Food Gift Hamper

Wine and chocolate do go extremely well together, however the particular wine you choose to accompany the chocolates should be well chosen, the wine should be able to contend with the strong flavours that most chocolates have with a chardonnay being an excellent companion. Port also works well with chocolate due to its full-bodied taste and aroma and as a special treat; you can pop a champagne cork for the ultimate in indulgence or as an unusual gift

That’s right contrary to what we have been told, chocolate can actually be beneficial to us, during the 15th century chocolate was used as a form of medicine to help boost the ailing and weakened body. During the late 16th century, Parisians were using chocolate to treat a wide range of complaints such as indigestion and nervous disorders. It was said that a famous Emperor would drink a goblet of chocolate drink before he would enter his harem and during the 17th century, Samuel Pepys took it to get over and relieve a hangover. More recently during the 21st century, there have been claims of chocolate helping to lower the risk of heart disease, lower the blood pressure and is said to have aphrodisiac properties. Click and try our unusual gift.

It was Christopher Columbus who got a taste for a chocolate drink in Nicaragua and was so impressed he took some beans back with him and gave them to the king of Spain. It was a closely guarded secret until 1519 when a conqueror was given a taste of the drink and realised this was something that should be shared. He promptly turned some beans over to Spanish monks who began perfecting the technique of roasting and grinding and it was these monks who first began introducing sugar, which they found improved the taste drastically. Not surprisingly, the mix became a huge hit and this was Europe’s first introduction to the world of chocolate, as we know it today.

The word chocolate originates from the ancient Mayan word xocoatl and the word cocoa coming from an ancient Aztec word cacahuatl. The Mexican gulf coast was the first to introduce the cacao bean as early as 1500 BC, however it was the Mayan Indians who first produced the earliest cocoa plantations in the Central American rainforests, here cocoa beans were a valuable commodity as they were used as the local currency. It was the Aztecs who first realised other potential uses for the beans when they began making a paste by roasting and grinding the beans and mixing them with water and they can be credited for giving us the first dark chocolate when they described the paste as bitter water.

For many people the name Thornton is a heavenly one, the name has long been associated as The art of the chocolatier. Since 1911, Thornton have been making a little taste of heaven using only the finest ingredients in their confectionary and that shows here in hamperz.com chocolate and fizz gift baskets selection. Combining the finest continental selection of chocolates along with a bottle of Royale Vin Mousseux Brut and if that isn’t enough an assortment of hand made fudge from Sarunds is also included in this truly mouth-watering unusual gift.