If I Found A 3000 Year Old Bar Of Chocolate,,I WOULD EAT IT!!!

Oh No Doubt About IT!!!  Eating a fine chocolate is like finding the perfect wine or making love to that perfect woman. It is something that should be savoured and eating slowly. Each piece melting slowly in your mouth and drizzling down the back of your throat causing your entire body to shiver and move in erotic fashion until at some point your body releases pent up tension and you collapse into a ball of spent flesh and bone.

YES I LOVE CHOCOLATE!! And NO there are not pictures of me eating it, lol.

Thousands of years have passed since monkeys first found the cacao plant edible. MONKEYS!! I have a new found respect for any species that understands this glorious passion.

The Object of my passion starts out as this quite unassuming bean pod looking thing. No wonder man was scared off it and monkeys took the lead in its consumption.

Mesoamerica, South and Central America, is the birth place of chocolate. In the earliest days of its consumption, by humans, only the delicious pulp was eaten. Later the Mayans and Aztecs consumed it as a liquid. It is unknown who first found the beans edible. The beans eaten directly from the pod are bitter and do not taste very good. It is even suggested that the first beans may have been roasted by accident and then found to be edible. Can you imagine the look on the faces of these accidentally roasters when that wonderful chocolaty aroma floated into the air.

Chocolate quickly became an object of value, and even revered religiously, in the Americas. Chocolate plays a part in Mayan religion. The Mayan’s sacred book, Popul Vuh, contains their story of the creation, and instead of an apple tree, there’s a cacao tree.

 The Aztecs actually valued cocoa as a currency and it was used to trade for other commodities. The beans were the natives' "coins." A list of Aztec trading prices looked something like this:

1 small rabbit = 30 cacao beans
1 turkey egg = 3 cacao beans
1 large tomato = 1 cacao bean

After Europeans brought chocolate home they started experimenting with ways to serve this delicious pod. In the 18th Century the Term 'Chocolate Enlightenment' was coined and the development of chocolate, into all its present forms, was achieved.

 The 'Peoples Treat' is enjoyed and produced in every part of  the world now. I think every peace treaty should be negotiated over a cup of hot chocolate. God what a mellow negotiation that would be, lol.

My favorite ways to consume chocolate:

                                       In any sort of a Mexican Mole recipe.

Double Chocolate Peanut Butter Ice Cream.

                                          That old standby Hot Chocolate.

My favorite candy bar of all time. I actually order this online in 12 pack boxes because it is so hard to find. Each bar consists of four milk chocolate-enrobed sections each with an interior of caramel, vanilla, peanut or fudge. Sky bars have been around since the 1930's. If you have a Cracker Barrel restaurant near you; they are usually found in their gift shop.

OH YEAH!!

Those who know me already understand my love affair with Baileys. The original flavor is my favorite but I never turn down a glass of Baileys on the rocks; no matter what flavor is offered.

There are thousands of web sites that will enlighten you about the value of chocolate but let me suggest that you skip all the research and get right down to ENJOYING IT!!!

Love ya,
Randy

PS....There was a lot of chocolate consumed during the research for this blog entry.