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I ground down my own chocolate from nibs to have the experience. after the cake was hard, snappy and cracky, I dropped it in a cup of warmmilk and tsp of honey. I think it could have been smoother, I could taste a grainyness with every sip. Without all the sugar it is a bit bitter, I can see it being a morning beverage much like coffee. I will try again, but may cheat to get a smoother texture. I had fun. So thats most important.

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frittataIt took 90 minutes in the oven and I have over half the cream/egg mixture
left over. I did think a quart was too much when I was making it. Next time, I would make it more like a with a lot less cream.

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For attempt number two, I mashed most of the potatoes and mixed everything together, instead of pouring the eggs and cream over the top of the potatoes and figs. Both taste good.

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I had mixed results with this week's Royal Food and Feasting homework. The Chocolate Wine was very good. I was not so lucky with the Potato Torte. For attempt number one I put the potatoes, figs, spices, etc. in the pie and poured the eggs and cream over the top. The chopped figs floated to the top, the custard didn't set like I expected it to, and I forgot to add the sak!

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Now here's a recipe I'll make again!   ... although future servings may include a side of whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.  I used crystallized ginger - something new for me - and like how it worked.  I also liked the finely chopped dates in the pie.  And I successfully mixed the boiled cream and egg yolks - no scrambled eggs, so a proud moment for me. :)
-Beverly Soloway

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This was a fun recipe to make, once I translated it from 17th Century  - and 21st Century - English into "Canadian".  I had to use food colouring as I didn't have the ingredients to make my own food dye. I like the idea of a multi-coloured dessert. Sadly, we discovered we didn't like the taste of rosewater.  I think I will try it another time using vanilla instead.  I did, however, enjoy the cooking process as it allowed me to successfully bake a custard-bread pudding.
-Beverly Soloway

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I found a ruby port imported from Portugal in my Canadian liquor store.  To this I added the chocolate, sugar, and flour as the recipe directed.  I'm a milk chocolate gal, so for me it was a bit too rich.  My hubby who likes dark chocolate liked it - but said he'd still stick to his coffee in the morning :)
-Beverly Soloway

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I gently melted pure, dark chocolate in a 50-50 mix of milk and water. To this I added sugar, vanilla bean, ginger, a cinnamon stick, a whole clove, and freshly-ground nutmeg, and cardamon. The result was fragrant and delightful.

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I used red wine instead of port, cut the amounts by a quarter and then added a bit more sugar. The aroma was quite earthy but I liked the taste. I think it would make a very good dessert sauce.
AS

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Might have got into it a bit!! But a pint of Port!!!!

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Hello and thank you for this wonderful course. This week 3 you're talking about chocolate but also there was a mention of tea and coffee. As many of your experts are apparently very experienced in the history and technology of these (used to be exotic) beverages, I hope someone may answer my question about the tea production.

I recently visited the Azores, Portugal, where they grow tea and let visitors observe the production plant. It was a rainy day when I was there and the collected tea leaves were wet. One of the first machines at the plant was a leaf crusher - a huge, heavy drum - grinding the leaves to extract some sap as we were told. I touched the leaves and they were moist. After this stage, the leaves proceeded to the drying pans for further processing.

So my question is about the first stage of crushing the wet leaves. I always thought that caffeine is the first substance which gets washed away and dissolves in water. As I understand it, this is the basic step in making the decaffeinated tea or coffee. How is then crushing the wet leaves at this Azore's tea plant can yield the final product with any substantial content of caffeine?

I could not find an answer at the plant and left there very puzzled.

Thank you.

Mark.Yedvabny@gmail.com

Boston, Massachusetts, USA