Chocolate and Spice and Everything Nice!

Sorry I haven't been posting much here besides the podcasts. I've been a busy bee doing lots of hard time in the kitchen for my clients!

Jennifer ran across this great article by Susan Houston in North Carolina's News and Observer about the hot love affair between chile and chocolate (just in time for Valentine's Day), and guess who they quoted?

Chocolate, you see, wasn't always the sweet confection it is today. According to historians, the Olmec, ancestors of both the Mayans and the Aztecs, discovered cacao about 2,600 years ago and probably drank it as a savory drink, mixed with herbs and spices. Later, the Aztecs added chile water to the drink.

"The pungent spiciness of the capsacim enhanced and intensified the taste of the chocolate," writes Mark Tafoya, chef-owner of ReMARKable Palate Personal Chef Service in New York City, on his Web site, www.gildedfork.com.

In Mexico, the mixture of chile and chocolate developed into mole, a savory red-brown sauce most often served with chicken. Ingredients vary from cook to cook, but chocolate and some form of chiles are a constant.

Read the rest of the article HERE.

food, food podcast, cooking, chile, chocolate, ReMARKable Palate, Culinary Podcast Network, Gilded Fork