Homemade Chocolate Syrup {Recipe}

lil drinking chocolate milkI freely admit that despite being exposed to hundreds of kinds of local foods, my daughter is not an adventurous eater. We can and do deal with this at home but travel is difficult with her slim food preferences.

One of our biggest struggles while dining away from home is milk. Lil has an addiction to Snowville Creamery milk. I agree with her that their milk tastes fresh and yummy and...like milk. What we can offer her at restaurants and chain groceries is typically over processed; I understand her rejection of the cooked-tasting stuff.

And yet, I want her to drink milk. It's a nearly complete food that makes up for dinners where she eats only bread or lunches where she picks at a fruit salad.

What's a mom to do? I cover the stale milk flavor with something everyone loves: chocolate.

stirring chocolate milkI could pick up the national brand chocolate syrup in the brown can, but instead I usually make my own from ingredients found in most pantries. I made this in the Bahamas and cooked several batches in Hawaii. My recipe contains no corn syrup, only takes a few minutes to prepare, is low fat and vegan. Homemade chocolate syrup is equally at home topping ice cream or stirred into cold milk or hot coffee.

dropping homemade chocolate into snowville milk

Simple Chocolate Syrup

Time: fifteen minutes Makes: approximately 1/2 cup 1/4 cup 100% cocoa powder (buy the highest quality, fair trade cocoa powder you can find) 1/4 cup granulated sugar 1/2 cup water tiny pinch salt (optional) 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract (optional) 1. Whisk together cocoa powder, sugar, water and salt in a small pot. 2. Heat over low, stirring often, until the mixture is the thickness you like. Stick-to-the-spoon thick takes about five minutes. 3. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla extract. 4. Cool and store in the refrigerator for up to two months.

Original Hawaiian Chocolate {Farm Tour}

hawaiian cacao chocolate farm tourUp a winding road south of Kona on the Big Island of Hawaii lays a most unique farm. The Original Hawaiian Chocolate farm is the only grower and producer of single origin chocolate in the United States. My family and I had to visit this one-of-a-kind operation during our visit to Kona.

About The Original Hawaiian Chocolate Farm

Owners Bob and Pam Cooper bought their three acre estate in 1997 with one acre of seven-year old cacao trees. The plantation included all three varieties of cacao: forestero, trinitaeium and criollo. The land is also home to coffee and macadamia nut trees and semi-feral chickens and turkeys.

chicken roosting in coffee tree

Cacao originated in Venezeula 3000 years ago and has been cultivated for over the last 1000 years. The trees can live 40-50 years and grow to over 100 feet in the wild. They prefer latitudes between 15-20 degrees south or north of the equator and can tolerate 600-800 inches of rain.

looking through cacao tree rows
Most chocolate producers in the world ship their beans to processors to be made into chocolate products. The nearest processor to the Original Hawaiian Chocolate location is over 2500 miles away. The transportation costs would negate any possible profit so the Coopers decided to try making chocolate themselves.

Under the advice of a consultant, the Coopers tested their beans for flavor at a lab in Barcelona, Spain. The results were good and gave them the green light to produce their first batch of chocolate in 2000. The consultant advised blending with purchased cacao, but the Coopers had a hunch that their beans could stand on their own. The result is their single-origin chocolate produced in "undoubtedly the smallest Willy Wonka factory in the world", as Bob describes it.

Bud to Bar - How Chocolate is Made

cacao flowersculled cacao pod

Chocolate begins as a tiny flower bud on the trunk of a cacao tree. These buds must be pollinated within an hour of blooming by a tiny midge fly to continue their life. Only 6-10% of blooms are pollinated. The tree self-culls hundreds of the pods. These shrivelled brown pods dry in the sun on the trunks.

wheelbarrow full of ripe cacao pods

Pollinated pods take five months to ripen. Pods grow to 10-12 inches in length and ripen to a bright yellow, red, or red and yellow stripe depending on the cacao variety. Ripe pods do not drop off the tree themselves and must be cut by hand. Bob and helpers at the Original Hawaiian Chocolate farm harvest pods every two weeks.

open cacao podcacao bean

Next pods are opened by hand to reveal the beans inside. Each bean is covered with puma, a sugary yeasty substance, suspended by a fruity fiberous placenta. The placenta can be eaten; we tasted it and were pleasantly surprised by the sweet slightly tart flavor. (Notice the gecko enjoying the puma?)

