MIT club cooks up delicious experiments

When Segall graduated, Sen took over as president. Sen's boyfriend got Sen interested in the club. He went to one of the truffle events and brought back a wasabi (Japanese horseradish) truffle for her to try. "It was so good that I had to learn to make them myself," she says. She did. This past Christmas, Sen made 12 dozen truffles for her boyfriend's family. "Now they treat me like a goddess!" she laughs.

Today the club also sponsors a "Battle of the Brownies," open to all. A chocolate sculpting "art" class turns chunks of chocolate into spiders, castles, frogs, or alligators. A dark-chocolate "taste off" featuring 50 varieties from around the world is also popular. Percentages of cocoa solids, cocoa-bean origins, and their effect on flavor are discussed.

In terms of activities, "Basically anything goes, as long as it is about chocolate," says Sen.

This is my kind of club!

Read the whole recipe first; this takes a while. Ask an adult to help.

Ingredients:

2 to 2-1/2 cups (12 to 15 oz.) dark or milk chocolate, or 3 cups (18 oz.) white chocolate. Chips are easiest; if you use bars, break them up so they'll melt faster.
1 cup heavy cream
Flavorings (extracts, spices, etc.)
Cocoa powder, crushed walnuts, or confectioners sugar (for coating)

Directions:

Pour cream into a saucepan over medium heat. Keep stirring gently with a wooden spoon so the cream won't stick or boil. Add flavorings: 1/2 tsp. cinnamon, whole cloves, a spoonful of jam. (Don't add extracts yet.) Stir, then taste. If you like the flavor, strain the cream to remove spice residue. Or add more spice, stir, and taste again. When it tastes right to you, strain out the spices. Return to heat, and keep stirring.

When cream is hot, add chocolate, one cup at a time. Stir. When the chocolate has melted, add extracts: orange, vanilla, lemon, or mint, perhaps. Try 1/2 teaspoonful at first. Taste carefully - it's hot. When it tastes right, remove pan from heat. Let it cool a few minutes. Pour it into a Pyrex bowl, cover it, and put it in the freezer for two to five hours.

Roll the truffles: Scoop up the cooled chocolate mixture with a metal spoon. Use your hands to roll it into quarter-sized balls. (You DID wash your hands, right?) Put the balls on plates or cookie sheets covered with wax paper. Put truffles back in the freezer to harden (30 min. or so).

Finish the truffles: Roll them in cocoa powder, confectioners' sugar, crushed walnuts, or coconut. Eat!

Humans have been eating chocolate for almost 2,000 years. The Mayans and Aztecs of Central and South America found that seeds of the cacao (kuh-KOW) tree could be roasted and ground into a paste that dissolved in water. Nobles drank the frothy mixture, believing that it brought wisdom and knowledge.

In 1519, Spanish explorer Hernando Cortez was served 'chocolatl' by Emperor Montezuma of Mexico. The bitter drink was flavored with chile peppers. But sweetened with cane sugar, the drink began to catch on in Spain and the rest of Europe.

Spain planted cocoa in its tropical colonies to meet the demand. But the processing of the beans, which had to be fermented, dried, roasted, and ground, was a secret. It was done behind the high walls of monasteries and became a very profitable business. Spain kept its chocolate secret for nearly a century.

In 1606, Italian traveler Antonio Carletti discovered and published the secret of processing cocoa beans.

The world would wait centuries for the hydraulic chocolate press, Dutch-processed chocolate, milk chocolate, and a decent chocolate bar. But a name change happened sooner. A misspelling of 'cacao' by an English importer in the 1700s is probably why we call it 'cocoa.'

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