Overview
Take a delectable journey through the religious history of chocolate--a real treat!
Explore the surprising Jewish and other religious connections to chocolate in this gastronomic and historical adventure through cultures, countries, centuries and convictions. Rabbi Deborah Prinz draws from her world travels on the trail of chocolate to enchant chocolate lovers of all backgrounds as she unravels religious connections in the early chocolate trade and shows how Jewish and other religious values infuse chocolate today.With mouth-watering recipes, a glossary of chocolaty terms, tips for buying luscious, ethically produced chocolate, a list of sweet chocolate museums around the world and more, this book unwraps tasty facts such as:
- Some people--including French (Bayonne) chocolate makers--believe that Jews brought chocolate making to France.
- The bishop of Chiapas, Mexico, was poisoned because he prohibited local women from drinking chocolate during Mass.
- Although Quakers do not observe Easter, it was a Quaker-owned chocolate company--Fry's--that claimed to have created the first chocolate Easter egg in the United Kingdom.
- A born-again Christian businessman in the Midwest marketed his caramel chocolate bar as a Noshie, after the Yiddish word for snack.
- Chocolate Chanukah gelt may have developed from St. Nicholas customs.
- The Mayan Book of Counsel taught that gods created humans from chocolate and maize.
Full Product Details
Author: Rabbi Deborah R Prinz
Publisher: Jewish Lights Publishing
Imprint: Jewish Lights Publishing
Dimensions:
Width: 15.20cm
, Height: 1.60cm
, Length: 22.90cm
Weight: 0.526kg
ISBN: 9781683362289
ISBN 10: 1683362284
Pages: 272
Publication Date: 01 October 2012
Audience:
General/trade
,
General
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: Available To Order
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Reviews
If one needs a reason to get on a trail searching for chocolate is a better reason than most. InOn the Chocolate Trail: A Delicious Adventure Connecting Jews, Religions, History, Travel, Rituals and Recipes to the Magic of Cacao, (Jewish Lights Publishing, 2013), Rabbi Deborah R. Prinz and her rabbi husband, Mark Hurvitz, explore the history of chocolate. The journey begins with its pre-Columbian cultivation in the Western Hemisphere to its worldwide conquest as a unique and ubiquitous delight. Through the centuries it has assumed many forms and fulfilled many needs. Initially consumed as a liquid, it has now evolved into many other shapes and consistencies such as a powder, chip, morsel, bud, bar, flake and kiss. Baked, boiled, melted, cooled, iced, crumbled and chunked it is beloved in every form. Used for religious purposes by the people inhabiting the Western Hemisphere, it was also incorporated into the rituals of the Catholic Missions. The Sephardic Jews of the Iberian (Portugal/Spain) Peninsula were heavily involved in the business of chocolate, using their commercial contacts to ship it across oceans and continents (all the while consuming it themselves). After the Expulsion from Spain, they took their business involvement with chocolate with them to Europe and on to the Ottoman Empire. Prinz recounts her trips in search of this history, includes recipes (both old and new), and considers the cultivation, manufacture and purchase of chocolate in light of some less than desirous business practices such as the use of child labor and other social justice issues. The book is a quick and tasty journey which was helped along by the Elite (from Israel) bar of dark chocolate in my hand.--Sheila Orysiek San Diego Jewish World (05/03/2015)
