Celebrate World Chocolate Day

Today is World Chocolate Day, and we’re going to help you celebrate by providing you with several beloved chocolate recipes from the EYB Library. The day celebrates the anniversary of chocolate’s arrival to Europe when (as the story goes) Conquistador Hernandez Cortes brought it to Spain on 7 July 1550. Whether that is the exact date or not, chocolate quickly became a much loved treat.

There are a few fascinating tidbits about our favorite treat that The Telegraph provided to us a few years ago, some of which you may not want to know. The list begins with the revelation that the river of chocolate seen in the original Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory film (made in 1971) was real. The river was created with “15,000 gallons of water mixed with chocolate and cream. With all the cream, the river spoiled fairly quickly and the cast revealed it left a terrible smell.”

Another interesting morsel comes from the tale of the chocolate chip cookie. It turns out that these cookies were the result of a serendipitous accident. In 1930, Ruth Wakefield discovered that she was out of baker’s chocolate, so she mixed broken pieces of Nestle chocolate into the cookie dough, “expecting the chocolate to be absorbed and create chocolate cookies. Instead, she accidentally created chocolate chip cookies, and later sold the idea to Nestle in return for a lifetime supply of chocolate.”

You may not want to know this, but it’s quite likely that your favorite chocolate bar contains insects, about eight pieces on average. 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)
• Torta alla gianduia (Nutella cake) from How To Be a Domestic Goddess by Nigella Lawson
• 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