Chocolate: The Exhibition

The Anniston Star

Chocolate: The Exhibition

A guide to the blockbuster exhibit at the Anniston Museum of Natural History. Jan. 29-May 22, 2011

Cover photo Special to The Star

The Anniston Star

Page 2 Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Inside:

The 8 sections of the exhibit

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Birthplace of the cacao tree The ancient Maya: The first to drink The ancient Aztecs: Cacao as cash Chocolate comes to Europe, meets sugar The invention of the candy bar Chocolate in the global economy Cacao growers today: Preserve the rainforest Chocolate today: It’s not just for eating

also inside:

• • • •

Dark chocolate vs. White chocolate

Hot chocolate recipes from around the world Choc-tacular special events A chocolate quiz and chocolate calendar

Photos Special to The Star

ABOVE: The gift shop will be selling a variety of chocolate items. BELOW: A family enjoys part of the exhibit.

Chocolate: The Exhibition

Museum memberships

Where: The Anniston Museum of Natural History When: Jan. 29-May 22. (The museum will be closed through Jan. 28 to install the exhibit.)

Hours: 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday, noon-6 p.m. Sunday. Because of the time required to view the exhibit, admissions will stop at 4:15 p.m. on weekdays and 5:15 p.m. on weekends.

Time required: Allow at least 45 minutes to see the ‘Chocolate’ exhibit on its own, plus more time to visit the gift shop and the museum’s permanent exhibits.

Tickets: $8 for adults, $7 for seniors age 60 and up, $6 for children ages 4-17, free for children 3 and under. Museum members receive half-price admission; membership card required for discount. Because the ‘Chocolate’ exhibit is so big, there is no option to visit the regular museum exhibits or the gift shop separately. Regular museum admission and free member admission will be reinstated on May 30.

Info: 256-237-6766, www.annistonmuseum.org

By joining the Anniston Museum of Natural History, members receive half-price admission to “Chocolate: The Exhibition.” (The rest of the year, members receive free admission to the museum.)

Other membership benefits include: • Free or discounted admission to more than 200 other museums across the country, through the Association of Science and Technology Centers.

• Discounts at the Museum Store.

• Free guest passes.

• Invitations to members-only events.

• Children’s birthday parties at the museum.

Annual memberships start at $30 (or $10 for full-time students). Join in person at the museum, online at www.annistonmuseum.org, or by calling the Membership Department at 256-237-6766.

Written by Lisa Davis. Edited by Lisa Davis and Anthony Cook. Designed by AnnaMaria Jacob, Jessica Stephens and Angela Reid. Special thanks to The Field Museum.

The Anniston Star

Wednesday, January 26, 2011 Page 3

‘The food of the gods’

Blockbuster exhibit celebrates the history and romance of chocolate

Choc-tacular Special Events Chocolate Sundays (with Sprinkles) • Jan. 30, Feb. 13, March 13, April 10, May 8 • 2-4 p.m.

• Free with exhibit admission.

This is your chance to sample chocolate. Each Sunday will be hosted by a different chocolatier, bakery or restaurant.

Date Night: Love, Wine, Diamonds and Chocolate • Feb. 11, 6-8 p.m.

• $25 per couple ($20 for members), $15 per single ($12 for members) Tour the exhibit and sample wine and chocolate goodies along the way. There will also be acoustic guitar music and an exhibit of chocolate diamonds from Couch’s Jewelers in Anniston and Oxford.

Valentine: A Family Affair • Feb. 12, 10 a.m.-3 p.m.

• Free with exhibit admission Family fun day includes hands-on displays of cacao pods and chocolate nibs, as well as live rainforest animals.

Girls’ Night at the Museum • March 3, April 7 • 5:30-7:30 p.m.

• $20 ($18 for members) Tour the exhibit, sip on Mudslides or gourmet coffees, enjoy mini spa treatments from Prestige Medical Spa.

Choco-licious Fun Days: Spring Break • March 14-18 Golden Ticket Candy Contest • April 1-23 Mother’s Day: Something Sweet for Mom • May 8 Free ticket for mom at participating restaurants.

Evening in the Garden of Light and Dark Chocolate • May 21

By Lisa Davis ldavis@annistonstar.co

When people hear about “Chocolate,” the new blockbuster exhibit opening Jan. 29 at the Anniston Museum of Natural History, their first question is: Will there be samples?

Alas, the answer is no. There will be no free samples of chocolate. There will be no chocolate fountain.

