Recipes from The Chocolate Puppy Puzzle

Chocolate Chat
It's All (Not) Relative
JoAnna Carl

The tree that gives us chocolate was assined the scientific name Theobroma cacao by the Swedish scientists Linnaeus in 1753. Theobroma can be translated as "food of the gods," a name that not only reflects the legends of the pre-Columbian Indians as to its originas but also seems to be a comment on its heavenly appeal to the sense of taste.

The dried and roasted seeds of the cacao tree are processed to form cocoa, which is how "cacao" is usually pronounced in American English. Despite the sound-alike, it has no relationship to the coconut palm, Cocos nucifera, though products of this plant are sometimes called "coco."

Neither is it related to the coca bush, Erythroxylum coca. This plant is used for a tea sometimes used to relieve symptoms of altitude sicknes. But its greatest use is in producing cocaine.

So, let's get this straight. Chocolate and cocaine are not produced from the same plant. The high chocoholics get from indulging in truffles, bonbons, or plain old solid chocolate is not physically addictive. Saying that chocolate is not habit-foring, however, might be going too far.

More about The Chocolate Puppy Puzzle
JoAnna Carl

WITH TASTY CHOCOLATE TRIVIA!

Barks and Bites

The lakeside town of Warner Pier, Michigan, is tickled pinker than a strawberry truffle. Flashy Aubrey Andrews Armstrong has just swept into town, dropping celebrity names and claiming he’s an independent Hollywood producer. For his next project, he says, he’ll make a movie based on a local author’s romance novel—right here on location, as they say in Tinsel Town...

Armstrong makes older ladies blush and giggle like schoolgirls. He’s promised the high school drama club bit parts in the movie. And his constant companion, his chocolate lab, Monte, is quite the charmer. But sensible Lee McKinney, business manager at TenHuis Chocolade, would bet her last chocolate coin that Mr. Armstrong is a doggone phony. Even though it’s the shop’s busy season, Lee’s always up for some sleuthing. But when it leads her to a dead body, dogging the killer could fetch a whole lot of danger...

(A Chocoholic Mystery)
Signet (Mystery), December 2004
240 pages ISBN: 0451213645
Paperback
$5.99

Also by JoAnna Carl:
The Chocolate Frog Frameup, December 2003
The Chocolate Bear Burglary, November 2002
The Chocolate Cat Caper, March 2002
And the Dying is Easy, June 2001

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