Sunday, December 8, 2019

Arete - Coco Powder; Coconut Drinking Chocolate - Dec. 8, 2019

Chocolate(s) of the Day: 

Arete
Expeller Pressed Cocoa Powder
Good - Good +
Weight: 4 oz. (113 g.) (estimate) in 1/2 cup hot chocolate / 8.8 oz. (250 g.) in total package of ("dry") cocoa powder
Calories: 200 calories in 1 small cup serving
Cost: $ Missing information
Purchased from: The Chocolate Garage, Palo Alto, CA

Welcome to Day #1 of Chocolate and Coconut Theme Week.

To make a good hot chocolate or drinking chocolate, you need to start with high-quality ingredients, like rich, flavorful, authentic Expeller Pressed Cocoa Powder from Arete Artisan Fine Chocolate (Spencer, TN).

To this cocoa powder I added (dairy) milk, homemade coconut milk, coconut oil and spices and a hint of monkfruit (sweetener)—resulting in a very rich hot drinking chocolate which was cooked and stirred and then run through a sieve into a cup.

"Zombie" Chocolates, Sticky Wilson's Candy Shop, Palo Alto

Chocolates have been available in the San Francisco Bay Area for more than 150 years. It's always interesting to research ghosts of chocolates past in one's own neighborhood.


A century ago Wilson's Candy, initially located on the Stanford University campus in Palo Alto, CA, opened its downtown Palo Alto store. An article in the December 2017 issue of the Stanford Illustrated Review talked about the new candy shop on University Avenue. Wilson's chocolates were described as superior, "College Educated Chocolates."


This and related information surfaced when I attended a talk at a local Palo Alto Historical Association meeting this evening.

Chocolates served at this event re-created a recipe for "Zombie" chocolates—sold by "Sticky" Wilson at his Palo Alto Candy Shop—including a coconut flavor. The truffle-shaped rounds were soft and chocolatey and rolled in flaked coconut.

Thank you to Nicole (and mom Kristen) and grandparents for bringing these historic chocolates back to life, and for explaining how they were made. The Coconut Zombie chocolate I tasted was great!












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