Contrary to popular belief, there are many benefits to eating chocolate, especially dark chocolate. Chocolate started out as a drink made from cacao beans in pre-Columbian Mexico hundreds of years ago. The drink was said to have revitalizing and restorative properties. Today, we enjoy chocolate mainly because of its sweet and rich taste. This is because of the added sugar and milk in the production of modern chocolate. However, chocolate started off as dark and bitter like the original cacao beans it came from.
Since the cacao bean originates from a plant, it contains a lot of the health benefits which are associated with dark vegetables. The benefits come from flavonoids. They act as antioxidants inside the body, protecting the body from aging that is caused by free radicals and damage that can lead to heart disease. A large amount of antioxidants can be found in dark chocolate. The flavonoids contained within it produce nitric oxide which helps to relax blood pressure and balance a number of hormones throughout the body.
It is not known exactly who came up with the idea to sweeten the original bitter but spicy coco drink. It is known that the practice of sweetening coco started amongst the European nobility. This eventually filtered down to the ordinary masses and the taste for sweet chocolate has never changed. It was long after this that Belgium got to know about chocolate. In fact, it was as late as the nineteen hundreds. This seems hard to believe because Belgian chocolate is so excellent it seems like they have been doing it for hundreds of years. It is hard to imagine Belgium without chocolate at any time.
Anyone who loves Belgian chocolate knows that what makes this chocolate different is the praline. The traditional shape of Belgian chocolate is the shell. Belgian chocolate is so finely textured it melts in the mouth. All the shells are perfectly shaped and made by hand. The praline is what keeps the chocolate so light and soft. Therefore it is placed in specially designed packaging that is known as ‘ballotin’. It is the ‘ballotin’ and the ‘praline’ that are responsible for the world famous name of Belgian chocolates. They are called ‘ballotin de praline’. More modern chocolate makers also use liqueur and nuts for fillings.
Line a baking sheet with wax paper. Shape half sugar dough around each maraschino cherry. Put upright cherries on baking sheet. Put in refrigerator to chill. It takes one to two hours for cherries to get firm.
Melt chocolate for dipping according to package instructions. Hold cherry stem and dip. Coat completely to seal and stop juice dripping out.
Put stem up on lined baking sheet. Chill for three to four hours.
Put coated cherries in plastic container with airtight lid. Keep in refrigerator for one to two weeks. Centers must soften.
Not only can you go on a chocolate making course in Belgium but you can attend whole festivals dedicated to chocolate. These take place right through the year and it is a wonderful opportunity to taste chocolates. You will be told how to appreciate and understand a good chocolate. You will see how the quality of Belgian chocolates starts with the best quality coco seeds the world can produce
Resource Author Francisco R. Higueras
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