Spotty Powder and other Splendiferous Secrets(2)
The Swiss eat more chocolate per person than any other nation in the world.
Belgium is the third biggest producer of chocolate in the world.
Just like Willy Wonka, many Belgian chocolate makers keep their recipes secret.
Cocoa was discovered by the South American Indians over 3,000 years ago.
The word ‘chocolate’ comes from chocolatl, the Aztec name for their chocolate drink.
The scientific name for cocoa means ‘food of the gods’.
Cocoa beans were considered so valuable, the Aztecs used them as money – ten beans would buy a rabbit!
Originally, chocolate was used just as a drink. The Spaniards took cocoa to Europe from Mexico in the sixteenth century. They kept the recipe for drinking-chocolate secret for nearly 100 years!
In 1606, an Italian took the recipe to Italy, and chocolate drinking became popular throughout Europe.
There was a royal chocolate maker at the court of Louis XIV.
At first, chocolate was only for the rich. They drank it in ‘chocolate houses’, which were like smart cafes.
The first chocolate factory in America was set up in 1765.
Cocoa powder is made from dried beans that are roasted and ground.
It takes a year’s crop of cocoa beans from one tree to make just one tin of cocoa!
Cocoa pods are as big as rugby balls. They contain about thirty beans.
Factories can produce over five million bars of chocolate a day.
‘Only once have I discovered a new molehill in our orchard in the month of February. I love seeing molehills because they tell me that only a few inches below the surface some charming and harmless little fellow is living his own private busy life scurrying up and down his tunnels hunting for food …
‘Do you know anything about moles? They are remarkable animals. They are shy and gentle and their fur coats are softer than velvet. They are so shy that you will seldom see one on the surface … The molehills that you see are not of course their houses. They are simply piles of loose soil that a mole has pushed up out of the way because, after all, if you are digging an underground tunnel you have to put the excavated soil somewhere.
‘His food consists of worms, leather-jackets, centipedes and beetle grubs, and the fantastic thing is that he actually has to eat one half of his own body weight of these tiny delicacies every single day in order to stay alive! No wonder he’s a busy fellow. Just imagine how much food you would have to eat to consume half your own body weight! Fifty hamburgers, one hundred loaves of bread and a bucketful of Mars Bars and the rest of it each and every day. It makes one quite ill to think about it!’
Have a look at an early version of the Whipple-Scrumpets’ song about greedy Augustus Gloop, and compare it to the one that actually appears in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, sung by the Oompa-Loompas. Can you spot the differences?
The Whipple-Scrumpets … began dancing about and clapping their hands and singing:
Augustus Gloop! Augustus Gloop!
The great big greedy nincompoop!
How long could we allow this beast
To gorge and guzzle, feed and feast
On everything he wanted to?
Great Scott! It simply wouldn’t do!
And so, you see, the time was ripe
To send him shooting up the pipe;
He had to go. It had to be.
And very soon he’s going to see
Inside the room to which he’s gone
Some funny things are going on.
But don’t, dear children, be alarmed.
Augustus Gloop will not be harmed,
Although, of course, we must admit
He will be altered quite a bit.
For instance, all those lumps of fat
Will disappear just like that!
He’ll shrink and shrink and shrink and shrink,
His skin will be no longer pink,
He’ll be so smooth and square and small
He will not know himself at all.
Farewell, Augustus Gloop, farewell!
For soon you’ll be a caramel!’
‘They’re teasing,’ Mr Wonka said, shaking a finger at the singing Whipple-Scrumpets. ‘You mustn’t believe a word they say.’
Strawberry-flavoured
Chocolate-coated Fudge
You will need:
20 × 25 cm shallow baking tin
Greaseproof paper
Large saucepan
Sugar thermometer
Cutters
450 g caster sugar
100 g unsalted butter
175 ml evaporated milk
A few generous drops of pink food-colouring
A generous ½ tsp (2.5 ml) of strawberry food-flavouring
100 g melted chocolate for dipping
Makes enough for ten greedy children
How to make:
Line the tin with buttered greaseproof paper.
Put all the ingredients except the flavouring and colouring into a large heavy-bottomed saucepan and place over a low heat.
Stir occasionally. Once the sugar has dissolved, gently boil the mixture and now stir all the time (to prevent sticking and burning on the bottom of the pan).