The museum will be wafting in the scent of chocolate through the exhibit halls, and there will be all sorts of chocolates available for sale in the museum gift shop.

And the museum will bring in a chocolate fountain, and other chocolate goodies, for a series of special events.

But the exhibit itself has a much grander scope, exploring the role that chocolate has played in civilization.

The vast exhibit starts in the tropical rainforest, home to the cacao tree, the source of all of the world’s chocolate.

It travels to the world of the ancient Mayan and Aztec peoples, who believed that chocolate was a gift from the gods.

It moves to 18th-century Europe, where chocolate was the drink of royalty, and through the Industrial Age, when machines made possible the chocolate bar, and a man named Hershey set up a little factory in Pennsylvania.

“Chocolate: The Exhibition” is produced by the Field Museum in Chicago — the same folks who brought us the blockbuster exhibit “A T. Rex Named Sue.” It’s different from any exhibit the

Highlights from the gift shop The museum gift shop will be selling all sorts of chocolate items, including: • Gourmet truffles • Gourmet caramels • Hot cocoa mix • Chocolate mint tea • Chocolate-covered berries Anniston Museum has ever offered. For starters, it’s huge. It will take up all the public and traveling exhibit space in the museum. The exhibit is also laid out in a very specific manner, and must be viewed in one, continuous path.

Visitors will enter through the front door, buy a ticket and go to the first part of the exhibit.

Visitors will not be able to go directly from the front door to the regular exhibit halls, the restrooms or the gift shop.

Instead, to get to the regular exhibit halls or the gift shop, visitors much walk through the “Chocolate” exhibit, from beginning to about midway through.

Visitors will exit through the conservatory — where the museum was hoping to place a selection of chocolate orchids. (Yes, there are orchids that smell like chocolate.)

• Chocolate-covered pretzels • Chocolate-scented ink pens • Chocolate-scented soaps, lotions and candles • Chocolate orchids Visitors should allow at least 45 minutes to view the “Chocolate” exhibit, plus extra time as needed for the regular museum exhibits and the gift shop.

To allow visitors enough time to get through the exhibit, admission will stop at 4:15 p.m. on weekdays and 5:15 p.m. on weekends.

Visitors will not be able to bypass the “Chocolate” exhibit and just visit the regular museum exhibits.

There’s no entry to the museum without purchasing a ticket to “Chocolate.”

The exhibit will be up through May 22 — just in time for Valentine’s Day, Easter and Mother’s Day. The pages that follow offer a preview of the eight sections of the exhibit, using information supplied by the Field Museum.

As Homer Simpson once said, “Mmmmmmmmm … chocolate.”

The Anniston Star

Page 4 Wednesday, January 26, 2011

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The rainforest: Birthplace of the cacao tree

Teresa Murray/The Field Museum

The world’s best chocolate makers covet ‘criollo’s’ rare and prized seeds.

Anamari Golf/The Field Museum

Cacao pulp tastes faintly of citrus and is the consistency of a pear.

• All of the chocolate we eat comes from the seeds of one plant: the cacao tree. It’s spelled differently from cocoa, and it’s pronounced differently, too: kahKOW. • Its scientific name is Theobroma, which means “food of the gods.”

• Despite the similarities in name, it is not related to the coconut tree, or the coca plant (which is where cocaine comes from).

• Just so we’re clear about that: There’s no cocaine in chocolate. Chocolate is addictive for entirely different reasons.

• The cacao tree only grows near the equator. It’s native to the tropical rainforests of Central and South America.

• The world now consumes so much chocolate that cacao trees have been planted in many other countries. Some farmers clear out sections of rainforest in order to plant more cacao trees, which is contributing to the destruction of the rainforests.

• The cacao tree is not a very big tree, really. It only grows 30 or 40 feet high, under the shade of the giant trees of the rainforest.

• It blooms with delicate, pink or white blossoms, which grow in small clusters not just on the branches of the tree, but on its trunk, as well.

• The flowers are tiny, and have to be pollinated by a tiny fly called a midge. The midges live on the forest floor underneath the cacao trees. By growing its flowers on its trunk, the tree makes it easier for the midges to get to them.

• The flowers turn into seed pods that look like small, green footballs.

• The pods contain a sweet pulp, which rainforest animals like to eat. But that’s not where chocolate comes from. Chocolate comes from the seeds inside the pulp.

• Each pod contains 30 to 50 seeds — enough to make about seven chocolate candy bars.

