A Little History About Chocolate

                       Seeds in the pod                                                                Cocoa Tree       

                                                                             

             Chocolate is one of my favorite sweet things to eat. In the third book of my Heart’s Desire series, Heart’s Promise, my characters go to San Francisco on vacation. One of the things they experience is Ghirardelli chocolate, so I decided to take a look back at the beginnings of this treat. Cocoa beans, which are needed to make chocolate, grow in long pods on cocoa trees. The beans are small, bitter seeds. The trees require hot temperatures, high humidity, consistent rainfall and protective shade. You can find them ten to twenty degrees north and south of the equator in Central America and Central Mexico. That means I have no hope of growing a cocoa tree in my backyard in Ohio.

                                    Aztecs                                         Mayans

The articles I read took me back over 4,000 years to the Mayo-Chinchipe people, then the ancient Olmecs around 1,800 BC, who historians believe used cocoa beans to brew warm, flavored drinks. It was too bitter to drink alone. Around the 8^th century, the Mayans began using cocoa beans for money, as well as a drink. They mixed the ground beans with maize in water and added allspice and vanilla. In the 1500s AD, the Aztecs in central Mexico also put a high value on cocoa beans. The people groups seemed to believe the drink had health benefits. Some thought it was “food from the gods.” The drinks were used in religious ceremonies and as a beverage for royalty.  

In 1519, a Spanish explorer named Heran Cortes spent some time with the Aztecs. In 1528, he took the drink to Spain. It didn’t take the Spanish long to add sugar. Hot chocolate made its way to other European countries and to America. By the 1600s and 1700s, chocolate houses, similar to today’s coffee shops, sprang up as popular places for the well-to-do to meet over a cup of hot chocolate. During the Revolutionary War, wounded soldiers sipped the hot drink to warm up and get an energy boost. Thomas Jefferson predicted hot chocolate would become as famous as tea and coffee.

                                                                    

                                                                                                                      

In 1847, a company called J.S. Fry & Sons in England added extra cocoa butter to liquid chocolate, turning it solid and creating the first mass-produced chocolate bars. The Cadbury Chocolate Company is one of their biggest competitors. Over the next several decades, chocolate makers added milk powder to recipes to make milk chocolate. In 1879, Rodolph S. Lindt of Switzerland designed a machine that stirred the chocolate until it was smooth and velvety. Dozens of other companies followed his example.

                                                                                                                                                                                                  

Most chocolate makers started out selling chocolate powder as a product to mix with water or milk for a beverage. Improvements made it possible to make chocolate bars and so much more. Milton Hershey established his company in 1894. James Baker of Baker’s Chocolate started his business in 1764. KraftHines owns Baker's Chocolate now, but kept James Baker's name on the baking bars.

                                                                                                       

                                                                          

Domenico Ghirardelli was born in Italy in 1817. He apprenticed with a candy and confectionary maker, spent some time in Peru, then went to Stockton, CA during the gold rush. He opened a general store selling supplies and confections to miners, then he opened another store in San Francisco. After trying to sell spices, coffee, mustard and liquor along with chocolate, he settled on mustard and chocolate only. In 1893, needing more space, he and his sons bought the Pioneer Woolen Building on San Francisco’s northern waterfront. That location became Ghirardelli Square. Today, the company is owned by Lindt and Sprungli, but we can still see Ghirardelli chocolates everywhere candy is sold. 

I hope you'll enjoy this recipe for chocolate chip cookies using Ghirardelli chips.

Ghirardelli's Classic Chocolate Chip Cookies

Welcome back to Jacob and Julia's Iowa farm.

In 1893, their son Justin is eleven. and daughter Annaliese is ten. When Jacob and Julia adopted Annaliese as an infant, they were told God had a special plan for her. As Annaliese grows up, she wonders if her purpose will be world-changing.

Julia's old friend, Edward Harrington, comes to visit from England, along with his wife and son, Robbie. Their time at the farm is the beginning of a like/hate relationship and later something more between Robbie and Annaliese. When the families travel to San Francisco in 1900, a shocking revelation from Edward's wife could change everything, beginning with taking Annaliese to England. 

If this is God's plan, Annaliese is disappointed. It's nothing like she imagined, and her heart's desire is to go to veterinary college. This could mean a very different future for her.

Heart's Promise

About the Author

Linda, a retired librarian, lives in west central Ohio with her husband and grandson. An avid reader and writer since childhood, she began her publishing career writing columns and a middle-grade serial for the South Charleston Spectator. Her desire is to entertain, but more importantly, to encourage readers with God’s faithfulness.

Visit Linda at her website.    Linda Hoover Books

 Stay in touch when you sign up for her newsletter. You’ll receive a free novella as a thank you.

