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Chocolate for End of Ramadan Celebration

By Bryn Kirk on September 10, 2010 | Comments (0)

Muslims celebrate Eid Al-Fitr, a three-day feast that marks the end of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.

Special foods are prepared and eaten during Eid. Some of those dishes are prepared days before Eid because it takes so long to prepare and cook them.

It’s interesting that chocolate has become a recent tradition to help celebrate Eid. The younger generation prefers the chocolate over some of the more tradional sweets.

As a result some chocolate shops may experience the highest sales orders of the year at the beginning of Ramadan.

In the Muslim home, guests are often served Arabic coffee (sometimes called Turkish style coffee) with an assortment of chocolates. If it’s anything like the Turkish coffees I’ve had then a dark chocolate would make a great pairing with great compatibility of flavor notes.

To learn more about the Eid celebration and chocolate, read the article at http://arabnews.com/lifestyle/art_culture/article130760.ece.

Categories: chocolate in the news
Tags: chocolate holidays, coffee, dark chocolate, holidays, world chocolate

Mother’s Day and Chocolate

By Bryn Kirk on May 4, 2010 | Comments (0)

Those two things, Mother’s Day and Chocolate, just fit together nicely, don’t they?

Mother’s Day is celebrated on different days and different months depending on which country you live in. In the United States, it is always celebrated on the second Sunday in May.

We can thank Anna Jarvis for this great day. She is the one credited for founding Mothers Day in the US.

How do you choose the perfect chocolate for Mom?

The choices are plentiful (overwhelming, really) and if you have not gone chocolate shopping in a while, you will be amazed at the variety of exotic new flavors and the gourmet quality of old classics.

Narrow down the choices by focusing on Mom’s fondness:

Floral: try chocolate truffles made with lavender, rose or my favorite, orange and geranium!

Tea: milk chocolate made with flavored teas and chai spices are absolutely delicious.

Fire: chili peppers added to chocolate bring out the intensity of the chocolate and of course, give it a kick.

Savory: don’t judge a book by its cover: chocolate with crystallized ginger, mushroom ganache or goat cheese taste better than you think.

Unique: www.chocomize.com. Just go there and check it out!

Posh: opening a gift box of molded chocolates decorated with sprayed on cocoa butter designs, gold, and glitter will take her breath away. They might look too beautiful to eat, but do it anyway. They taste just as good as they look.

Now pair that scrumptious chocolate with a series of chocolate lessons to keep the experience lingering long after Mother’s Day and you’ve got a real winner of a gift!

“Man cannot live on chocolate alone; but woman sure can!”
-author unknown

Categories: chocolate gifts,shameless self promotion
Tags: chocolate holidays, dark chocolate, holidays, milk chocolate

Celebrate Earth Day with Chocolate

By Bryn Kirk on April 22, 2010 | Comments (0)

Happy Earth Day!

Just in case you haven’t guessed the obvious… I enjoy eating chocolate, and I want chocolate to continue to be part of my world!

According to the International Cocoa Organization, 2.5 million farmers produce almost 90 percent of the world’s cocoa on about 5-10 acres. Most of the world’s cacao is grown on the small family owned farm. The best chocolate comes from shade grown cacao managed by farmers using small-scale, low-impact techniques.

There are still large, old style cocoa plantations in business. Cacao trees grow best in shade, but on a plantation they grow row upon row in full sun like an orchard. This practice results in the trees becoming stressed, more susceptible to disease and the soil more quickly depleted of nutrients. It is a large-scale, chemically intensive operation.

On this Earth Day, I am reminded to support the protection of our agricultural ecosystems as well as our fair trade economic systems.

I recently enjoyed a Divine Dark Chocolate 70%. Check out the Divine Dark Delights Gift Box at www.divinechocolateusa.com. Divine dark chocolate has a robust cocoa flavor with hints of fruit and earth and a smooth non-bitter aftertaste. That is heavenly!

Sweeter still was the warm fuzzy feeling I got from supporting the farmer-owned cooperative, Kuapa Kokoo, and their commitment to keeping chocolate around for a good long time.

Categories: chocolate education,chocolate review
Tags: cacao farms, chocolate bars, chocolate holidays

American Chocolate Holidays

By Bryn Kirk on October 27, 2009 | Comments (2)

Today I caught myself absent-mindedly jumping from website to website (I think this is the equivalent to channel surfing) when I landed on a site dedicated to listing American holidays. What really caught my attention was the list of American FOOD Holidays. Hey, did you know that each day of the year has an assigned food to worship?

Here are some examples:

January 16 — National Fig Newton Day
February 7 — National Fettuccine Alfredo Day
March 23 — National Chip and Dip Day
April 6 — National Caramel Popcorn Day
May 7 — National Roast Leg of Lamb Day

And so on…

That all sounds real good, but as a lover of all things chocolate, a subset of the master list fits my style better:

National Chocolate Mint Day — February 19
National Chocolate Covered Raisins Day — March 24
National Chocolate Chip Day — May 15
National Chocolate Ice Cream Day — June 7
National Chocolate Eclair Day — June 22
National Chocolate Pudding Day — June 26
National Milk Chocolate Day — July 28
National Chocolate Milkshake Day — September 12
National Chocolate Day — October 28
National Bittersweet Chocolate with Almonds Day — November 7
National Chocolate Covered Anything Day — December 16
National Chocolate Day — December 28
National Chocolate Day — December 29

As I write this blog, October 28 is coming up fast – National Chocolate Day. Notice, there is not one, but THREE National Chocolate Days. That’s more days than the number of national days set aside for Christmas. Of course, you may like to recognize the Twelve Days of Christmas. In that case three National Chocolate Days comes in second.

Take another look at the list and you’ll see this doesn’t even count Valentine’s Day, Easter, Sweetest Day, or Halloween – four more holidays that often result in the giving and consumption of chocolate!

Do you want a clever and unique idea on how to celebrate National Chocolate Day? Give the gift of chocolate lessons. As a student of Chocolate University Online, you or your special someone will receive a chocolate lesson filled with facts and fun EACH WEEK for 40 weeks, spanning across many chocolate holidays! That’s even more excitement than the 12 Days of Christmas!

Categories: fun chocolate facts,shameless self promotion
Tags: chocolate facts, chocolate holidays, holidays

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