My Cocoa Mass And Curcumin Recipe In English And Italian

Yesterday I went to see my family doctor, who was absolutely thrilled to see my most recent test results. Almost as thrilled as he was to get a big bag of my Xmas cookies, hehe. And some Slitti chocolate. Oh, I just have to fly my own kite for a second: he told me that MY cookies are the best he has EVER had. Ever!  Anyway, he wrote down my chococumin recipe and also asked if I had posted about it on my blog. Since I couldn’t remember the exact date and am too lazy to look it up, I decided to post the recipe again. It’s not even a real recipe, since I don’t measure anything!

Anyway, here goes (I will translate this into Italian, too, see following paragraph): I use one and a half or two small squares of cocoa mass, or 100% chocolate (not cocoa powder, mind you). Cocoa mass looks like a regular chocolate bar, and you don’t need but a small bit. I melt it over very low heat, but you could use a double boiler, if you prefer. I add a couple of heaping teaspoonfuls of dark organic honey, otherwise it’s too bitter to swallow, in my opinion. As soon as these two ingredients have melted (be careful not to burn the mixture, as I have done a couple of times in the past!), I take the pan off the stove and add two grams of quercetin powder and my eight grams of C3 Complex curcumin powder. Stir quickly and eat the mixture even more quickly since it has a tendency to harden. Important note: I put small blobs of it under my tongue, where there are a TON of blood vessels. My idea is to get the dissolved curcumin into the bloodstream without much ado. It would seem that this approach works, which is why I am SO curious to see my next test results.

Ricetta in italiano: prendere un quadratino e mezzo oppure due (dipende dalla grandezza; ad esempio, se è pasta di cacao Slitti ne basta uno e mezzo; se è Domori ce ne vogliono due) di pasta di cacao. Mi raccomando, che non sia cacao in polvere (non so perché, ma mi dà l’idea che funzionerebbe peggio), ma pasta di cacao, che assomiglia alle tavolette di cioccolato normali. Praticamente si tratta di cioccolato al 100%, senza zucchero insomma. Aggiungere due cucchiaini da té stracolmi di miele biologico, il più scuro possibile (tipo, castagno). Scioglierlo a fuoco bassissimo oppure a bagnomaria. Attenzione a non bruciarlo sennò fa veramente schifo (lo so per esperienza, eheh!). Aggiungere due grammi di quercetina in polvere e otto grammi di curcumina, sempre in polvere. Io uso la curcumina C3 Complex. Una volta sciolto e mescolato il tutto, ne metto un po’ sotto la lingua e lo faccio sciogliere piano piano. L’idea è che da lì entra velocemente in circolo nel sangue senza passare per lo stomaco e l’intestino dove viene aggredito in malo modo da diversi enzimi. Ultima cosa: siccome questa specie di pastone cioccolatoso si indurisce rapidamente, bisogna mangiarlo velocemente e, soprattutto, mentre è caldo.

Back to English. I am busily finishing research for a post and have other errands to run. Busy days, these! I apologize to those who have sent me messages and who are not receiving a reply. I do read every single message, but I probably won’t get to answering any of ’em until Sunday or so. Ok, off I go! Poof!

Xmas Shopping

Today Stefano and I drove to Monsummano Terme, not too far from Florence, in the heart of what has been called "Tuscan Chocolate Valley" thanks to all the award-winning maitre chocolatiers who live and work there. Ah yes, you guessed it. We were on a serious quest for chocolate. Xmas is around the corner, and we have decided to give chocolate as presents this year. We went to "Slitti," a well-known artisanal chocolate shop. Andrea Slitti, the owner, has won all sorts of prestigious Italian and European prizes for his creations. He is famous for his chocolate and coffee combinations. "Slitti" has its own website, which has been translated into English, too: www.slitti.it

The shop was packed with people buying everything in sight, so I didn’t get any good photos. Too bad. But you can get an idea of what the shop looks like on the website. Anyway, after we had chosen gifts for friends and colleagues, we sat down and drank some hot Slitti chocolate.

Sublime.

Once we got home, I took a photo of our purchases. Some of this chocolate is for us, of course. You know, for emergencies and whatnot. 😉 I found some 100% cocoa mass, by the way, which made me very happy. This photo shows my boy Piccolo peeking at me from behind a Xmas bow. You can (sort of) make out the dark and milk chocolate "cakes" containing hazelnuts and almonds, the dark chocolate hazelnut spreads, various types of dragées and chocolate bars with different cocoa content. A chocolate feast for the eyes today! 🙂