Chocoholics all over are in an uproar. The industry assholes want to mess with our chocolate!!!
It all began in October, when a dozen industry groups filed a petition with the Food and Drug Administration to amend the [way listed products contain the right amount of key ingredients and are both properly made and not deceptively packaged] for how nearly 300 foods can be produced, from canned cherries to evaporated milk. [...] For example, chocolate in its purest state - the "liquor" made from ground, processed cacao beans - must contain between 50 percent and 60 percent cocoa butter, also known as cocoa fat. The Grocery Manufacturers Association, Chocolate Manufacturers Association and 10 other food industry groups seek broad permission to add ingredients, use different techniques, employ new shapes and substitute ingredients - something the standards currently don't allow. [...] Tucked between requests to allow antifungals on bulk cheese and powdered milk in yogurt is what has people riled up most: a proposal to "use a vegetable fat in place of another vegetable fat named in the standard (e.g. cacao fat)." Manufacturers already can use vegetable fats instead of cocoa butter - they just can't call it "chocolate."
So what's the big deal? Sez a protestor:
"To me, it's a delicacy. I don't eat it every day - I don't want the calories. But when I do enjoy it, I do want real chocolate. I don't want any change in flavor by cheapening the product," said Avanele Bush, 83, of Malibu, Calif., who counts chocolates made by See's Candies Inc. and Ghirardelli Chocolate Co. as her favorites.
It's obvious why the chocolate industry wants to be able to slap the label "chocolate" on something they can make much more cheaply. It's also obvious why the purists would object. Yet, it seems a bit arbitrary to me. I mean, they already came up with a standard for what can be labeled "chocolate", and it can have as little as 50% cocoa fat. I am going to assume that that cheap, icky, waxy, nasty stuff they flood the stores with on Chocolate Holidays like Easter is at the lowest end of the cocoa-fat scale. So we already have agreed that chocolate can be called chocolate and still be crap, right?
If I buy something that looks like chocolate, and is labeled "chocolate" and I discover I really intensely dislike it, I'm going to never buy that stuff again. If I discover I like it, am I bovvered if the fat in it comes from the soy plant instead of the cacao bean?
I'm sure there are political and political-economical stakes in there that have people all flustered, like how many farmers in Africa have banked their lives on being able to sell their beans and soon they're going to be screwed because we'll only buy half the beans and then get soy and corn from some other starving nation, but, ya know, I don't really hear that outcry. All I'm hearing is the "you can't call it chocolate unless the arbitrary standard set up a bazillion years ago is adhered to!"
Pardon me while I go off in search of some Godiva, 'k?
Hey, man. Whatever happened to the
Chocolate Lady?
Father Luke
Well, actually, a fat isn't just a fat. A number of people are allergic to or must be careful with soy products, and a number of people are especially allergic to gene modified soy, which is what the US grows and uses in, among other things, soy vegetable oil. I want "soy oil" clearly labelled on my food, not the generic "vegetable oil" they're getting away with now. But yeah, the chocolate purists are going to lose, since commercial guacamole dip gets away with containing no avocado (according to a post at Paula's, IIRC). But I'm OK with that if the fine print tells me what I'm getting. I doubt it will, though.
OK...here's a scrumptious candy recipe that doesn't require cooking - unless you want the added nuts to be toasted. I stumbled across coconut oil goodness recently, and wanting to use it other than taking it by the spoonful for it's benefits (though I still do that and use it in cooking), I tried this:
DARK CHOCOLATE NUT BARK
1/2 c. Hershey's regular cocoa
1/4 c. Dried coconut, unsweetened
1/2 c. Chopped nuts, toasted or not
Sweeten to taste - I'm diabetic, so I use Diabetisweet.
Gradually add Virgin Coconut Oil till the mixture sort of flows (as opposed to remaining clumpy)
Spoon it onto one or two plates lined with wax paper. Spread it thinly and put it into the refrigerator.
Note: Coconut oil starts to solidify at about 76 degrees, but you want the candy to be hard enough to break into pieces - it won't take long, about half an hour, I never timed it. Keep pieces in a covered container in the fridge. It will be a 'melt in your hands' item, so take a few pieces out and put them on a saucer, so your hand-heat does not begin the melting process.
Learn about the goodness of Coconut Oil by typing: coconut oil, or Virgin coconut oil in the Google search bar. Many, many benefits, and better for the body than the processed oils in the supermarket.
I also use coconut flour to make baked goods without grains. Got that through a Google search, too.
Coconut oil is good for the skin and hair. A little goes a long way. My hair started getting thicker when I started taking coconut oil - internally. It's good for hypo-thyroidism, also. I could go on, but search for yourself. If you don't already know about it, you'll be amazed.
FL: She's still in Israel, for all I know. She quit MW cuz it was too toxic. I should e-mail her ...
Keera: I agree! They can still call it whatever they want, but the labels should be as accurate as possible, especially given allergic reactions!!!
Janet: Thanks!
"She quit MW cuz it was too toxic"
I SWEAR I have never even posted on MW, man!
There's a weird byproduct of my losing 25 pounds ... I not only don't crave chocolate, I don't even want it anymore.
The same is true of pizza, and burgers.
Somebody please just shoot me.
"Somebody please just shoot me."
'k. Shall I shoot you here, or wait until we get home?
Stop saying things like that, someone will come along and accuse you of being my Lesbian lover.
Accuse? No. Discreetly inquire? Yes.
Pardon me, but is this where I rent, YOU KNOW, the VIDEOS?
Nudge, nudge, wink, wink!