Salem program caters to those sweet on chocolate


By LINDA M. LINONIS

linonis@vindy.com

SALEM

“Sweet Stuff: The Story of Chocolate” lived up to the title in the information presented and the delectable treats — including salted, chocolate-covered caramels — that capped the program.

It was a timely event with St. Valentine’s Day being

today.

Salem Public Library, 821 E. State St., hosted the afternoon tea Friday in the library’s Quaker Room with 23 attending. Speaker Kim Kenney, curator at the McKinley Presidential Library & Museum in Canton, offered an overview of the history of chocolate. She said the McKinley library and museum offers some 60 programs that are suitable for group presentations.

“The most I’ve done this program is 12 times during February,” Kenney said, noting it’s well-suited to the month of love when chocolates are often given for Valentine’s Day. The museum will present “I Thee Wed,” focusing on 100 years of bridal fashion, on April 11 with a brunch and style show.

The first people to use the pods of the cacao tree were the Mayans and Aztecs, Kenney said. Chocolate was not consumed in solid form, she continued, but began as a drink. It remained a beverage until the 1870s, and another use evolved as currency.

“Chocolate can be compared to champagne during that time,” Kenney said, “It was consumed at special occasions.”

She noted that sugar was not added to chocolate then — but hot pepper was. “The Spanish added sugar, and the beverage was like our modern hot chocolate,” Kenney said.

“Chocolate was expensive,” she said, noting that only royalty and nobility had access to it.

Multiple factors made chocolate expensive, she said. Cacao trees grow only in the hot, rainy tropics and only in an area 20 degrees north and south of the Equator in such places as Equador, Trinidad, Jamaica and Sri Lanka. The trees take seven to 10 years to mature and produce between 20 and 30 pods annually — there are about 40 cacao beans in each pod.

“The trees have very specific requirements,” Kenney said. That was in addition to the ocean voyage that brought the cacao beans to Europe.

Fast forward to modern times, she said, and cacao farms are larger and shipping is less of an issue.

Kenney said the processing of cacao beans is complicated. The pods are harvested by hand, the seeds must ferment for six days, then be dried for up to two weeks, then roasted at a specific temperature. Hydraulic presses are used to separate the cacao butter and cacao powder.

Kenney said the unsweetened chocolate, also known as ground nibs, is combined with cocoa butter and other ingredients. Milk is added for milk chocolate. A machine kneads the ingredients and affects flavor and texture. That’s why chocolate manufacturers hold their recipes as closely guarded secrets, she said.

Kenney said Milton Hershey is credited with the mass production of chocolate and making it more affordable.

Chocolate became so popular, Kenney said, because “it gives you the same feeling as love.”

Kenney said chocolate is good for people, in moderation, because it contains antioxidants. “But it has to be dark chocolate,” she said.

Teresa Rhodes, marketing and outreach coordinator at the library, said the library wants to offer more programs for adults and youths. She said she was browsing through the Internet for possibilities and the McKinley program caught her eye.

Dorothy Andrews of Vienna, who was attired in a sweater decorated with hearts, said a program on chocolate interested her. After the presentation, participants enjoyed refreshments including chocolate cake.