Enjoy your Easter eggs!

Good news for all you chocoholics – quality chocolate has many benefits, so you can indulge in your Easter eggs with a clear conscience and the knowledge that you are doing yourself a favour!  However, moderation is key, and also, it must be good quality dark chocolate – unfortunately, you don’t get same benefits if you scoff down a whole box champagne truffles.

Minerals:
Iron, phosphorous, magnesium, copper, potassium, calcium. Chocolate even contains fluoride (so potentially it’s good for your teeth…?!).
Antioxidants:
Flavenoids, the same type as in red wine and green tea – mop up free radicals and help prevent ageing; also considered to reduce risk of cancer and heart disease.
Mood:
Stimulants caffeine and theobromine (latter not good for dogs, however). Stimulate brain and give burst of energy.

Phenyl-ethyl-amine (PEA), which relieves depression and is also associated with falling in love and indeed with orgasm, is also contained in chocolate – give me that any day!

How to savour the flavour…

 … Ok, you might think you’re enjoying your chocolate already, but are you experiencing it so that it truly indulges every one of your senses?

Sight: 
Your chocolate should be glossy, rich, uniform in colour and smooth.

Sound: 
It should make a clean snap sound and have clean break.

Smell: 
Inhale deeply and appreciate!

Taste:
Allow to melt on your tongue and fill the mouth – there should be a complex, lingering flavour. Spice, nuts, dried fruit, tobacco – are just some of the flavours.

Your experience will vary with cocoa percentage, region of origin, and of course bean used.

There is no need, by the way, to go to extreme – 100% cocoa is very much an acquired taste. 60-70% cocoa content provides marvellous flavours.

The very best chocolate stands up perfectly by itself with no need of additional flavours or fillings.

Original articles by Marian Dougan – BB’s resident chocolate expert!
Read more about Chocolate and other lovely indulgences in our Food and Drink section

Real ale – good enough for a prince.

The Prince of Wales’ organic food and drink company Duchy Originals has just produced their first batch of draught beer, to be made available in a limited number of pubs as of next month.  They have been producing their organic real ale in bottles for a while now, but this is the first time that it will be available hand-pulled behind the bar.

We at Bookshelf Boyfriend strongly advocate the drinking of real ale over standard mass produced lagers, apart from anything else they taste scrumptious (and go perfectly with a good organic cheese!).  There are also a whole lot of other reasons why we should all be getting into our real ales.  Real ales are generally produced in microbreweries using locally grown ingredients, so you are supporting small businesses and the local economy around them.  By buying beer that hasn’t been shipped long distances you are also reducing fossil fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.  If you are buying organic beer, you are supporting a farm system that uses fewer pesticides or synthetic fertilizers, which in turn enhances soil fertility, increases species diversity, conserves water and produces fewer greenhouse gases.

A top tip:

A few of us here were at the most fantastic wedding this weekend, where the father of the bride bought a couple of kegs of delicious locally produced Blacksheep beers.  Everyone was helping themselves to glasses of beer throughout the night, and the following morning(!) and a great time was had by all, and there were no cart loads of cans and bottles to take to the recycling dump.  So, when throwing a party for large numbers of people, look for breweries that sell beer in kegs, which will both keep your costs down and will hugely reduce waste, whilst enabling everyone to have a jolly good time!

Read the Bookshelf Boyfriend article about real ale and beers. 

Treat yourself to some good beers from Real Ale.com

 

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