  

 

Celebrating All Things Chocolate By Donna Schlachter -- with Giveaway

Photo by Loannes Marc from Pexels

October 28th is the day Americans celebrate chocolate, and it’s one of the few that also have an International or World Day of its own—December 28th or July 7th, depending on which source you follow. Regardless, chocolate is America’s favorite flavor, so let’s talk more about it. Read all the way through to learn how to win a free e-book of Testing Tessa, book 1 in “Healing the Wounded Heart” series.

Chocolate has been consumed for at least 3,000 years, and grows primarily in Mexico, Central America, and northern South America. Documentation dates to around 1100 BC.

How and why the first person ever ate the bean that chocolate comes from is a mystery, since it’s intense and bitter. In fact, the bean must be fermented to develop the flavor, then dried, cleaned, and roasted. Seems like a lot of work for whoever did it first, particularly since there was no guarantee they’d come up with something edible.

However, we are glad they persisted, because once the roasted bean is ground into a powder and combined with enough sugar, milk, butter, and other ingredients, then it becomes not only edible but delicious.

Photo by Polina Tankilevitch from Pexels

As any chocolate aficionado will attest, there are different kinds of chocolate, and we each have our own preference. Unsweetened is good for baking or making cocoa from scratch. Semi-sweet adds just the right touch of flavor to baked goods like cookies and breads. Milk chocolate is, of course, for eating. And white chocolate actually doesn’t contain any cocoa solids. Some argue it is merely sugar in disguise.

Photo by Polina Tankilevitch from Pexels

 

Regardless of your taste preference, there is no dissension for celebrating the Day. You might choose to visit your favorite restaurant and indulge your sweet tooth in an exquisite chocolate creation. Maybe you prefer to bake. If so, invite some friends over and enjoy one of the recipes listed below. You could promote your favorite kind of chocolate on social media using #NationalChocolateDay, or check out the myriad of posts about this topic.

 

https://www.food.com/recipe/chocolate-lasagna-502197

 

It’s probably no surprise that the National Confectioners Association created National Chocolate Day, but I’m sure it was in response to consumer demand. Or a desire to sell more chocolate. Or both.

https://www.pexels.com/photo/architecture-art-clouds-landmark-290386/

Also, not surprisingly, other good things happened throughout history on this special date. For example, in 1886, the Statue of Liberty was dedicated; in 1919 prohibition passed, and in 1954 author Ernest Hemingway won the Nobel Prize in Literature for The Old Man and the Sea.

Enjoying your birthday on this date is second only to dressing up and begging for candy from neighbors (Halloween, of course, my birthday😊). Several notable figures from history set the fun precedence for October 28th, including Remington in 1816, Auguste Escoffier in 1846, Edith Head in 1897, and Jonas Salk in 1914. If any on this esteemed list are strangers, feel free to check them out.

Thanks for joining me on one of my favorite days of the year. Kinda like barbeque, chocolate is one of those foods you need to wear on the inside and the outside. Go for it!

Photo by cottonbro from Pexels

 

Giveaway: Leave a comment about your favorite kind of chocolate or favorite treat, and I’ll draw randomly for an ebook copy of Testing Tessa. Don’t forget to leave your email address so I can contact you if you are the winner. Use the format: donna AT historythrutheages DOT com so those pesky robots can’t track you or spam you.

About Testing Tessa:

 

In 1868, Tessa, a Mennonite nurse graduates from nursing school and is assigned to the Amana Colonies in Iowa because of her expertise in treating asthma and other breathing problems. As a former student at a women's medical school, she knows more than most about respiratory diseases. She's also had her fair share of heartbreak when, upon her mentor's death, she was forced to abandon her dream of becoming a doctor. Will she be able to use her skills? Or will her gender keep her from helping those who truly need her?

Seth, a widower in Amana, is still nursing a broken heart from his sweetheart's passing two years before. Now raising their invalid son Seth on his own, he wonders why God didn't listen to his prayers for healing for his family. Caleb has been afflicted with the same form of asthma that killed Anna, and Seth stands by helplessly as his son fades away. Can he trust God and trust medicine, or is faith in one mutually exclusive of faith in the other?

About Donna:

 

Donna writes historical suspense under her own name, and contemporary suspense under her alter ego of Leeann Betts, and has been published more than 40 times in novellas, full-length novels, and non-fiction books. She is a member of several writing communities; facilitates a critique group; teaches writing classes; ghostwrites; edits; blogs regularly; and judges in writing contests.

