|
|
 ©
|
"The most learned men have been questioned as
to the nature of this tuber, and after two thousand years of argument
and discussion their answer is the same as it was on the first day: we
do not know. The truffles themselves have been interrogated, and have
answered simply: eat us and praise the Lord."
- Alexandre Dumas(1802-1870)
The Random House College Dictionary defines the Truffle as: 1.)
Subterranean, edible ascomycetous fungi of the genus Tuber. Found
anywhere from 2 to 15 inches below the ground, usually in a circular
formation about 4 to 5 feet from the base of an oak tree. A number of
varieties exist. 2.) Black Truffles, of Perigord and Lot are highly
esteemed as the absolute finest in the world. "Truffle" oaks are also
found in areas of France including Dauphine, Burgundy and Normandy,
but these are all inferior in quality, with a less delicate aroma and
taste. White Truffles are found in Piedmont, and have a slightly
garlic flavor. 3.) Reference to a candy made of
soft chocolate, shaped into a ball and dusted with cocoa; or,
sometimes a 3 layered cube of light and dark chocolate. (Thought to
resemble the shape and color of the fungi, circa 1585-95.)
Although the first actual consumption of truffles is not documented,
legend has it that a female pig in her first pregnancy was the first
being on the planet to devour the fungi. When the farmer saw her
digging and then eating her "find", he watched, waiting for her to die
from the "poisonous underground mushrooms". Instead, as the legend
goes, the scent of the truffles lured many other suitors to dine with
the female, and subsequently, avidly proceeded to proliferate the
species.
When the farmer decided to try the mysterious fungi himself, legend
says that his previously childless marriage soon gave rise to a legacy
of 13.Nowadays, trained dogs often
substitute for pigs when "hunting" truffles. (One speculates that it's
easier to reward a 60-lb. dog with a treat than it is to distract a
200-lb. pig from the truffles he's just sniffed out!
Not even the most respected culinary scientists have succeeded at
"cultivating" truffles in the laboratory; Perigord still provides a
superior product, as they have for centuries. Score one for Mother
Nature. And the merchants.
The rich and amusing history of truffles takes one on a journey
through the ages of the most "enlightened" of men. The Aristocrats of
Rome ate them. Renaissance Italians wrote about them. Louis the XIV is
the first person known to have commissioned research devoted to
studying and cultivating them.
Truffles are the only subterranean fungi on our planet, and, akin to
the lore of the finest food on the planet, most all truffles grow
(dare I say "are cultivated") in France.
Perigord, in the Bordeaux region, to
be specific. Truffeliers have always been there and always will be.
There are those plantations that have been producing for hundreds of
years. "Cultivated" oak forests that were planted in some of our
lifetimes are generating the real thing, too. And, some commercial
production exists. (Oregon has recently been producing a small black
truffle, although it's considered by most to be inferior.)
Is there a difference, you ask? Connoisseurs may be able to discern
it, but to the layman, simply being able to smile smugly at the friend
who only knows truffles as those "little
chocolate candies" seems
accomplishment enough. Pity the one who's never experienced the
sensuous aroma, texture and taste of the little black treasures.
Perhaps a visit to a Provence brasserie prefaced by enjoying a Peter
Mayle novel would enlighten the poor sheltered chum.
The earliest record of
chocolate was over fifteen hundred years ago in the Central American
rain forests, where the tropical mix of high rain fall combined with
high year round temperatures and humidity provide the ideal climate
for cultivation of the plant from which chocolate is derived, the
Cacao Tree.
The Cacao
Tree was worshipped by the Mayan civilization of Central America and
Southern Mexico, who believed it to be of divine origin, Cacao
is actually a Mayan word meaning "God Food" hence the tree's modern
generic Latin name 'Theobrama Cacao' meaning ‘Food of the
Gods’. Cacao was corrupted into the more familiar 'Cocoa' by the
early European explorers. The Maya brewed a spicy, bitter
sweet drink by roasting and pounding the seeds of the Cacao
tree (cocoa beans) with maize and Capsicum (Chilli) peppers and
letting the mixture ferment. This drink was reserved for
use in ceremonies as well as for drinking by the wealthy and religious
elite, they also ate a Cacao porridge.
The Aztecs
of central Mexico also prized the beans, but because the Aztec's lived
further north in more arid regions at higher altitudes, where the
climate was not suitable for cultivation of the tree, they had to
acquire the beans through trade and/or the spoils of war. The Aztecs
prized the beans so highly they used them as currency - 100
beans bought a Turkey or a slave - and tribute or Taxes were paid in
cocoa beans to Aztec emperors. The Aztecs, like the
Mayans, also enjoyed Cacao as a beverage fermented from the raw beans,
which again featured prominently in ritual and as a luxury available
only to the very wealthy. The Aztecs called this drink Xocolatl, the
Spanish conquistadors found this almost impossible to pronounce and so
corrupted it to the easier 'Chocolat', the English further changed
this to Chocolate.
