National Geographic Traveller (UK) - Food
RECIPE JOURNAL
Chocolate desserts
From its sacred Mayan origins in the rainforests of the upper Amazon region, the travels of the cacao bean have been complex and far-reaching. Since they were first brought to Europe by Spanish explorers, the bitter beans have been roasted and ground, melted and conched, and used to create countless delicious desserts.
The regions in which the beans are grown — the humid areas along the equator known as the cacao belt — have seldom produced chocolate themselves.
Yet as colonists, missionaries and those fleeing the Spanish invasion transported cocoa beans across borders, the countries they arrived in made chocolate their own. The chocolatier culture rooted in grand 17th-century French homes gave rise to patisseries, their counters filled with exquisite displays; two centuries on, British chocolatier J S Fry & Sons developed the first solid chocolate bar.
Today, chocolate dominates dessert menus all over the world. You could road trip around the US, hunting down Boston cream pie, Mississippi mud cake and all sorts of puddings and s’mores in between. You could finish off dinner in Brazil with a bite-sized brigadeiro, pick up deepfried balls of mashed plantains stuffed with chocolate from Guatemalan street stalls or tackle a folded triangle of chocolate-filled crepe almost anywhere in the world.
The recipes that follow offer a taste of Italy, Sweden, France and Mexico. When making desserts like these at home, be sure to stick to the stated cacao percentage in order to achieve the perfect texture and flavour. It’s also worth splashing out on good-quality, fairly traded chocolate — bars that are smooth, glossy and smell so good, you’ll want to eat a square before you get home. And should the whole bar mysteriously disappear while you’re cooking, you’ll just have to go out for dessert instead.