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Etsy online shop of original artwork: https://www.etsy.com/shop/Dare2DreamUS

Resources:

https://nationaldaycalendar.com/national-chocolate-day-october-28/

No Bake Chocolate Oat Bars: https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/10602/no-bake-chocolate-oat-bars/?evt19=1

Chocolate Lasagna: https://www.food.com/recipe/chocolate-lasagna-502197

German Chocolate Cake's Sweet History

Germany is known for numerous tasty desserts: lebkuchen, Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte (Black Forest cake), Bienenstich (bee sting cake), Rote Grütze (Red Berry Pudding), streusels, linzers, and dozens more.

But ironically, one dessert that did not originate in Germany is German Chocolate Cake.

https://images.app.goo.gl/52Yu6Uki6cdvuotJ9

German Chocolate Cake is a layered chocolate cake, topped and filled with a pecan-coconut frosting. Sometimes, chocolate frosting is used on the sides, and maraschino cherries occasionally appear as a garnish.

It is named not for its country of origin, however, but to honor the man who developed the type of chocolate used.

Samuel "Sammy" German was an Englishman who came to Dorchester, Massachusetts in the mid 19th-century, and found a job at America's first chocolate factory, Baker's Chocolate Company. Baker's was started in 1764 (then known as Hannon's Best Chocolates, although John Hannon and Dr. James Baker were partners.)

For over eighty years, the company produced cakes of chocolate for use as drinking chocolate, and by the California Gold Rush in 1849, Baker's Chocolate (now under the direction of Walter Baker) was found across America.

Baker's Cocoa Advertisement, January 1919 Issue of Overland Monthly. Public Domain.

In 1852, however, Sammy German had an idea. He developed a new type of chocolate, one that contained more sugar. This sweeter chocolate could be used for baking, and it's said Walter Baker bought the recipe for a whopping $1000. From that point on, the chocolate was sold as "Baker's German's Sweet Chocolate."

Over a hundred years later, on June 3, 1957, The Dallas Morning News printed a recipe of the day: "German's Chocolate Cake" submitted by Mrs. George Clay. The cake, with the pecan-coconut frosting, became an instant hit. Some sources claim that the recipe was in wider circulation at the time, but Mrs. Clay's recipe has been credited as the one that drew Baker's attention.

General Foods owned Baker's by this time, and they shared Mrs. Clay's recipe with other American newspapers.  Sales of Baker's Chocolate increased by 73%, and the cake became an American favorite.

Still available, even on Amazon!

Along the way, the apostrophe in "German's" was lost, and the cake is now known as German Chocolate Cake. Baker's is now owned by Kraft Heinz, and the recipe is still going strong. In fact, the recipe is usually printed right on the box.

And if you're not a cake person? Don't despair. German Chocolate is available as a flavoring in beverage syrups and coffees, too. 

June 11 is National German Chocolate Cake Day in America. Are you tempted to celebrate it with a slice this year?

***

Susanne Dietze began writing love stories in high school, casting her friends in the starring roles. Today, she's an award-winning, RWA RITA®-nominated author who's seen her work on the ECPA, Amazon, and Publisher's Weekly Bestseller Lists for Inspirational Fiction. To learn more, visit her website, www.susannedietze.com, and sign up for her newsletter: http://eepurl.com/bRldfv

Her latest is novel is The Blizzard Bride.

Tidbits About Chocolate

Years ago I did some research on the history of Chocolate, primarily because I question myself as to whether or not my 19th Century characters would have the confection we know as chocolate. Today I'm sharing some of these tidbits with all of you and I hope you enjoy them.

When Columbus came to the Americas he discovered the local chocolate drink. However it was not sweetened and the cocoa beans he brought back to King Ferdinand was overlook by the other items he returned to the Old World with.

1519 When Cortés came to Mexico he tasted the hot chocolate drink. The Cocao beans were grounded into a paste, mixed with spices including vanilla and then honey was added.

1615 This drink then went back to Spain and was enjoyed by the royal court. The ingredients of this secret beverage was hidden from all and became the drink of the court. History has it that when the Spanish Princess Maria Theresa was betrothed to Louis XIV of France, she gave her fiancé an engagement gift of chocolate, packaged in an elegantly ornate chest. Their marriage was symbolic of the marriage of chocolate in the Spanish-Franco culture. Some record the movement from Spain to France was in 1606 but personally I like the romantic story.

From there it quickly moved out of the royal courts.

1657 "Chocolate Houses" began to open in London. In much the same way that we have Coffee shops today.

1674 It was introduced in rolls and cakes.

1730 the Duke of Alba brought it into the low country as he traveled about and that dropped the price to $3 per pound. Prior to that cocoa beans were traded almost as high as gold through out different times in history.

1828 the cocoa press was invented squeezing out some of the cocoa butter giving it a smoother consistency. Cocoa Powder was also introduced through this process.