• The seeds are about the size of almonds — and they taste awful. They’re bitter. Animals eat the pulp and spit out the seeds. Humans, for reasons lost to history, decided to eat the seeds, and spent the next few centuries coming up with ways to make them taste better.

“All you need is love. But a little chocolate now and then doesn’t hurt.”

– Charles M. Schulz

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The Anniston Star

Page 6 Wednesday, January 26, 2011

2

The ancient Maya: The first to drink chocolate, 250-900 A.D.

• For 90 percent of its history, people didn’t eat chocolate. They drank it, starting with the ancient Maya, around 250900 A.D. • The Maya lived in the countries we know today as southern Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador.

• The Maya built the city of Chichen Itza, known today as an archeological feast of temples, pyramids and ballcourts.

• The Maya also came up with a calendar that stops at the year 2012, leading some folks to think that might be when the world ends.

• Whether or not the Mayans figured out the end of the world, they certainly figured out chocolate.

• They planted cacao trees in their backyards, then harvested the bitter

3

seeds, fermented them, roasted them and finally ground them into paste.

• That’s still pretty much the way cacao is processed today.

• But here’s where the Maya got creative. They took the bitter cacao paste and mixed it with water, chile peppers and cornmeal to make a frothy, spicy drink.

• It was still bitter, though.

• The Maya loved it anyway, especially the Maya kings. Wealthy Mayans drank their chocolate from fancy vessels decorated by special chocolate artists.

• The Maya god Ek Chuah was the god of cacao growers and sellers.

• Maya priests used chocolate in religious ceremonies. Brides and grooms drank chocolate at their weddings.

The ancient Aztecs: Using cacao as cash, 1250-1521 A.D.

• The Mayan civilization began a slow decline starting around the 8th century.

In its wake arose the Aztec Empire.

• The empire’s capital city was Tenochtitlan, with its Great Pyramid.

Mexico City was built on the ruins of Tenochtitlan.

• One of the most famous Aztec relics is a circular calendar stone.

• The Aztecs are also remembered for their propensity for human sacrifice.

• They also liked chocolate. Some scholars think it was the Aztecs who gave us the word “chocolate.”

• Cacao trees wouldn’t grow in the dry lands around the Aztec capital, so the Aztecs set up a vast system of trade with the Maya and other peoples who grew cacao.

• Cacao became so valuable, the Aztecs actually used the seeds as money.

You could go to the market with a pocketful of seeds to do your shopping.

• The “Chocolate” exhibit includes an

interactive Aztec marketplace where you can do just that.

• Because cacao was so valuable, only royalty and the rich and famous could afford to drink chocolate.

• It is said that, in the court of the Aztec ruler Montezuma, they drank 2,000 cups of chocolate every day. Montezuma, himself, was responsible for drinking 50 of those.

• Like the Maya, the Aztecs mixed bitter cacao paste with water and flavorings: chile peppers, vanilla beans, black pepper, cornmeal. Sometimes they mixed it with annatto seeds, which turned the chocolate a deep, blood-red color.

• The Aztecs believed that cacao seeds came from the god Quetzalcoatl, who brought them down to Earth from paradise. Quetzalcoatl was later kicked out of paradise for that impudence. The gods felt that only they should have access to chocolate.

• Silly gods.

The ancient Maya ground up cacao seeds using a small stone, called a ‘mano,’ against a large stone surface, called a ‘metate.’ In modern-day Central and South America, many people still make chocolate this way.

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The Anniston Star

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Chocolate comes to Europe, and meets sugar, 1600-1750

• After Christopher Columbus discovered the New World in 1492, Spain became all about conquering it.

• In the spring of 1519, a Spaniard named Hernando Cortes landed on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, and set out to conquer Montezuma and the Aztecs.

• Which he did a couple of years later, resulting in the destruction of the city of Tenochtitlan.

• The Spanish discovered all sorts of new and interesting foods here in the New World, and they shipped them back home: corn, chile peppers, vanilla, tomatoes.

And chocolate.

• The Spanish had something that the Aztecs did not. Sugar.

• The Spanish started to sweeten hot chocolate with sugar, along with spices such as cinnamon.

• The Spanish also realized that chocolate can be good for you. After much debate, the Catholic Church allowed people to drink hot chocolate during Lent; it didn’t break the fast because it wasn’t a solid food.

• The Spanish managed to keep chocolate a secret from the rest of Europe for almost 100 years. This might have been intentional.