gecko eating cacao puma

The puma starts fermenting when exposed to oxygen. Growers house beans in natural mahogany slatted boxes during the sweating stage when beans will reach 122 degrees F. The puma melts into a sweet liquid that can be harvested and further fermented into alcohol if desired, though the Original Hawaiian Chocolate farm leaves it to soak into the earth.

cacao fermentation bins

In 6-8 days for purple forestera beans and 3-4 for white criollo, the beans will be fully fermented to a brown color. The beans then dry in wire-bottomed racks. The beans must reduce their moisture content from 50% to 7% before they are ready for storage and production. In the Hawaiian sun, this typically takes 20-25 days.

cacao drying racksdried cacao beans
Finally the chocolate making process can begin. First, Bob and Pam remove any organic matter to clean the beans. Then, they roast in a commerical quality coffee roaster to lock in the flavor. Next a winnowing machine removes the shell and leaves behind the cocoa nib.

cacao roasting machinechocolate tempering

A specialized conch machine grinds the beans to create a liquor next. Vanilla powder, sugar, milk, and several other ingredients are added to the conch next in the 18 hour process. Finally, the resulting chocolate is tempered (cooled slowly to achieve characteristic crisp crunch and smooth texture) in a special machine made in Ohio. The liquid chocolate is molded into bars or the company's signature plumeria flower shape.

The Original Hawaiian Chocolate company creates just under 10,000 pounds of chocolate from tree to treat annually.

original hawaiian chocolate plumeria

Chocolate Facts

  • Chocolate nib contains natural polyphenols, alleged to lower blood pressure, reduce the risk of chronic diseases and have anti-inflammatory benefits.
  • Milk inhibits the absorption of polyphenols, so enjoy dark chocolate for the most health benefits.
  • Additives weaken the flavor of chocolate; high quality chocolate will contain few additives.
  • Chocolate contains two powerful natural stimulants: caffeine and theobromine. Theobromine induces migrane headaches in 20% of the human population but the rest of us experience increased libido from it.

original hawaiian chocolate sign

Tour Tips

Our group of chocolate lovers from age six to seventy eight enjoyed the tour of the Original Hawaiian Chocolate operation, located about 15 miles from the Kona airport. The tour lasts about 90 minutes and includes samples of three types of chocolate. A short walk through the trees and factory includes seating for those who need it. Reservations are required; call or email at least a few weeks in advance or you'll be grovelling for a last minute spot like we did.

Original Hawaiian Chocolate operates an online store for those who want to taste their farm-to-package chocolate but can't make it to the Big Island. I like the dark chocolate best.

Kentucky Derby Pie {Recipe}

kentucky derby pie recipe I'm not sure I ever watched the Kentucky Derby as a child. I certainly have no memories of it.

The horse race came into my life through Alex's grandmother. She wasn't a huge racing fan but she always watched the Derby. Towards the end of her life, when she was living in Columbus near us, we spent several spring Saturdays cheering on riders together.

Though Gram is no longer alive, we continue the tradition of watching colorful jockeys every Derby Day. We drink mint juleps with fresh mint from the backyard and usually throw in a few other culinary nods to Ohio's southern border state.

Last year I wanted to create a Kentucky Derby pie. I had tasted one before that a long lost friend made. Searching the internet revealed a variety of pies, most containing corn syrup or other evils. I imagined I could do better with natural ingredients.

Experimenting resulted in a dense, walnut studded pie with dark chocolate, one I will make again this Saturday. The one-bowl pie is easy to bake up for Derby Day or any time.

Kentucky Derby Pie Serves 12 Time: 1 hour

1 pie crust, unbaked 1/2 cup flour 1 cup sugar 2 eggs, beaten 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly 3 ounces bourbon 1 teaspoon vanilla 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 cup dark chocolate pieces or bar, chopped 1 cup walnuts, chopped

1. Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees F. 2. Line 9 or 10 inch pie plate with unbaked pie crust and form edges. 3. In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together sugar, flour, eggs, butter, bourbon, vanilla, and salt. 4. Stir in chocolate and walnuts until they are well incorporated. 5. Pour filling into prepared pie crust. 6. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the filling comes out clean. 7. Allow to cool slightly before cutting.

