World Chocolate Day is here

Today is World Chocolate Day! The middle of summer is a brave choice to host this food holiday in the Northern Hemisphere, but there is a reason: it’s celebrated on 7 July because that is allegedly the date that chocolate was first brought to Europe in 1550. It’s not as though we really need a day to celebrate chocolate, because it’s almost a celebration unto itself, but why not?

We will help you get into the spirit by listing Member favorite 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 (thank goodness that is not something the Federal Reserve does today). One bizarre chocolate fact is that during WWII, Nazis planned to use chocolate bars to kill Winston Churchill. They coated explosives with dark chocolate and tried to sneak them into the War Cabinet dining room, but British intelligence foiled the plan.

As one of our readers pointed out in the post about Callebaut’s chocolate factory shutting down over salmonella fears, many chocolates are made with slave labor. You can use this list of ethical chocolate companies to help decide which brands have the best practices to limit child labor and exploitation. Other sites like this one offer details on sustainable environmental practices in addition to fair trade adherence.

While you’re absorbing these chocolate facts, make one of these highly rated recipes from the EYB Library:

• World peace cookies from Dorie’s Cookies by Dorie Greenspan
• Outrageous brownies from The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook by Ina Garten
• Chocolate sour cream bundt cake with chocolate glaze from Bi-Rite Food Market’s Eat Good Food by Sam Mogannam and Dabney Gough
• Salted chocolate chunk cookies from Smitten Kitchen by Deb Perelman
• Flourless chocolate wave cake from Dessert Person by Claire Saffitz (pictured above)
• Nicks supernatural brownies from Saveur.com by Nick Malgieri
• 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