Chocolate News
First chocolate chip cookies baked in space have to be vetted for safety
CNET Cookie monsters, rejoice: Chocolate chip cookies can be baked in space, but they’ll take a lot longer to make there than the ones you whip up at home in your Earth oven. The first batch of cookies baked on the International Space Station are back on Earth now. Astronauts report they were able to smell the cookies baking. So far, the cookies remain in an Earth freezer, as they must be tested to determine if they’re safe to eat. One of the cookies has been offered to the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum — but for display, not a snack.What do to if your dog eats chocolate
So many things can happen if your pup gets his paws on that yummy chocolate. If chocolate ingestion occurs, one of the MOST important thing for your veterinarian to know is what type of chocolate Fido ate AND how much of it. The effects of chocolate can range from room clearing gas to vomiting/diarrhea and in most severe cases, irregular heartbeats and death can occur. Generally speaking, milk chocolate has less impact than dark chocolate or cooking chocolate. Similarly, the weight and size of the pet also determines how they might be affected. The good news is that in MOST cases, Fido might have some GI upset with that room clearing gas and with minimal medical intervention will have a great prognosis!
How chocolate could be the answer to a good night’s sleep
If you’re struggling to sleep well, upping your chocolate levels could be the answer. The links between what we eat and how we sleep, and how there are certain foods which can aid – or disturb – slumber. Hormones influence the sleep process. Our levels of serotonin, which is essential for the production of the sleep hormone melatonin, can be boosted by certain foods, including chocolate. It increases serotonin; serotonin helps you fall asleep at night. What’s really important to note is we have hormones that wake us up in the morning. Cortisol wakes you up in the morning, and then cortisol dips across the day and passes the baton to the melatonin, and the melatonin helps you sleep. Insulin, which regulates your energy and blood sugar throughout the day, will affect your cortisol and your melatonin. So what you eat, when you eat and also how you eat as well, can affect your hormones.
Chocolate is getting weirder by the day
At the Chicago-based Vosges Haut-Chocolat, founder Katrina Markoff is experimenting with “sound infusion.” As the brand’s “cosmic” truffles cool, they’re treated to piped-in sounds of varying frequencies. Sold in a 21-piece box for $72, they’re made for people who believe in the wellness proprieties of vibrations. “There are healing frequencies that people listen to with meditation and sound healing and gong baths, so we decided to try that,” she says. “We really focus on creating experience.”
Researchers print rainbow colorants on shimmering chocolate
ETH researchers are making chocolates shimmer in rainbow colors without the addition of colorants. They have found a way to imprint a special structure on the surface of the chocolate to create a targeted color effect. (CLICK, HERE, TO SEE!)