Valerie Beck
Chicago Chocolate Tour guests at Joseph Schmidt's chocolate Chicago skyline sculpture
Yours truly (3rd from left) with some of my terrific team members
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The history of fondue? Vasily, I'm glad you asked!
Chocolate fondue is a more recent invention than cheese fondue, a recipe for which was mentioned in Homer's Iliad: grated goat's cheese, wine, and flour went into the mix.
In 18th century Switzerland, fondue became popular as a way to use hardened cheese and bread. These staples were made in the summer but had to last through the winter, when fresh food was scarce. The cheese and bread became almost too hard to bite into months after their creation, but by melting the cheese, adding some wine, and dipping the bread, a soft and edible mixture ensued. It won't surprise you to hear that the word fondue comes from the French fondre, meaning to melt.
It wasn't until 1964 that chocolate fondue came onto the scene. Returning American soldiers brought the idea of cheese fondue back from France, where it had migrated from Switzerland. Swanky New York restaurant Chalet Swiss began serving cheese fondue, and then chocolate fondue.
Fondue became trendy in the 1960s and 70s and is having a bit of a resurgence today, as restaurants and home chefs serve fondue with meat or bread dipped by guests into a pot of oil or cheese, or with fruit or cake dipped into a pot of chocolate. But be warned: tradition has it that if you drop your food into the fondue pot, you have to kiss the person sitting next to you - or pay the entire restaurant bill!
We know that chocolate is the food of the gods, and the favorite food of many of us humans, but do animals eat it too? Juliet, I'm glad you asked!
Monkeys, rodents, and birds that are indigenous to the Central and South American regions where cacao trees grow do indeed eat the sweet pulp from the cacao pods. They don't, however, eat the bitter seeds from which chocolate is ultimately made. The animals spit out the seeds, and new cacao trees grow. A happy strategy!
The fact that the cacao seeds contain a chemical called theobromine takes us to the next point. You may have heard that dogs shouldn't eat chocolate. The reason is that their systems can't process theobromine, an alkaloid chemical in chocolate that is similar to caffeine and that gives humans a wonderful feeling yet which can cause sickness, seizures, or even death in dogs. In addition, horses and livestock fed cocoa bean hulls have died due to theobromine poisoning.
The amount of theobromine in chocolate is quite small and is metabolized by the liver in humans, while dogs and other animals metabolize it more slowly.
Interestingly, theobromine might have additional benefits for humans besides making us feel good: it might lower blood pressure, help treat asthma, and might even be useful in preventing cancer.
OK, back to the main point: animals that live among cacao trees in the rainforest crack open cacao pods to eat the sweet pulp, while avoiding the seeds. The seeds are what chocolate is made from; chocolate contains theobromine which is pretty marvelous for humans but which can be toxic for dogs and other animals.
So, share your chocolate with your friends, but not with man's best friend.
National Ice Cream Month? Why not? Of course as long as chocolate is involved, any idea is a good idea, right!
July has officially been National Ice Cream Month since 1984, and National Ice Cream Day is the third Sunday of the month. This year, the big day is Sunday, July 15.
What does all of this mean for chocolate lovers? Chicago Chocolate Tours will highlight ice cream treats throughout the month, by inviting tourguests to sample scrumptious ice creams at participating stores, at no extra charge. And, our tours on July 15 will include a full-on ice cream extravaganza. Enjoy ice cream the Chicago Chocolate Tours way!
Meanwhile, what's the scoop on ice cream? While chocolate was cultivated and enjoyed by the Olmec people in Central America as early as 4,000 years ago, and frozen treats were popular millennia ago in Asia when Chinese emperors sent their slaves to the mountains for ice to mix with fruit and possibly yak's milk, ice cream became popular among the elites of Europe - without chocolate - in the 1500s in Italy, and then spread to France, England, and elsewhere. Catherine di Medici had an ice cream recipe in the 1500s, Charles I loved it in the 1600s, and George Washington spent $200 on ice cream one summer in the 1700s. Today, after industrial techniques of the 1800s that made ice cream more affordable for all, Americans spend $20 billion per year on this creamy delight.
Ice cream and chocolate eventually converged into not only chocolate ice cream, but also hot fudge sundaes, and chocolate milshakes; the latter were created in the 1880s as a healthful tonic, often including ingredients such as eggs and whiskey!
For the 21st century versions of chocolate ice cream, sundaes, and milshakes, see you on a July Chicago Chocolate Tour!