Handmade Holidays: Cocoa Mix

Last week I shared how to make hand-rolled beeswax candles. This week I offer recipes for spice rub and cocoa mix in addition to the many jarred recipes at the bottom of this post. The series will conclude next Monday with ideas for perfectly packaging your handmade gifts. Have you ever read the ingredients on a box of commercial hot cocoa mix? Very often they are full of unpronounceable additives and artificial flavors.

cocoa mix made at home handmade cocoa mix gift

Cocoa mix is stunningly easy to make at home without all that icky stuff. The final quality will only be as good as the quality of the individual ingredients, so I use organic milk and sugar, fair trade cocoa powder and fresh spices in this recipe.

Package some hot cocoa mix in a vintage jar with a personalized top and you'll have a soul warming present in a matter of minutes. For a truly gourmet gift, add in a waxed paper envelope of homemade marshmallows!

Hot Cocoa Mix fills approximately 5 half pint jars from Alton Brown's foodtv recipe

2 cups powdered sugar (or regular sugar pulsed in the food processor until very fine) 2 1/2 cups powdered milk 1 cup cocoa powder 1 teaspoon salt 2 teaspoons cornstarch 1 pinch cayenne powder (or cinnamon or chili powder)

1. Mix all ingredients together. Whisk to remove caked bits or pulse in the food processor. 2. Pour into containers. 3. Clean up. This is a messy mix to make! 4. Use 2 tablespoons to one mug (8 oz) of hot water.

Other handmade food gift ideas: Liqueur Fruit Jam (apple, peach, or strawberry) Applesauce a loaf of bread (no-knead or cranberry) Sugared cranberries

Camp Food Success: Chocolate Pudding

Imagine that you just canoed for two days, sleeping the night on cold rocky ground.  The lake you paddled across is shimmering and surrounded by great green pines.  Your body aches.  Hunger nags constantly, your tongue having touched nothing colder than room temperature for days. canoer pulls in chocolate pudding

Then, chef for the evening canoes out to the middle of the lake and pulls out a black plastic trash bag.

camp cooking chocolate pudding

Inside, there are two bags of instant chocolate pudding double bagged in gallon ziplocs.

camp chocolate pudding on metal bowl with spork

The brown goo, created with filtered lake water and cooled at depth, is served.  First it is spooned into dishes, revealing the lumpy texture of no-whisk-to-be-found mixing.

camp chocolate pudding squeezed into mug

Later, the server does what needs to be done: he cuts off the corner and squeezes out the last of the pud'.

chocolate pudding

Inevitable jokes about the dessert's resemblance to excrement begin.  Hilarity continues after campers wipe their bowls with tissue to pre-clean them.

camping crowd eating chocolate pudding

Overall, the camping crowd is surprised: a whim of a dessert, cheap and easy, was not only tasty, but a source of amusement.  Back Country Chocolate Pudding is a delightful success, sure to be repeated on future trips.

Our Canada 2010 trip was exhausting and challenging but the food was great.  This is the first of a few posts detailing what and how we ate.

PS.  The above 'sink in lake' procedure could work for any flavor of pudding including butterscotch, vanilla, or pistachio.  The entertainment value, a.k.a. poop jokes, will be lost if chocolate is not used.

Make it Yourself: Chocolate Sauce

For yesterday's Father's Day extravaganza, I was supposed to bring chocolate sauce to top ice cream sundaes.  I forgot to tell Alex when he was at the store.  We could have gone out again, but I decided instead to try making chocolate sauce. After one try, I'm convinced I'll never buy it again.

Chocolate sauce is easy to make and delicious!  Plus, when you make it yourself, you have possibilities: finish with bourbon or vanilla, add spices, choose exactly how dark your sauce will be.

Here's my version of the recipe I found in our Woman's Day Encyclopedia of Cookery, circa 1966:

6 ounces chocolate, melted (I used a Green and Black Original Dark Chocolate Bar)

1/2 cup cocoa powder

3/4 cup sugar

pinch salt

pinch cayenne pepper

1 cup boiling water

Mix all ingredients over medium heat.  Stir/whisk constantly for five minutes.  Let cool and you have delicious chocolate sauce!

chocolate sauce

I was too busy enjoying it on ice cream later to take a picture of the sauce in use.  I was worried that it wouldn't set up properly, but it had a nice thick body.

We don't use that much chocolate sauce around here, but I can't wait to make the next batch.  I'm very curious to experiment with adding liquor, among other variants.