The Art of Tasting Chocolate

TELL THE FDA TO KEEP THEIR HANDS OFF YOUR CHOCOLATE

There are some members of the U.S. Chocolate industry that want to change the basic formula of chocolate allowing for vegetable fat substitutes instead of cocoa butter and milk substitutes in place of real milk. We need your help before April 25, 2007.  See Guittard's DON'T MESS WITH OUR CHOCOLATE WEBSITE to find out how you can help with just a few clicks of the keyboard.

ALL HAIL THE EASTER BUNNY

I always start off a chocolate tasting by asking the guests what their earliest memory of chocolate is. The majority answer ‘a chocolate Easter Bunny’. Here is my theory based solely on my family’s Easter Sunday tradition. We would dye hard boiled eggs on Saturday night and leave them for the Easter Bunny to hide. On Easter Sunday morning, after waking up the adults, we could start to hunt for our eggs and our Easter basket. My sister did a wonderful job of putting together our baskets with candy from SEE'S CANDY. Lots of fudge filled eggs topped with a pastel flower. And a chocolate bunny. The rule was no eating until the hunt for all of the hard boiled eggs was completed. And then there we were - children in our pajamas and bathrobes at 9 am on a Sunday morning with a big basket of chocolate on our laps. Was this heaven or what? And we were allowed one piece. And what kid wouldn’t try for the biggest ‘piece’ of all - an entire rabbit. The adults caught on to this trick real fast but not before we had gnawed the ears off of Mr. Bunny. So begins many a child’s life long love for chocolate. Delicious and sometimes forbidden chocolate.

And why no ‘first time’ memory of other holiday’s chocolate treats? While there might be chocolate Santas around on Christmas morning the focus is on the long wished for presents that Santa has brought, not on consuming chocolate. And a Valentine’s Day celebration is a day time affair with chocolate hearts traded with class mates. It is only on Easter morning that the consumption of chocolate is encouraged at such an early hour. So we hail Easter as the most chocolate holiday of all.