• But secrets will get out, and soon chocolate became the fad that swept the European continent.

• Chocolate was still expensive, so for many years only the wealthy and powerful could drink it. In France, the law was that only members of the royal court could imbibe.

• Like the Aztecs, Europeans like to drink their expensive chocolate out of fancy vessels, made from porcelain or silver. (For more on chocolate vessels, see page 14.)

• The first chocolate house opened in London in 1657. It became the Starbucks of its day.

• It was also in London that Sir Hans Sloane, of the Royal College of Physicians, discovered that you could mix hot chocolate with milk.

• There was a dark side to all this chocolate consumption, however. To keep up with demand, European countries established cacao plantations all over the world.

Like cotton, cacao is a very labor-intensive crop. Like cotton, the plantation owners used slaves to work the fields.

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The Anniston Star

Page 8 Wednesday, January 26, 2011

White chocolate vs. dark chocolate

“Ideas should be clear, and chocolate thick.”– Spanish proverb

A guide to types of chocolate • All chocolate begins by extracting, fermenting, drying and roasting cacao seeds (also called beans), removing the shell and skin, and leaving the tasty nibs.

• Chocolate liquor refers to the nibs ground to a smooth, thick liquid or paste.

Despite the name, it contains no alcohol, just fat and solids.

• Cocoa butter is the fat contained in the cacao seed.

• Cocoa is the powdery solid that’s left after most of the cocoa butter is removed from chocolate liquor.

• Baking chocolate is a solid chocolate made from pure chocolate liquor, no sugar added.

• Bittersweet and semisweet chocolate are the darkest eating chocolates and have at least 35 percent chocolate liquor.

• Sweet dark chocolate contains 15 percent to 35 percent chocolate liquor and less than 12 percent milk solids. It may also contain ingredients like condensed milk, cocoa butter, sugar and vanilla.

• Milk chocolate is a mixture of chocolate liquor, cocoa butter, milk, sugar and flavorings. All milk chocolate made in the United States contains at least 10 percent chocolate liquor and 12 percent whole milk.

• “Dutched” or “Dutch” chocolate is made from chocolate liquor or cocoa powder that has been treated with alkaline salts to give it a darker color and a milder flavor. The process was invented in Holland.

• White chocolate is a blend of cocoa butter, milk, sugar and flavorings. It contains no cocoa solids, and many people don’t consider it chocolate at all.

—The Field Museum

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The Anniston Star

Wednesday, January 26, 2011 Page 9

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The Anniston Star

Page 10 Wednesday, January 26, 2011

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Chocolate in the Industrial Age: The invention of the candy bar, 1750-1910

• Before the Industrial Revolution of the 1700s, chocolate was a gritty, rather oily paste, usually dissolved in water or milk and then drunk. But the invention of new machines, such as the steam engine and the cocoa press, made it possible to turn chocolate into a solid.

• It also started to be used in cooking, to make chocolate cakes and chocolate sorbets.

• As chocolate became plentiful and affordable, people even started to eat it for breakfast.

An American candymaker named Milton S. Hershey builds a chocolate factory in southern Pennsylvania.

1930

1893

There are nearly 40,000 different kinds of chocolate.

1923

Hershey’s main competitors, the father-andson-team of Frank and Forrest Mars, create the Milky Way bar.

1912

The first combination candy bar arrives, in the form of the Goo Goo Cluster from Tennessee, a mix of peanuts, caramels and marshmallows coated with milk chocolate.

Roald Dahl writes Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and invents Willie Wonka.

1964

Hershey introduces Kisses. The little piece of paper that sticks out of the top is dubbed the Niggly Wiggly.

1907

Richard Cadbury, founder of England’s Cadbury chocolate company, introduces the Valentine’s Day candy box.

Ruth Graves Wakefield of the Toll House Inn in Whitman, Mass., cuts up a Nestle chocolate bar and adds the pieces to a cookie recipe. Ta-da!

Toll House chocolate chip cookies.

1933

Richard Stroehecker invents the chocolate Easter bunny.

1868

1847

Frank Mars introduces the M&M.

1890

1857

Henri Nestle and a partner add condensed milk to chocolate, to make smooth, creamy “milk chocolate.”

Fry & Sons of England develop the first solid chocolate bar for snacking.

