao crop.
Forastero trees are more disease resistant, which is why that category was introduced into Africa, while over the past hundreds of years since the Spanish first imported Criollo cacao beans from Venezuela, many Criollo trees have been lost to disease.
What are considered to be the flavor note cacao beans are the Criollo cacao beans and Trinitario cacao beans. Today those varieties combined only compromise some 6% of all the cacao beans grown worldwide (~1% for Criollo and ~5% for Trinitario), while a century ago combined they were closer to 50% of all the cacao beans that were grown world wide.
You may be wondering what specific types of flavor notes are considered to be found in the cacao flavor beans currently being grown around the globe.
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Feb
14
2013
Chocolate, pink or red hearts, pink or red roses, and angels or cupids–what do they all have in common? Their association with none other than Valentine’s Day!
Once again, Valentine’s Day is upon us and we thought it might be an appropriate time to talk a little bit about chocolate.
US marketers are delighted that chocolate and Valentine’s Day have been successfully and inextricably linked for so many decades now.
In 2012, the National Confectioners Association reported that ~70+ percent of candy sales associated with Valentine’s Day were specifically just for chocolate. It is a retail category where last minute buying is not that uncommon now nor in the past.
What is it about chocolate that draws people to it? What benefits besides sensory enjoyment might chocolate hold for any of us?
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