Japan and Valentine's Day Chocolate

Valentine's Day is all about chocolate, and I blogged about it. However, here we are a week or so later, and I want to relate a Chocolate Valentine's Day tradition in Japan.

Valentine's Day in Japan is chocolate and female driven. Women profess their love on February 14 and give either handmade or expensive branded chocolate. Men who receive the chocolate can withhold their answer for another month. On March 14, now known as White Day in Japan, men are supposed to return chocolate to these women, along with an answer of Yes or No.

However, not everyone is lucky to have a great admirer who would put so much effort into the day. So to give mercy on all the men in Japan, women have defined two kinds of chocolate gifts that they offer on Valentine's Day. The first one is called "Honmei Choco" which describes the outcome of their true love. Another is called "Giri Choco" which could be translated as Obliged or Duty chocolates. To make sure there is no confusion, duty chocolates are often inexpensive and often distributed to multiple people. Most women in Japan buy both kinds. Honmei Choco is given to husbands or boyfriends, and Giri Choco is given to colleagues and classmates.

Interesting custom. Who profits from a double Valentine's Day?

To read more and get some chocolate sale costs in Japan.

I'll be looking for a story in the Japanese papers on March 14.

More Valentine's Day Chocolate Drinks

Even though Valentine's Day is past, I noticed three more Valentine's Day Chocolate Dessert Cocktails on Chocolate Atlas. Kiss me You Fool, Chocolate Covered Cherry and French Kiss Martini. Add them to your list for next year or drink them now. It's always time for Chocolate!

Chocolate Valentine's Day Decadent Gifts

Need a last minute present for Valentine's Day? Lots of ideas.

Starting off: Why not a gift certificate for a decadent chocolate spa treatment?

It's "Chocolate-Covered February" in Hershey, Pennsylvania. Hershey knows how to celebrate Valentine's Day, with specials on couples' massages and pedicures being offered at the The Spa at the Hotel Hershey. There are chocolate-spa treatments such as a whipped cocoa bath in foaming chocolate milk, a cocoa bean scrub, a chocolate-fondue wrap and many others.

Check out your local spa for chocolate treatments. You can probably order a gift certificate online and no one will know you waited until today! Be sure and add some chocolate to the card and gift certificate.

Barb Conley, BellaOnline's West Coast Travel Editor, has several suggestions for Valentine's Day Travel for Chocolate in the Western States. I've added a few of my own in the list below.

Visit a winery.
Several wineries are holding special Valentines Day events that pair chocolate and other foods with their wines. These can vary from casual day events to evening galas.

Take a Chocolate Factory Tour.
Get up close and personal with tons of chocolate decadence by taking a chocolate factory tour. Sadly Hershey's has closed Scharffen Berger in Berkeley. This was one of my favorite tours. Simple but informative. And after the tour, I would order a chocolate sandwich in the cafe. Three of my favorite food groups: chocolate, butter, and bread--and it was fried!

Go on a Chocolate Picnic.
Regardless of where you live, you can do this inside or out. Barb suggests packing a picnic lunch and including a chocolate treat or stopping for chocolate sundaes on the way home. My suggestion is to have everything in the picnic basket be chocolate based. It's cold outside, so you could even include a hot spicy African stew made with dark chocolate or a hot chicken mole. Take a thermos of cocoa, some chocolate cake, chocolate covered strawberries (you'll need some fruit for balance?) and chocolate truffles. So many choices.

Eat dessert first.
This is something my sister-in-law would enjoy. She always looks at the dessert menu before ordering dinner. Most restaurants on Valentine's Day will include a special chocolate dessert.

Enjoy the day, sip hot chocolate. Stay home, take a walk in the neighborhood or attend an art exhibit, visit a zoo, museum or science exhibition with a thermos of your best very own hot chocolate!

Other gift ideas?

Create a chocolate spa gift basket. Think chocolate scented candles, chocolate candy, chocolate lotion, chocolate perfume oil.

Take a chocolate class together or give a gift certificate.

Create a decadent chocolate dessert at home.

Give a cocoa massage or a classic Swedish massage with chocolate-scented massage oil.

So many ways for the chocoholic to indulge.

Brownie Lava Dessert/Chocolate Cookbooks

February is Chocolate Month, and it seems like every newspaper, blog and magazine has a chocolate story. Well, the traditional gift on Valentine's Day is chocolate, so it comes as no big surprise to this chocoholic. Kate Shatzkin has a review of two new chocolate cookbooks in the Baltimore Sun with a fabulous recipe for Brownie Lava Dessert. As always I recommend using the very highest quality chocolate in any recipe. For the review, go here.

Brownie Lava Dessert
(Serves 4 to 6)
1/2 cup pecan pieces
3 1/2 ounces good bittersweet chocolate
1 stick unsalted butter, cubed
1 cup minus 1 tablespoon sugar
2 extra-large eggs, lightly beaten
1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup all-purpose flour

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Put the pecan pieces into a baking dish and lightly toast in the oven for about 10 minutes. Let cool.
Meanwhile, break up the chocolate and put it in a medium saucepan. Add the butter and melt gently over very, very low heat, stirring frequently.
Remove from the heat and stir in the sugar, then gradually stir in the eggs, followed by the vanilla extract.
When those ingredients are thoroughly mixed, stir in the flour, then, finally, the nuts. When there are no more floury streaks, scrape down the sides of the pan and transfer the mixture to a greased, 7-by-2 1/2-inch round or oval baking dish.
Bake for about 30 minutes, until the mixture is set on top and there is a soft, gooey layer at the bottom. Serve immediately, alone or with light cream or vanilla ice cream on the side.
-- Adapted from "Heavenly Chocolate Desserts," edited by Celine Hughes