National Chocolate Week (UK)

16th – 22nd October 2007

Jump to:-    History  |  Cooking with Chocolate  |  Recipes for National Chocolate Week

There is another National Chocolate week in March (USA) plus several Chocolate Days in the year, but who's complaining?

A brief History of Chocolate

1502 - Christopher Columbus introduces chocolate to Spain from his fourth voyage to the New World in 1502 but not as the product we know today. It was only consumed as a drink. The word "chocolate" was derived from the Aztec word xocolatl which means bitter water.

1615 – Anne of Austria (wife of Louis XIII) declares chocolate as the drink of the French Court , although this was only after much skepticism, as initially it was considered a "barbarous product and noxious drug".

1640 – chocolate finds its way to England, among other European countries.

1657-  the drink becomes a best seller in England and excessive duties are imposed on chocolate. It takes almost 200 years before the duty is dropped.

1828 - Dutch chocolate maker Conrad J. Van Houten created the hydraulic cocoa press. The press enabled chocolate makers to crush the "nibs," or centers, of roasted cacao beans into a paste (Chocolate Liquor). After crushing, some of the cocoa butter was extracted.

1848 - English chocolate maker Joseph Storrs Fry created the first eating chocolate by further refining the cocoa, adding sugar, and mixing the cocoa butter back in. 

1875  -  Swiss Daniel Peter added condensed milk  to  chocolate and marketed the first solid milk chocolate bar.

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Chocolate in cooking

When using chocolate for culinary purposes, use as  high a quality as you can afford - i.e. containing  higher proportions of cocoa solids,  preferably 40% for milk chocolate and 70% for dark chocolate. This information can usually be found in the ingredients section on the label.

Be very careful when melting chocolate as too high a heat can make it split. Therefore always melt in a heatproof bowl over very hot water in a small saucepan. It can also be successfully melted in the microwave using a medium setting.

For more information about chocolate visit our Chocolate ingredient analysis page.

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Recipes for National Chocolate Week

Below is just a sample of  the many chocolate recipes on this site which will enable you to celebrate National Chocolate week. For more chocolate recipes visit the Search Page and type in chocolate.

Enjoy National Chocolate Day and Happy Cooking !

Main Course

Chicken Mole Poblano    HT  MC  Mexican  80mins

Chilli with Chocolate    HT  MC  Mexican  130mins

Cakes and Baked Fayre

Chocolate Praline Bars Veg CD CBF 10mins plus chilling

Honeyed Chocolate Cornflakes      Veg   CD  CBF    20mins plus setting

Double Chocolate Muffins Veg CD CBF 30mins plus cooling

Chocolate and Hazelnut Chip Cookies    Veg   C D    N.American    35mins

Chocolate Buns        Veg    CD    45mins

Chocolate Cake        Veg     CD     45mins

Chocolate Éclairs          V eg  CD       90mins

Chocolate Walnut Biscotti      Veg    CD    CBF     Italian       100mins plus chilling

Desserts/Sauces

Chocolate Sauce         Veg    HT    ACC     10mins

Chocolate Rum Raisin Ice Cream      Veg    CD     DP     10mins plus freezing

Gingered Chocolate Lychees      Veg    CD    15mins plus standing and chilling

Little Pots of Chocolate          Veg      CD       30mins plus chilling

Poires Helene            Veg   CD     DP     French     40mins plus chilling

Nut-Praline Chocolate Upside-Down Pudding     Veg   HT     DP 45mins

White Chocolate Creme Brulee          Veg     C D     DP       65mins plus cooling

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