Cocoa may come in many flavors on the shelf, but making it yourself releases the true flavor.

Chocolate comes from pods, such as the one photographed above. When I arrived in Jamaica, my first stop was to see Dennis, a fruit and spice vendor in Ocho Rios. After he showed me raw unsweetened morsels of cocoa, he took out a large cocoa pod. A pod contains 20 to 45 seeds, also called "beans", fixed in white pulp.

Each of these seeds contains a large amount of fat (40–50% as cocoa butter) and the active ingredient theobromine, similar to caffeine. Theobromine is what makes chocolate lethal for dogs. There are two cocoa varieties in Jamaica: Forastero and Criollo. The harvest takes place in the fall, between September and November. The beans are taken from the pods and processed extensively.

Tasting an unprocessed cocoa bean makes you realize how much sugar is added after being processed. The cocoa beans we tasted had a strong bitter flavor similar to that of a coffee bean. This has to do with the presence of theobromine, which like caffeine gives you energy. We purchased some of the beans and ground them with coffee beans to make a tasty energy drink - mocha coffee. I am curious to know other ways one can use unprocessed cocoa beans in cooking. If you have you ever used them, what sorts of dishes were they for?

The Fine Chocolate Industry Association has honored seven chocolate makers and chocolate companies at its first ever Recognition of Excellence Ceremony.

Winners included the late Dr. Robert Steinberg, co-founder of Sharffen Berger Chocolate, for Innovation in Fine Chocolate Products, Fran Bigelow of Fran's Chocolates for Outstanding Fine Chocolatier; North America (Obama is apparently a big fan of her stuff; I'm obsessed with her salted caramels), Alexander Morozoff, publisher of Cocoaroma magazine for Outstanding Fine Chocolate Literature (a worthy new genre, I think), Gary Guittard of Guittard Chocolate and E. Guittard for Lifetime Achievement, Valrhona for Outstanding Fine Chocolate Maker/Manufacturer; Europe (food writer and Iron Chef America judge Jeffrey Steingarten never travels without several bars of Valrhona's bittersweet), Norman Love of Norman Love Confections for Innovation in Fine Chocolate Presentation (check out his rainbow-colored Black chocolate collection), and Robert Linxe founder of La Maison du Chocolat for Outstanding Fine Chocolatier; Europe.

I wonder what they serve at the awards banquet?

At New York City's Roasting Plant Coffee Company (81 Orchard St. between Broome and Grand streets, and 75 Greenwich Ave. at Seventh Ave., 212-775-7755), they have to-die-for hot chocolate. The recipe is shockingly simple, and you can make it at home!

The secret? Gelato.

Go buy a pint of your favorite chocolate gelato (dark chocolate is recommeneded), put a scoop in a mug, and let it melt. Add steamed milk to taste. Top it with marshmallows or whipped cream and chocolate chips (right). Done! Classy, frothy hot chocolate with a divine, rich flavor.

If you want pre-melted gelato at your beck and call (pour steamed milk on frozen gelato and you get "lukewarm chocolate"), keep some in your fridge in a sealable tupperware container, and use it within two days.

[via Tasting Table]

This post will warm you best with a hot cup of something. For me, that's freshly roasted Gayo Mountain Sumatra.

We give hot tea when someone is having a bad day and needs to talk. We meet strangers over cups steaming coffee for first dates. We slurp on warm soups when we're sick. But why?

Reuters reports that a new study has found that simply clutching a warm cup can inspire warm feelings. We know this to an extent -- loving laundry straight out of the drier, clutching the warm cup on a cold day -- but there's more to it. John Bargh, a professor of psychology at Yale says: "Physical warmth can make us see others as warmer people, but also cause us to be warmer -- more generous and trusting -- as well." Along with Lawrence Williams (University of Colorado at Boulder) Bargh conducted a series of tests to coordinate reactions based on what liquid beverages the person was holding.

When people held warm cups of coffee, "warmth" became a personality trait they would list in other people, where people holding iced coffee wouldn't. When needing to choose between a gift certificate for a friend and a gift for themselves, the heating pad holders chose the former while the ice packs chose the latter.

Looks like there is more truth to "Ice Queen" or "Ice King" than we thought. Maybe all they need is a good, steaming cup of something tasty.

In July, I wrote a post about gummi bears being good for your teeth. They're not the only candy that promote dental health. It turns out that sugar-free chocolate may actually prevent tooth decay. Over the past years, medical research has proven that cocoa contains an anti-bacterial enzyme which helps to prevent plaque formation.

8 years ago, the BBC News had an article about a study done by researchers at Osaka University in Japan. The scientists discovered that the outer part of the bean, the cocoa bean husk (CBH), has an anti-bacterial effect on the mouth. But, before you run to your nearest chocolate shop, bear in mind that this part is usually discarded in chocolate production. They suggest putting CBH back into chocolate and possibly using it to create a mouthwash and tooth paste.

Just last year, Science Daily released news about research conducted at Tulane University by Arman Sadeghpour. Their research results showed that cocoa extract was even more effective than fluoride in fighting cavities. Now, I'm wondering what kind of chocolate we should purchase in order to reap these dental benefits.

I like recipes that are "light" but still manage to get chocolate in them three different ways.

These Light Chocolate Chunk Brownies from Everyday Food have chocolate and cocoa powder inside and chocolate chips outside, so they'll make chocolate lovers happy (the readers at the Everyday Food site say these are more cake than brownie). They also utilize unsweetened applesauce and low fat sour cream, so I'm itching to try these. I've been craving brownies all week for some reason. I hope I'm not pregnant.

