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Dec.12 - Dec.19, 2004 |
Celebration of Taste
Italy salutes the delicacies of chocolate with wide range of food
By Rita Simonetta
Originally Published: 2004-12-05
Rich, velvety and delicious, chocolate is just about everyone's favourite treat. And Italy, which has given the world famous dishes like lasagna and tiramisu, can also take credit for memorable recipes that feature beloved cioccolato.
In fact, Perugia, a town in northern Italy, is recognized as a chocolate lover's paradise. The town exports its chocolate and hazelnuts delicacies throughout the world, and every year it hosts an annual chocolate festival known throughout Italy and the rest of Europe. For eight days, the town features exhibitions and workshops that celebrate the world's favourite treat.
So how did chocolate reach the boot-shaped country in the first place? Well, there are various legends. One story suggests it was Florentine merchant Antonio Carletti who brought chocolate back to Italy after he had discovered it while traveling the world in search of new products to sell. Another theory states that it was the convents and monasteries that brought the sweet to Italy to use as a medicinal aide. Yet another story points to exiled Duke Emmanuel-Philibert who returned to power and brought along a special sweet he had discovered while in exile in Spain.
But the story of chocolate is much older. While conquering Mexico, Cortez learned about chocolate from the Aztec Indians. In 1519, Aztec Emperor Montezuma, served chocolate to his Spanish guests as a drink. The Spaniards decided to improve on the rather bitter substance by sweetening it with cane sugar. Spain became hooked and kept the art of the cocoa industry a secret from the rest of Europe for almost 100 years, until Spanish monks divulged all. Soon, Europe wanted a taste of the dark delight. And soon the world improved on an already good thing. In 1876, the Swiss devised a way of adding milk to the chocolate, thereby creating milk chocolate.
And to think that a pleasure like eating chocolate owes everything to the lowly cocoa bean. Cocoa beans are the product of the cacao tree, which is native to Central America. While cocoa is made by removing some of the cocoa butter, chocolate (whether dark, bittersweet or milk chocolate) is made by adding it.
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