Celebrate World Chocolate Day

Today is World Chocolate Day, fêted on 7 July because that is ostensibly the date that chocolate was introduced to Europe in 1550. We will help you celebrate by listing several revered chocolate recipes from the EYB Library. But first, let’s learn some interesting facts about this delicious subject. Express (UK) lists ten things you probably never knew about chocolate, while CNN provides other fun chocolate facts.

Chocolate has been revered for ages: the ancient Mayans used cocoa beans as currency, and the cultivation of cacao was restricted to prevent inflation. (I would literally be ‘putting my money where my mouth is’ if this were the case today.) One bizarre fact is that during WWII the Nazis planned to use chocolate bars to kill Winston Churchill. They coated explosives with dark chocolate and tried to get them into the War Cabinet dining room. Luckily British intelligence foiled the plan.

You may not want to know this tidbit, but it is likely that your favorite chocolate bar contains insects. According to the U.S Food and Drug Administration, “most foods have natural contaminants in them, but there are levels which the FDA deems safe. Anything more than 60 insect pieces per 100 grams of chocolate is rejected by the FDA.” Think of it as extra protein.

While you’re absorbing these chocolate facts, make one of these highly rated recipes from the EYB Library (and tell us your favorite chocolate recipe in the comments!):

• World peace cookies from Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan (pictured above)
• Alice Medrich’s best cocoa brownies from Food52 by Alice Medrich
• Chocolate ice cream from The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz
• Salted chocolate chunk cookies from Smitten Kitchen by Deb Perelman
• The famous chocolate babka from Breaking Breads by Uri Scheft and Raquel Pelzel
• Nicks supernatural brownies from Saveur.com by Nick Malgieri
• Chocolate ice cream from The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz
• The ultimate chocolate cake from The Free Range Cook by Annabel Langbein
• Chocolate mousse with just chocolate, water, and sugar from Café Fernando by Hervé This and Heston Blumenthal 
• Chocolate raspberry pavlova from Forever Summer (UK) by Nigella Lawson