The Aztec's
regarded chocolate as an aphrodisiac and their Emperor, Montezuma
reputedly drank it fifty times a day from a golden goblet and is
quoted as saying of Xocolatl:
"The divine drink, which builds up resistance
and fights fatigue. A cup of this precious drink permits a man to walk
for a whole day without food"
In fact, the
Aztec's prized Xocolatl well above Gold and Silver so much so, that
when Montezuma was defeated by Cortez in 1519 and the
victorious 'conquistadors' searched his palace for the
Aztec treasury expecting to find Gold & Silver, all they found were
huge quantities of cocoa beans. The Aztec Treasury consisted,
not of precious metals, but Cocoa Beans.
Xocolatl! or
Chocolat or Chocolate as it became known, was brought to Europe by
Cortez, by this time the conquistadors had learned to make the
drink more palatable to European tastes by mixing the ground roasted
beans with sugar and vanilla (a practice still continued today), thus
offsetting the spicy bitterness of the brew the Aztec's drank.
The first chocolate
factories opened in Spain, where the dried fermented beans brought
back from the new world by the Spanish treasure fleets were roasted
and ground, and by the early 17th century chocolate powder - from
which the European version of the drink was made - was being exported
to other parts of Europe. The Spanish kept the source of the drink -
the beans - a secret for many years, so successfully in fact, that
when English buccaneers boarded what they thought was a Spanish
'Treasure Galleon' in 1579, only to find it loaded with what appeared
to be 'dried sheep's droppings', they burned the whole ship in
frustration. If only they had known, chocolate was so expensive at
that time, that it was worth it's weight in Silver (if not Gold),
Chocolate was Treasure Indeed!
Within a few years, the
Cocoa beverage made from the powder produced in Spain had become
popular throughout Europe, in the Spanish Netherlands, Italy, France,
Germany and - in about 1520 - it arrived in England.
The first Chocolate
House in England opened in London in 1657 followed rapidly by many
others. Like the already well established coffee houses, they were
used as clubs where the wealthy and business community met to smoke a
clay pipe of tobacco, conduct business and socialize over a cup of
chocolate.
BACK TO THE AMERICA'S
Event's went full circle
when English colonists carried chocolate (and coffee) with them to
England's colonies in North America. Destined to become the United
States of America and Canada, they are now the worlds largest
consumers - by far - of both Chocolate and Coffee, consuming over half
of the words total production of chocolate alone.
THE QUAKERS
The Quakers were, and
still are, a pacifist religious sect, an offshoot of the Puritans of
English Civil War and Pilgrim Fathers fame and a history of chocolate
would not be complete without mentioning their part in it. Some of the
most famous names in chocolate were Quakers, who for centuries held a
virtual monopoly of chocolate making in the English speaking world -
Fry, Cadbury and Rowntree are probably the best known.
It's probably before the
time of the English civil war between Parliament and King Charles 1st,
that the Quaker's, who evolved from the Puritans, first began their
historic association with Chocolate. Because of their pacifist
religion, they were prohibited from many normal business activities,
so as an industrious people with a strong belief in the work ethic
(like the puritans), they involved themselves in food related
businesses and did very well. Baking was a common occupation for them
because bread was regarded as the biblical " Staff Of Life", and
Bakers in England were the first to add chocolate to cakes so it would
be a natural progression for them to start making pure chocolate. They
were also heavily involved in breakfast cereals but that's another
story.
What is certain is that
the Fry, Rowntree and Cadbury families in England among others, began
chocolate making and in fact Joseph Fry of Fry & Sons (founded 1728 in
Bristol, England) is credited with producing and selling the worlds
first chocolate bar. Fry's have now all but disappeared (taken over by
Cadbury) and Rowntree have merged Swiss company Nestle, to form the
largest chocolate manufacturer in the world. Cadbury have stayed with
chocolate production and are now, if not quite the largest, probably
one of the best known Chocolate makers in the world.
From their earliest
beginnings in business the Quakers were noted for their enlightened
treatment of their employees, providing not just employment but
everything needed for workers to better themselves such as good
housing etc. In fact, Cadbury built a large town for their employees
around their factory near Birmingham, England. Complete with
libraries, schools, shops and Churches etc, they called it
Bourneville. So next time you see Cadbury's chocolate with the name
Bournville on it you will know where it comes from and what the name
relates to.
The first mention of
chocolate being eaten in solid form is when bakers in England began
adding cocoa powder to cakes in the mid 1600's. Then in
1828 a Dutch chemist, Johannes Van Houten, invented a method of
extracting the bitter tasting fat or "cocoa butter" from the roasted
ground beans, his aim was to make the drink smoother and more
palatable, however he unknowingly paved the way for solid chocolate as
we know it.
Chocolate as
we know it today first appeared in 1847 when Fry & Sons of Bristol,
England - mixed Sugar with Cocoa Powder and Cocoa Butter (made by the
Van Houten process) to produce the first solid chocolate bar then, in
1875 a Swiss manufacturer, Daniel Peters, found a way to combine (some
would say improve, some would say ruin) cocoa powder and cocoa butter
with sugar and dried milk powder to produce the first milk chocolate.
and the rest, is
history, Chocolate History....
For more information
have a look at:
|
