It really is all right.
Yes, Virginia, I have a sweet tooth.
As a child if I had a Three Muskateers in my special cigar box of goodies, I was rich. I liked Double Bubble gum, Baby Ruth, Milky Way, Snickers, chocolate anything. My Father would stop at Prospect Bakery and bring home the cinnamon twists I so enjoyed. Or, I would stop after school for a chocolate covered glazed donut which cost 5 cents.
Aunt Helen’s cookies were all delicious and eagerly anticipated were the Christmas boxes of Lubkukan, Springerli, Cinnamon stars and frosted sugar cookies. She would pack them in a square white box with heavy wax paper.
Knowing dark chocolate was good for us, just not in quantities, I became a dark chocolate connoisseur. But if I was going to enjoy one piece a day, it had to be good chocolate. And the funny thing is that the ordinary Hershey bar tastes almost as good as the finest Belgian or French chocolates.
Fannie May pixies cannot be beat. Each one is ambrosia. I like when the store has buy one, get one free. Those will last quite a while.
My previous dentist of 20 years before his retirement never had tasted a Tootsie Roll or a pixie or caramels. I would sit in wonder at that. He would look at me as if trying to decide how I could ever eat those treats. However, he liked meat and hamburgers and other fats so I just figured my passion was no worse than his passion.
Valentine’s Day is fast approaching and your lady love ,or your gentleman caller might enjoy a sweet treat that shows you remember them on this day. A fancy heart-shaped box of chocolates is a hit with me. Or a chocolate peppermint pot de crème. Or a chocolate coffee tart. Or Peppermint hot chocolate. Notice a pattern here? As I indicated, chocolate is quite the nectar of the gods.
The court of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella got its first look at the principal ingredient of chocolate when Columbus returned in triumph from America and laid before the Spanish throne, a treasure-trove of many new things. Among those were a few dark brown beans which seemed most unpromising. Those were cocoa beans which are today’s source of all our chocolate and cocoa.
The job of picking cacoa pods in not an easy one. The tree is so frail and its roots are so shallow that workers cannot risk injuring it by climbing to reach the pods on the higher branches. The planter sends his tumbadores or pickers into the fields with long-handled, mitten-shaped steel knives that can reach the highest pods and snip them without wounding the soft bark of the tree.
For most regions the main harvesting season lasts several months and a mid-crop harvest lasts several more months. Climatic differences cause wide variations in harvest from year to year.
Lest you ponder that chocolate might not be so good for you, consider that chocolate provides calcium, iron, riboflavin, and protein. Chocolate provides a number of nutrients that the body requires daily. Chocolate contains fairly high levels of some of the same healthful compounds/antioxidants found in some fruits and vegetables.
So you see, Virginia, I rest my case on the value and expediency of one piece of fine chocolate daily. Think of it as oxygen for your brain and creamy smooth for your soul. Think of chocolate this Valentine’s Day when the sweet smile crosses your face in pure delight at the chocolate you have just enjoyed.