Happy World Chocolate Day! I couldn’t let this occasion pass without making a chocolicious dessert. Since the weather has been so hot around here, I didn’t want to turn on the oven, and I opted for a no-bake sweet: chocolate pudding.
I served this parfait-style, layered with butter cookies covered with milk chocolate, coconut milk yogurt, and pineapple jam, and topped with chunks of almond dark chocolate, fresh fruits, and mint.
I thought this was a great time to use up our very first Jewel raspberries of the season.
We bought quite a few dormant roots from Indiana Berry, and we recommend this company wholeheartedly. Like blackcurrants a few years ago, our latest experience growing from roots was very successful. The roots broke dormancy beautifully, and now we have raspberries – the first of many fruits to come, yay! 🙂
So quick, so delicious, imo:
Here are some interesting facts I came across while researching World Chocolate Day, courtesy of Smithsonian Magazine’s Amanda Fiegl:
- Etymologists trace the origin of the word “chocolate” to the Aztec word “xocoatl,” which referred to a bitter drink brewed from cacao beans. The Latin name for the cacao tree, Theobroma cacao, means “food of the gods.”
- Many modern historians have estimated that chocolate has been around for about 2000 years, but recent research suggests that it may be even older.
- For several centuries in pre-modern Latin America, cacao beans were considered valuable enough to use as currency. One bean could be traded for a tamale, while 100 beans could purchase a good turkey hen, according to a 16th-century Aztec document.
- In America, chocolate was so valued during the Revolutionary War that it was included in soldiers’ rations and used in lieu of wages.
- The creation of the first modern chocolate bar is credited to J.S. Fry & Sons (1847)
I love chocolate and I covered topics related to the industry on numerous occasions over the years. You are welcome to check out my coverage of the Pastry World Cup here and here, of the World Chocolate Masters here, and on the Sweets & Snacks Expo here, here, here, here, here, and here. I also posted recipes, a few of which can be found here, here, here and here.
Are you a fan of chocolate, and do you have a favorite variety? Let me know in the comments 🙂
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