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A Surprising History of St. Patrick's Day

A Surprising History of St. Patrick's Day

Mar 11, 2018

St. Patty's is March 17 this year!  How did it all start?  Some time during the night, in your drunken stupor you begin to wonder, “Wait, why are we even celebrating this holiday and why am I drinking green beer? What is St. Patrick’s Day about and who the heck is he? Maybe he’s a little leprechaun who brings us gold and good luck?”

Here are some surprising facts and history of how this all began!

St. Patrick was NOT Irish!  He was born in Britain around the 5th century. He came from a religious background where his father was a deacon and his grandfather was a priest in the Christian church.

How did this Christian-British lad become an Irish legend?  At 16 he was kidnapped by Irish raiders and spent 6 years in captivity as a slave and during those years, he became a shepherd and soon “found God” who commanded him to escape and return home via ship that was waiting for him. Soon he felt compelled to return to Northern Ireland ultimately converting thousands to Christianity and introducing them to his God who led him to freedom.

Why do we Celebrate St. Patrick's on March 17?  It's the day of his death.  His legend was remembered again centuries later. The first recorded celebration of St. Patrick’s Day was in 1765 when Irish soldiers who were fighting alongside British soldiers in New York.

What's the significance of the 3 Leaf Clover?  It's thought to symbolize The Holy Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. 

How is ChocoVivo going to Celebrate this Year?  Look out for festive recipes and a list of places in Los Angeles that you can celebrate with your loved ones on this fun and green holiday! Also, in honor of St. Patty, we will be offering limited edition 

Mint Chocolate Hazelnut Mylks, Vegan Mint Chocolate Puddings, and...a Mint Hot Chocolate!  We've been in the Chocolate Test Kitchen and they’re magically delicious!

 

P.S.

Speaking of new delicious goodies, check out our Vivo à la Mode that’s coming soon! (Sneak peak of this beauty in the video link . Oh-ho-ho!) This decadent vegan hand pie topped with Salt & Straw ice cream and double-drenched in chocolate oddly resembles a scrumptious, chocolaty U.F.O. and it’s completely outta this world!!
Chocolate Fat Water

Chocolate Fat Water

Aug 30, 2017

Drinking fatty beverages has never been more delicious! Learn what the Tibetans and Mayan have in common.

Read more
The Florentine Codex + History of Drinking Cacao

The Florentine Codex + History of Drinking Cacao

Jun 6, 2017

 Where Did Chocolate Originate?

When many people think of the beginnings of chocolate, they imagine European chocolatiers with big white hats, lovingly stirring chocolate in a small charming cobblestone village. While Switzerland, France and Belgium are part of chocolate’s history; the origins of chocolate go back much further to Mesoamerica -where cacao was an integral part of not only cultural and spiritual practices but of the economy as a whole.

The first mention of cacao was in the Florentine Codex written by Spanish friar Bernardino Sahagún in 16th century. The Codex, also known as Historia General, is an ethnographic chronicle detailing the daily lives and practices of Mesoamerican society. Some historians refer to Friar Sahagún as one of the world’s first anthropologists. Thanks to his detailed accounts, we know exactly how chocolate was consumed.

According to the Aztec and Mayan, cacao was a sacred gift from the gods and was treated with the upmost reverence. There were parades honoring the god of cacao, which included drinking cacao as part of ceremonial practices. Even the word “chocolate” comes from the Aztec word “xocoatl” which translates to “bitter drink.”

How Was it Consumed?

This bitter drink consisted of pure cacao and an array of spices mixed with water. So how did chocolate transform from this watery, bitter drink to the chocolate we know today?

It is said that the Spanish did not think the native Mayan spices would be marketable in Europe. So they decided to remove them and add sweeteners, and thickening agents like milk. The result is the European sipping chocolate and bars we are familiar with today.

What to Order for the Mayan Experience?

If you are interested in tasting an authentic drinking chocolate, come in to the shop and order a Mayan Tradition with water or a 100% cacao with water...if you dare. For those looking for more of a sweet treat, we have an array of chocolate drinks, and even the European-style sipping chocolates.

Learn More

If you are interested in learning more about the origins of chocolate, we host AirBnb experiences that dive into chocolate’s rich history as well as the production of cacao and it's flavor profiles. Click here to find out more.

How to Host your own Chocolate and Wine Pairing

How to Host your own Chocolate and Wine Pairing

May 20, 2017

 
Imagine several bottles of wine, a spread of chocolates, and a group of friends gathered around a kitchen or dining table, all ready to enjoy a cozy evening together.
 
We’ve hosted several events just like this, where one of our chocolate-makers designs an adventure for the palate and guides a tasting in the home. The good news is that you can design your own, with a little wine knowledge and a little help from us here at ChocoVivo.

 

Step 1: The Wine List:

We recommend choosing your wines first because there can be such huge variation in the palates of different wines. Each chocolate could potentially pair with hundreds of wines of different varietals that happen to share a similar flavor note, but each wine may only have one or two chocolate mates.

 

We have paired chocolate with wines of all types before, but reds usually pair with chocolate the best, followed by whites then sparkling wines. Consider dessert wines, fortified wines, and other unique wines for a more interesting experience. Just keep in mind when choosing wines that chocolate is a big bold flavor, and it can easily overwhelm a very delicate wine.

 

Step 2: The Pairing

 This is where these events can become a little confusing, because it’s difficult to know how to pair wines without an in-depth knowledge of wine tasting. If you have trouble, feel free to stop by our store for a few pointers, and if you’ve decided the process is not for you, you can hand off the pairing to us for a small fee.