1941

A brief history of chocolate candy

The Anniston Star

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Wednesday, January 26, 2011 Page 11

Chocolate in the global economy

• Just like orange juice and pork bellies, cacao seeds are traded on the commodities market. The exhibit contains a stock ticker that displays current prices on the world market.

• More than $13 billion worth of chocolate is sold in the United States every year.

• In 1998, Americans ate 3.3 billion pounds of chocolate. That averages out to about 12 pounds of chocolate for each of us.

• The Swiss eat even more chocolate— 23 pounds per person each year— followed by the Germans and the Belgians.

• Many Asian cultures have never developed a taste for chocolate. The Chinese, for example, eat only one bar of chocolate for every 1,000 bars eaten by the British.

• Japan is starting to catch on, however, thanks to American soldiers who introduced the country to chocolate

during World War II. The Japanese now eat almost four pounds of chocolate per person, per year.

• In African countries like Ghana and Ivory Coast, people rarely eat chocolate, because it’s worth more as an agricultural export than as a food.

• Chocolate is also associated with many religious holidays around the world.

Chocolate coins are given to children at Hanukkah. Chocolate Santas are given to children at Christmas. Chocolate bunnies are given to children at Easter.

• Chocolate can be given to most women at any time.

• In Mexico, chocolate features in the annual Day of the Dead festival, when families build altars in their homes to remember loved ones who have died.

Food, flowers, cacao seeds and hot chocolate are left as offerings on the altars.

C

Teresa Murray/The Field Museum

Many Mexican communities have a local grinder who will process residents’ cacao seeds, corn and chilies into a find powder.

proudly supports

hocolate: The Exhibition at the Anniston Museum

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The Anniston Star

Page 12 Wednesday, January 26, 2011

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Cacao growers today: preserving the rainforest

• The big cacao plantations of the 1800s are no more. Instead, most of today’s cacao is grown on small family farms or co-ops in such far-flung places as Africa and Indonesia.

• While machines make most of the chocolate candy today, the cacao seeds themselves are still processed by hand, as they have always been. Farmers harvest the seeds, ferment them, dry them and pack them.

• Since family farms are particularly vulnerable to crop failure, pests and disease, some researchers worry about a possible chocoSpecial to The Star late shortage in the future.

Horrors!

• In the past, cacao farming practices have contributed to the destruction of the tropical rainforest. But today there is an emphasis on sustainable farming, planting cacao trees on the borders of rainforests, rather than carving farmland out of virgin rainforests.

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The Anniston Star

Wednesday, January 26, 2011 Page 13

8

Chocolate today: It’s not just for eating

Chocolate can boost your health • The Mayans and the Aztecs drank chocolate because it tasted good, but they also used it as medicine, to treat such things as seizures, fevers and skin infections.

• Europeans in the 1600s believed much the same thing. They thought chocolate could induce sleep, aid digestion, purify the blood and ease the pain of childbirth.

• Florence Nightingale thought chocolate was a crucial ingredient in healthcare.

• Modern scientists think there might be something to that. There are more than 300 chemicals in chocolate, including one called theobromine, which is used to treat high blood pressure.

• A 1.5-ounce bar of milk chocolate contains 3 grams of protein, 15 percent of the RDA of riboflavin, 9 percent of the RDA of calcium and 7 percent of the RDA of iron.

• Chocolate also contains antioxidants, which may help prevent heart disease, and stearic acid, which may help with cholesterol levels.

• There are twice as many antioxidants in dark chocolate.

• Nevertheless, if you eat a whole lot of chocolate, you’ll negate all of those healthy effects.

• Chocolate also contains a small amount of caffeine, but probably not enough to keep you awake. An ounce of milk chocolate is about as strong as a cup of decaf coffee • One study has shown that the scent of chocolate activates a certain type of brain wave that causes you to relax.

• Or you could go to the Hotel Hershey in Hershey, Penn., where the spa treatments include a whipped cocoa bath,

chocolate sugar scrub, chocolate fondue wrap and a cocoa massage, followed by a chocolate martini.

Chocolate can boost your love life • All those boxes of Valentine’s chocolates are presented for a reason. It’s long been believed that chocolate acts as a veritable love potion.

• Montezuma, the Aztec king, certainly thought so. He drank 50 cups of chocolate a day.

• Legendary lover Casanova also believed in chocolate. He drank it every day.

• The Marquis de Sade, a legendary lover of a different sort, was also a fan of the cacao bean. When he was in prison, he had his wife send him chocolate.

