Chocolate = America’s Favorite

April 16, 2007

HAVE YOU EVER WONDERED HOW A WORD, IDIOM OR PHRASE ORIGINATED IN THE AMERICAN LANGUAGE?

When I started researching the April calendar of events, I was surprised to learn that April was also National Chocolate Eater’s Month and National Smile Month – what a wonderful and natural combination.

Naturally, having a sweet tooth for chocolate, I immediately gorged on every tidbit of information on the topic of chocolate, which was found in 1520 by Cortez, who took the cocoa bean back to Spain for introduction to European society. Just like the Americas, chocolate was actually existed way before the “discovery” by Cortez.

Chocolate is derived from the Theobroma (‘food of the gods’) cocoa tree, which originated in the Amazon or Orinoco basins of South America. Cocoa beans were a domestic crop grown by the Olmec Indians as early as 1500 BC.

The Aztec Nahuatl word xocolatl (xococ “bitter” + atl “water”) was first published in the 1604 English translation of the Spanish History of the Indies. However, chocolatl does not appear in Nahuatl until the mid-18^th century, which means that the term may have been derived from another language such as Mayan.

One of the other key research aspects turned out to discovering the vast number of evolutionary steps required to turn the bitter cocoa bean into the confectionary delights that we have today. The basic process consists of harvesting, blending, conching, tempering, and storing; however, the texture and taste produced took centuries to perfect.

For more detail, please read the attached pdf posting. As always, I hope this stimulates your own research, and I would appreciate your feedback.

1) Did you find the posting informative?

2) How would you improve this posting?

3) Can you provide a better “Moment of Zen?”

Jim C Quiz - Chocolate.pdf

Soup = Ageless Nourishment

January 29, 2007

HAVE YOU EVER WONDERED HOW A WORD, IDIOM OR PHRASE ORIGINATED IN THE AMERICAN LANGUAGE?

Many unique events happen in the month of January, which is also known as National Soup Month in America. Did you know that we consume an estimated 10 billion+ bowls of soup annually?

The origin of soup may have been when our early ancestors invented waterproof and heatproof containers, which allowed them to use hot water to heat foods in natural containers. It is estimated that the cooking technique of boiling was not commonly used until about six or seven thousand years ago.

These early attempts at primodial soup – things thrown into boiling water – produced a variety of key benefits such as:

1) Boiling permited the fuller use of animal and plant products

2) It expanded the range of foods that our ancestors consumed

3) Boiling extracted a huge nutritional benefit – previously unused parts of meat (bone) added value, and some inedible plant parts in their natural state became consumable.

For more detail, please read the attached pdf posting. As always, I hope this stimulates your own research, and I would appreciate your feedback on this posting.

1) Did you find the posting informative?

2) How would you improve this posting?

3) Can you provide a better “Moment of Zen?”

Jim C Quiz - Soup.pdf