Did you know that there is a global cocoa deficit? I didn't! Who would think that there isn't enough cocoa being produced to supply the demand? Well it looks like the 2006/2007 cocoa growing season was severely affected by bad weather and according to the International Cocoa Organization's (ICCO) latest quarterly bulletin, the global production deficit is now estimated at 242,000 tonnes. That's a lot of cocoa.

So expect retail prices to go up over the next year as producers have to pay the raised prices from growers and struggle to buy enough to meet their needs.

Sometimes I wonder how many different recipes there can be for one type of food. We post a lot of recipes here at Slashfood, and while some of the recipes are exotic and complex, some are for very basic foods that we've made and/or eaten hundreds of times over the years. Take Chocolate Pudding for example. If it's basic chocolate pudding, how many different ways are there to make it? I guess it's all in the chocolate you use.

This recipe is from The Joy of Cooking. I have to have it with whipped cream on top. I love that combo of chocolate and whipped cream you get when you sink your spoon in and have a bunch of each on your spoon and put it into your mouth.

As if anyone needs a holiday as an excuse to eat chocolate!

Today is National Chocolate Day, and I thought that instead of having one post where I mention the day and list some recipes I'd do a bunch of posts that have to do with chocolate the entire day. So expect recipes, facts about the history of chocolate, maybe even some posts on things that you can make out of chocolate. I'll let you know what I find. Tune in throughout the day for more.

Mmmm...chocolate.

I've never gone out of my way to add chocolate to lunch and dinner recipes (except for dessert, of course!). I know there are moles and even chocolate pasta, but I've just always separated the chocolate from the main course.

That might change with Hershey's Spicy Cocoa Sloppy Joes. I haven't had a Sloppy Joe in many, many years and was going to make them soon anyway, and now this just gives me another reason to make them sooner rather than later.

Just Born is always expanding their Peeps lineup, as the sugar-coated marshmallows are one of their most popular products. Instead of only offering yellow chick Peeps at Easter, they have chicks, bunnies and egg shapes in a variety of colors and flavors. And for other holidays, they have themed Peeps, with hearts on Valentine's Day and trees at Christmas.

At Halloween, Just Born introduced cocoa-flavored black cat Peeps, which I passed on because I was somewhat put off by the color. I am a huge fan of Peeps, but I like my Peeps in the spring. While shopping this week, however, I came across Cocoa Bunny Peeps and, as they were Eastery-enough to meet my standards, I picked up a package for a taste test.

The important thing to note about these candies is that they are not chocolate marshmallows, despite the promising light chocolate color. They are merely cocoa-flavored and that flavoring is entirely limited to the sugary coating on the outside of the bunny. The subtle chocolate flavor didn't really do anything to enhance the Peep and, although I would eat them again, if I really want chocolate with my Peeps, I'll stick with Milk Chocolate Peep Eggs - or better yet, a dark chocolate Peeps s'more using a regular Peep.

For a closer look at the cocoa bunnies, click past the jump. *warning - the photo after the jump is graphic, and may not be suitable for all viewers*

Flavanols are the chemicals in chocolate, as well as in wine and teas, that are responsible for many of the nutritional bonuses that it offers, including improved circulation and general heart health. These antioxidants have also been shown to increase the flow of blood to the brain in research presented to the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Increased blood flow to the brain has been associated with improved cognitive performance in healthy people, as it carries more oxygen to the brain than when high-flavanol cocoa is not eaten. Since one of the symptoms of dementia is a decrease in the flow of blood to the brain, scientists think that cocoa that is high in flavanols could be used to decrease the impact of the disease.

Unfortunately, many commercial chocolates are low in flavanols, so you probably won't experience any of the benefits demonstrated by this study if you eat an extra Snickers bar. The reason for this is that flavanols add a bitter taste to chocolate, which many manufacturers - especially of sweet milk chocolates - prefer to eliminate from their final products. An exception to this is CocoaVia, which is specifically infused with flavanols. CocoaVia aside, the highest concentration of flavanols is found in cocoa, meaning that dark chocolate is a better choice for your health than milk chocolate, but a cup of hot cocoa is going to be your best bet.

So today is not only Valentine's Day, it's also a great day for hot chocolate (for much of the country, anyway...you stay classy San Diego). So let's combine the two and see what we get.

And that would be Hot Chocolate Cones! They're cocoa, mini marshmallows, mini chocolate chips, and a red gum drop placed inside cone-shaped cellophane wrappers. Makes a cool gift:

3/4 cup cocoa mix
two 6" x 12" cone-shaped cellophane bags
2 clear rubberbands
scissors
1/4 cup mini chocolate chips
3/4 cup mini marshmallows
1 large red gumdrop

Let's face it: if you take a glace at the rapidly expanding chocolate section of almost any store, there is bound to be at least one product that needs a second (and much closer) look just to figure out the label. In this case, I'm not referring to products with unusual flavor combinations, but to those marked with a cacao percentage.

Consumers and manufacturers alike have gone crazy over chocolates labeled with their cacao percentage in the last year or so, and even though the numbers themselves are clear, not everyone understands what those numbers mean. Often, the percentages are equated with the quality of the chocolate, leading to the idea that the darker the chocolate, the better it will be in spite of the fact that the darkest chocolate - usually unsweetened, 99% cacao- is actually quite unpalatable.

The cacao percentage indicates how much of a given product, by weight, is made up of cocoa solids from the cocoa bean (cacao), like cocoa butter and cocoa powder. The rest of the bar is made up of sugar, vanilla and/or other ingredients, including milk and the occasional emulsifier. This basically means that a bar of chocolate with a higher cacao percentage will usually have more chocolate in it and a stronger cocoa flavor (i.e. it will be more bitter) than one with a lower percentage, but that doesn't necessarily mean that bars of equally high percentages will taste alike.