• Chocolate does contain the chemical phenylethlamine (PEA), the same chemical that the brain releases during moments of emotional pleasure. Scientists think PEA is responsible for that feeling of being “in love.”

• Cheddar cheese, salami and pickled herring all contain more PEA than chocolate. But they don’t look nearly as nice in the heart-shaped box.

THE CHOCOLATE CALENDAR Jan. 3 – National Chocolate-Covered Cherry Day Jan. 10 – National Bittersweet Chocolate Day Feb. 25 – National Chocolate-Covered Peanut Day Feb. 28 – National Chocolate Souffle Day March 24 – National Chocolate-Covered Raisin Day April 3 – National Chocolate Mousse Day June 7 – National Chocolate Ice Cream Day July 28 – National Milk Chocolate Day Aug. 4 – National Chocolate Chip Day Sept. 12 – National Chocolate Milkshake Day Oct. 28 – National Chocolate Day Dec. 16 – National Chocolate Covered Anything Day Jan. 1-8 – National Lose Weight Week

“What use are cartridges in battle? I always carry chocolate instead.”

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Do you have Rheumatoid Arthritis? h

Chocoholics, read this • Scientists insist that you can’t really get addicted to chocolate — although it does contain some chemicals that are similar to THC, the active ingredient in marijuana.

• In order to get high, however, you’d have to eat more than 25 pounds of chocolate. And even then, that wouldn’t make you physically addicted to chocolate.

• Chocolate can also raise serotonin levels in the brain, which leads to a feeling of well-being.

“After about 20 years of marriage, I’m finally starting to scratch the surface of what women want. And I think the answer lies somewhere between conversation and chocolate.”

– Mel Gibson

If you have rheumatoid arthritis you may be eligible to participate in a clinical research study to test an investigational drug for people with rheumatoid arthritis.

You may quality to participate if you:

•Are between the ages of 18 and 75 years of age •Have been diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis •Are not pregnant or nursing or are not planning on becoming pregnant during the study Additional conditions will be evaluated by study staff during a medical screening to confirm final eligibility If you qualify, your participation may last approximately 185 days including follow-up. You will receive study-related health examinations at no cost. Compensation for your time and travel may also be available.

To learn more about this study call Lorie at (256) 236-0055 Ext. 102

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Page 14 Wednesday, January 26, 2011

The Anniston Star

‘Chocolate Vessels:’ an exhibit on the art of drinking chocolate

In conjunction with “Chocolate: The Exhibition,” the Berman Museum is hosting an exhibit of “chocolate vessels.” No, they’re not vessels for sailing in. Nor are they made of chocolate.

They are, rather, fancy decorated pots for serving hot chocolate.

After Spanish explorers brought chocolate back to Europe in the 1500s, drinking hot chocolate became all the rage on the Continent.

Chocolate was still very CHOCOLATE VESSELS expensive, so drinking it became a sign of wealth and Where; Berman Museum status. And hot chocolate drinkWhen: Through June 5. ers began to show off with elabHours: 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday, orate chocolate services, crafted 1-5 p.m. Sunday. from silver or delicately painted Tickets: Included in regular museum porcelain. admission: $5 adults, $4.50 seniors, $4 Margaret Wilson of Anniston children ages 7-14, free for children 3 and collects chocolate vessels, and under and for museum members. the Berman exhibit is drawn Info; 256-237-6261, www.bermanmufrom her collection. seum.org There are tall, slender pots, gilded and painted with scenes of the Orient or windmills.

Shorter, curvier pots are painted with flowers.

The tall, slender ones are properly called “chocolate pots.” They don’t have much in the way of a spout, and they have lids.

The curvier, more bulbous ones are “chocolate pitchers.” They have more pronounced spouts, and no lids.

There are also “chocolate jugs” and “chocolate kettles,” in various shapes.

The exhibit is in the temporary gallery upstairs, along with a selection of paintings from the Berman’s permanent collection.

“Let’s face it, a nice creamy chocolate cake does a lot for a lot of people; it does for me.” – Audrey Hepburn

Photos by Bill Wilson/The Anniston Star

These decorated pots for serving chocolate are on display at the Berman Museum.

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The Anniston Star

Wednesday, January 26, 2011 Page 15

Recipes from around the world

Hot Mocha from West Africa

Hot Chocolate Mexican Style

Bring the water to boil in a medium, heavybottomed saucepan. Remove from heat, In Mexico, the traditional way of preparing and add chocolate. After one minute, begin hot chocolate is to grind cacao seeds by hand whisking the chocolate until it has completely using a mano and metate, which are a bit like melted. a mortar and pestle.

