"chocolate milk" news and stories

Happy National Chocolate Milk Day!

Like practically any edible creation, chocolate milk has come a long way. Before the invention of the cocoa press, chocolate milk was once a very fatty, unrefined chocolate drink made from whole cocoa beans sweetened and flavored with sugar and spices. The creation of the cocoa press in 1928 made removing the cocoa fat from the bean possible, which resulted in a smoother, more digestible quaff.

While chocolate milk may be a drink more associated with childhood, a recent survey of adult Americans found that more than 50 percent of Americans voted chocolate to be their favorite flavor. For a simple fix richer than that of a jug of the prepackaged variety, check out the Food Network's Rich Chocolate Milk recipe.

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• After the tremendous success of his Italian New York eateries Alto, Marea and Convivio, chef Michael White "plots dominion through pasta" at his new restaurant Osteria Morini, slated to open in Soho this fall.
• While milk is no longer a staple in school cafeterias due to lactose intolerance or simple dairy dislike by students, chocolate milk is a hot topic for the milk industry, school officials and parents, as certain states are beginning to ban it for its added sugar and high fructose corn syrup.
• As coffee shops become increasingly assumed to be cyber cafés, certain coffee-centric bars are creating seating situations that encourage customers to pop in for a drink without setting up shop with a laptop spread.
• Inspired by the "scarlet, gold and neon-orange chili peppers hitting the farmers' market," a New York Times writer seeks to preserve summer heat by making her own hot sauce.

The Fancy Food Show is starting to become a distant memory, as the demands of regular old work and life push their back into the forefront of my mind. However, there are a few products that continue to stick with me and continue to marvel me with their absolute deliciousness.

One such product is Cocio. It doesn't look like much, in fact it's nothing more than chocolate milk in a bottle. However, it is the best chocolate milk I've ever tasted. It is sweet, but not cloying, thick without being sludgy and every so chocolate-y. It is a Danish product that has been around since 1951 and in that country, is often consumed as street food, in conjunction with sausages (at least according to Wikipedia). It is also all natural, made of nothing more than chocolate, sugar (no high fructose corn syrup here) and milk. If you think of yourself as a chocolate milk connoisseur, this is a product to seek out.

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Some of you may recall the posts that Nicole and I did about a recently released study comparing the restorative effects of chocolate milk, Gatorade and another sports drink. Interpretations of the Indiana University study have since been challenged by Gatorade and embraced by The Milk Processors Education Program (MilkPep) a dairy industry information group. According to DairyReporter.com, Gatorade has released a statement attempting to clarify the results of the study. Gatorade claims that many media outlets have misconstrued the study's results and insists that their product fared just as well as chocolate milk in physical endurance trials. The sports drink maker claims that many quotes from the study have been taken out of context. According to the articles that I've read concerning the study, Gatorade and chocolate milk just about broke even.

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A study in the International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism revealed that chocolate milk is at least as good as popular sports drinks for helping the body recover after exercise. As Nick pointed out, athletes who drank the chocolate milk and the Gatorade performed equally well when asked to exercise again. Athletes who drank Endurox R4, a sports drink with protein added in the same ratio as milk, only performed half as well, indicating that perhaps some property of milk - say, the chocolate - might be helping the performance of the athletes as well.

Could it be the antioxidants in the chocolate that are helping? An 8-ounce glass of low-fat chocolate milk will have about 200 calories and 3 grams of fat, while an 8-ounce glass of Gatorade has only 55 calories. Though some people worry about the seemingly high number of calories in the milk, the extra calories are not only healthy, but can provide extra energy to athletes in the long run.

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