1849 Cadbury Brothers displayed eating chocolate in 1849 at an exhibition in Bingley Hall at Birmingham, England.

1851 Cocoa was introduced to the United States on Prince Albert's Expedition. Yet, chocolate wasn't really accepted by the American colonists until fishermen from Gloucester, Massachusetts, accepted cocoa beans as payment for cargo in tropical America.

For the most part Cocoa was a drink for the men. In the 17th Century it was introduced to Children.

1876 Daniel Peter of Vevey, Switzerland, experimented for eight years before finally inventing a means of making milk chocolate for eating. He brought his creation to a Swiss firm that today is the world's largest producer of chocolate: Nestle.

1879 Rodolphe Lindt of Berne, Switzerland, produced chocolate that melted on the tongue. He invented "conching," a means of heating and rolling chocolate to refine it.

1913 Swiss confiseur Jules Sechaud of Montreux introduced a process for manufacturing filled chocolates.


Lynn A. Coleman is an award winning & best-selling author who makes her home in Keystone Heights, Florida, with her husband of 42 years. Lynn's latest novel "The Shepherd's Betrothal" is the third book in her Historical St. Augustine, FL. series.

Check out her 19th Century Historical Tidbits Blog if you like exploring different tidbits of history.

Hand Over the Chocolate and I Won't Hurt You

Chocolate History 

Martha Rogers

Most people, except those who may be allergic, love chocolate. I had no idea it had been around as long it has. The origin of the word goes back to the Aztec word “xocoatl,” which is a bitter drink brewed from cacao beans. 

The Latin name for the cacao tree is Theobroma cacao and  means “food of the gods.” Chocolate has been around at least 2000 years, but some historians suggest it may be even older.

The exact time chocolate was born is hard to pin down, but no doubt about it, it was cherished from the start. Cacao beans were even valuable enough to be used as currency in pre-modern Latin American. One hundred beans could purchase a turkey and a tamale could be had for one bean according to a 16^th century Aztec document.

Legends abound around chocolate and one of them is that the Aztec king Montezuma welcomed Cortes, the Spanish explorer, at a banquet where he served a chocolate drink because he mistakenly thought Cortes was a reincarnated deity instead of a conquering invader.

Pure chocolate is bitter and didn’t suit the taste buds at first, but after they added honey or cane sugar, chocolate became popular throughout Spain. By the 17^th century, chocolate had become a popular drink throughout Europe, but only enjoyed as privilege of the rich until mass production became possible in the late 18^th century.

The chocolate drink was served among the rich in a chocolate pot like this one.

Here are some dates of the more familiar chocolates for us:

1852: Ghiradelli established his first chocolate factory in San Francisco

1861: Cadbury created the first heart shaped box of chocolates for Valentine's day.

1872: Baker’s Chocolate began using the chocolate girl painting as its trademark

1875: Daniel Peter and Henri Nestle combined chocolate and milk powder to create the first milk chocolate bar.

1879: Rodolphe Lindt produced a chocolate that melts on the tongue with a machine called a Conch that stirs the liquid chocolate to break down any lumps. He called it fondant.

1894: Milton Hershey created his first candy bar and also made baking chocolate, cocoa and chocolate coatings for caramels.

1899 Jean Tobler begins a chocolate factory in Berne Switzerland

1905 Merger of Anglo-Swiss Milk Company with Henri Nestle to form Nestle's company.

All of these are familiar names to chocolate lovers. Whether it’s dark chocolate or milk chocolate is a matter of taste, but dark chocolate may be the best for good health. It contains flavanoids that are good for our health as well as anti-oxidants. A small amount two or three times a week can be good for your heart. In addition, it can increase blood flow to the brain, can help keep blood vessels healthy and helps control blood sugar, contains antioxidants and help free the body of free radicals which cause damage to the cells, contains theobromine which has been shown to harden tooth enamel, and contains minerals like potassium, copper, magnesium and iron.

Remember that chocolate does contain fat, so keep track of the calories and the amount. A little goes a long way, especially when it has added sugar.

One last thing: Take my money, take my credit cards, but don’t touch my chocolate!

If you're a chocolate lover, leave a comment and tell me about your favorite chocolates...brand and type. Are you a dark or milk chocolate lover? Your comment will put your name in a drawing for a chocolate package with your favorites in it.

Short Bio for Martha Rogers

Martha Rogers is a free-lance writer and the author of the Winds Across the Prairie and Seasons of the Heart series as well as the novella, Key to Her Heart in River Walk Christmas and . Christmas at Holly Hill. Martha also writes a weekly devotional for ACFW. Martha and her husband live in Houston. She is a retired teacher and lives in Houston with her husband, Rex where they enjoy spending time with their grandchildren and attending football, baseball, and basketball games when one of the grandchildren is playing or performing.

www.marthawrogers@sbcglobal.net