Place the saucepan over medium-high heat Once heated and mixed with water, sugar and gradually whisk in the milk, cinnamon and and cinnamon, the hot chocolate is then almond extract. Cook the mixture until it comes whipped into a foamy cap. to a full boil, whisking frequently. Lift the pan Typically, most cooks will use a molinillo (similar to a large swizzle stick) to froth up the off the burner until the bubbling subsides. Then replace the pan and bring it back to a boil again, chocolate. But if that doesn’t whip up enough foam, sometimes the chocolate maker will hold repeating this process three times in total.

Lower the heat and let it simmer for another the pot high overhead and pour the mixture 5 minutes, stirring constantly. The chocolate back and forth between cup and pot until the should be thick enough to coat the back of a froth is satisfyingly thick. spoon. Turn off the heat.

Using an electric mixer, a blender, a whisk or 1/2 cup water an eggbeater, beat the chocolate until the sur3 ounces semisweet chocolate, coarsely face is covered with a thick cap of foam. Pour chopped and serve in cups immediately.

2 cups milk — Reprinted with permission 1 teaspoon cinnamon 1/8 teaspoon almond extract (scant) from Elaine Gonzålez

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and sugar. Warm the mixture over low heat, stirring often, just until it begins to simmer. Quickly stir in A refreshing break from powthe coffee until it is dissolved, and dered cocoa mixes, this drink is remove the mixture from the heat. the real thing. It also blends chocoAdd a small amount of the hot late with another major African liquid to the melted chocolate, export—coffee. whisking it until smooth. (If the chocolate “seizes� and refuses to 6 ounces dark chocolate, finely smooth out, try adding a bit more chopped liquid.)

1 1/3 cups milk Very gradually add the remain2/3 cup heavy cream ing hot liquid, whisking it until 1 tablespoon granulated sugar smooth after each addition. Scrape 2 teaspoons instant coffee the bowl occasionally with a rubber 1 tablespoon pure vanilla spatula.

If the chocolate begins to stiffen, Melt the chocolate in a double return the mixture to the pot and boiler or in a medium, heatproof reheat it over low heat, stirring bowl over hot water. Stir it often, often, until it’s very hot. Stir in the until it’s almost smooth. Then remove the chocolate from the heat vanilla and serve at once.

Makes 2 to 3 servings. and whisk it until it’s completely ­— Reprinted with permission smooth. from Omanhene Cocoa Bean In a small, heavy-bottomed saucepan, combine the milk, cream Company

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The Anniston Star

Page 16 Wednesday, January 26, 2011

How well do you know your chocolate?

Test your chocolate knowledge with a quiz from the Field Museum of Chicago.

Cacao grows best: a. Under the shade of taller trees b. In cleared areas, in plenty of sun c. On hillsides

2 3 4 5

Which country grows the most cacao today? a. Mexico b. Indonesia c. Ivory Coast Which country processes the most cacao? a. Switzerland b. The Netherlands c. Belgium Which country consumes the most chocolate per capita? a. The U.S. b. Switzerland c. Mexico

6 7 8

What fictional character said, “Life is like a box of chocolates…”? a. Willy Wonka b. Forrest Gump c. Pollyanna For which holiday do Americans spend the most on candy? a. Valentine’s Day b. Easter c. Mother’s Day Theobromine, a substance found in cacao, is used to treat what medical problem? a. Headaches b. Constipation c. High blood pressure

9

Who was the Baby Ruth candy bar named for? a. President Grover Cleveland’s daughter b. The granddaughter of the company’s president c. The baseball player

Cacao seeds traded on the world market today are called? a. Cacao b. Cocoa c. Coca

THE ANSWERS 1. a. Under the shade of taller, canopy trees.

2. c. Ivory Coast – about 1.1 million tons in 1999. In fact, the country’s government estimates that the livelihood of half the country’s 14 million people is directly or indirectly tied to cacao production.

3. b. The Netherlands. But they consume a bit less, per capita, than the U.S. 4. b. The Swiss – more than 24 pounds per

person per year.

5. a. All three answers have been suggested, but the fact is, no one knows for sure.

6. b. Forrest Gump 7. a. Valentine’s Day – about $1 billion!

8. c. High blood pressure; it dilates the arteries.

9. b. Cocoa