A Chocolate Education
Written By: Frances Cardullo
Food fads come and go, but chocolate, like diamonds, is forever. Chocolate
currently accounts for more than half of all the candy sold in America. From the
time Spanish conquistadors brought it back to Europe, all the world has consumed
chocolate with a passion. In the 16th and 17th centuries the Spaniards’ loved
the drinking of chocolate. Because the tropical cacao tree could not be grown in
Europe, cacao beans were soon perceived as a precious treasure to the Europeans
as well. Imported from the west Indies, an area controlled by the Spaniards,
chocolate was a jealously guarded commodity for over 100 years.
By
the 1700s, chocolate houses were as popular as coffee houses throughout Europe.
But, it would still be another century before chocolate was considered something
to eat, not to drink. The chocolate bar was first made around 1910. It gained
popularity during WW2, when it was issued as part of the infantry’s D-rations.
At
first it sounds like folklore, but there is some scientific evidence that
indicates that chocolate and other sweets really do have an uplifting quality. A
box of our famous Belgian Neuhaus Chocolates is the ultimate
luxury. If you indulge, are you throwing good health out the window? No. Your
favorite chocolate, on occasion, provides a boost to your mood without playing
havoc with good health habits. It seems that the two fats in cocoa butter
-
stearic acid and palmitic acid
-
affect cholesterol levels the least of all
saturated fats.
In addition to Neuhaus Chocolates, Cardullo’ s has the famous
French Valrhona Chocolate, Belgian Dolphin, Italian
Lazzaroni and Perugina (Baci and others),
Dutch Droste and Verkade, Swiss Tobler and
Lindt, German Feodora, Sarotti, Hachez, Milka and Ritter
Sport, Norwegian Freia, Swedish Marabou, English
Cadbury ‘s, Canadian After
Eight and from the US,
Ghiradelli, Lake Champlain,
The Sweet Shoppe, Joseph Schmidt
and Scharfenberger.