 Generally, if you have not yet tasted the wine, you can pull a description of the wine off of the winery’s website or from a review of the wine. Here’s a sample description for a wine we paired recently:
Lafage; Cotes du Roussillon Villages; South France; Grenache & Syrah; 2014
Lots of black raspberry, chocolate covered currants, pepper and olive notes giving way to a full-bodied 2014; it has polished tannin and a seamless texture. A blend of 70% Grenache and 30% Syrah that was aged mostly in concrete tanks.

 

We paired this with our Shangri-La chocolate, which is a 55% dark chocolate with goji berries and black sesame. The fruity notes of the Lafage pair well with the sweetness of goji berries, and those olive notes add saltiness that pairs well with the nuttiness of black sesame.

Use your intuition- if two flavors sound good together, go ahead and pair them.

 

Step 3: The Style

Will your guests move at their own pace while chocolates and wine glasses are set out around the room, or will you lead a group and describe the pairings as you go? This depends on the number of people involved and the style of gathering you’re holding. For large groups at a party, a tasting room, with a more relaxed move-at-your-own-pace atmosphere, may work better than trying to pour tastings and pass out chocolates.With a more intimate group, pouring each tasting can be a moment when you can chat with each of your guests or guests can talk amongst themselves. Generally, a guided tasting is more formal because it requires that your guests are attentive and quiet as you describe the pairings.

Step 3: The Day Of Prep

On the day of, you’ll want to work out how you’re laying out or passing out the chocolate.
You can order our tasting pieces, which are cut into perfect squares, one week in advance, or you can come in and grab a few bars to break up at home. If you decide to buy bars, assume each bar is enough chocolate for about eight good-sized pieces. You’ll want to break up the bars in advance; we suggest setting the pieces on plates in your fridge and taking them out about ten minutes before the tasting.
A tasting of wine is usually about an ounce, so a tasting flight of five is equivalent to drinking one moderately sized glass of wine. To learn how to eyeball that amount, take a wine glass and pour in two tablespoons of water. Because only two or three sips are needed to taste the wine, a bottle of wine is enough for about twenty tastings. Much of the time, guests will want to go back and have a glass of their favorite wine, so make sure to get an extra bottle (or two!) of each pairing wine just for that purpose.
Once you’ve set up your tasting area, make sure you have your wines ready at the correct temperature and enough plates and glasses to serve all your guests before they arrive.

The Tasting:

When you start the tasting, feel free to explain why you’ve paired each chocolate with each wine, tell people to keep in mind the major pairing notes, or let people try the pairings and guess why they were paired. This part is entirely up to you!
Our only recommendation here is that your guests take a sip of their wine and then taste the paired chocolate. Flavor is only detected in liquid, which is why our mouths have saliva. You can’t taste dry flavors in a dry mouth, so a sip of wine before tasting the chocolate helps you taste more of the flavors in the chocolate.
You also may want to warn guests that trying wines with a chocolate that they’re not paired with can result in some combinations that make the wine and chocolate seem really metallic, sharp or otherwise unappetizing.

Share with Us:

You now have all of the information to get started on your home tasting! Let us know how it goes by tagging us on Instagram or Facebook. 

The Science Behind Chocolate and Coffee

The Science Behind Chocolate and Coffee

Apr 28, 2017

Chocolate + Coffee : Health Food?

  

Neither chocolate nor coffee is considered particularly healthy, but many recent studies support that both coffee and chocolate can actually be very beneficial to your health. Why has scientific opinion changed on these common treats?   

Drinking your coffee with milk and sugar turns coffee from a calorie-free antioxidant drink to a sugar-filled sweet treat. Because of this, the benefits of coffee have been obscured for years! In fact, many scientists now say that drinking black coffee is very good for you- and is perhaps the best way to get all the health benefits of coffee.   Black coffee (up to two cups a day) has antioxidant and anti-carcinogenic effects in the human body. Coffee drinking is even linked to lower mortality, obesity, and depression rates, while other promising research suggests that coffee consumption can even postpone the onset of neurodegenerative disorders like MS, Alzheimer’s, and Parkinson’s.

 

 

Coffee is good for you, but chocolate is truly a superfood. Chocolate’s fatty acids modify LDL (“bad”) cholesterol and its many polyphenols increase HDL (“good”) cholesterol when consumed regularly, and the benefits increase as chocolate gets darker. Regular dark chocolate consumption also results in lowered blood pressure, leading to decreased risk of cardiovascular disease and stroke. Pure cacao is also one of the strongest antioxidants in the world, ahead of acai and blueberries, and is high in omega-6 fatty acids, like those found in olive oil. Chocolate is also a huge mood booster, and regular dark chocolate eaters even have lower rates of depression than the general public!

Chocolate also gives many of the known benefits of coffee because it contains trace mounts of caffeine as well as larger amounts of theobromine, a byproduct of caffeine metabolism. So, when you break off a piece of your favorite dark chocolate, you’re getting all of the antioxidant and heart-protective power of chocolate along with some of the alertness and anti-carcinogenic powers of caffeine. 

 

  

At Chocovivo, we only serve dark chocolate with no added binding agents- which means our chocolate is purer and better for your body.  And, because we serve both chocolate and coffee, you can get the health benefits, mood boost, and increased alertness of coffee and chocolate all in one place!