The Okie Legacy

Ancient Family Traditions
(Generations of Sweet Memories)

"With the rising of the sun, the rooster would crow, and Grandma would be in the kitchen, making me chocolate gravy and eggs and biscuits. A better breakfast can not be found." -- 'Summer Vacations' by Ron Farrow.

I have a friend Up North (Canada) that I borrowed this quote from, "Some memories may fade with time, but never the memories of the heart and soul."

Some of those sweet memories of the heart and soul are the special family recipes of love passed from generation to generation. I love the stories and memories that go along with those recipes. Maybe more so than the recipes themselves. BUT...I like them all!

Last week the mention of "Chocolate Gravy" sparked my curiosity. Although, I've never experienced "Chocolate Gravy" it sounds delicious.

After some searching for the origin of this special, family recipe I've found out that this treat seems to have been served on the weekends -- on special occasions -- a lot of fathers made it for their children on sunday -- and some ate it on rice, mash potatoes and biscuits.

I've found it so far in the southern middle Tennessee, Kentucky, northern Alabama, Arkansas, Texas, Oklahoma and Africa.

Everyone knows that chocolate comes from the Cacao tropical tree and is native to South America, where it was first domesticated and was highly prized by the Aztec. It has been extensively cultivated in the Old World since the Spanish conquest.

The fruit is a pod containing a sweetish pulp in which are embedded rows of seeds, the cocoa "beans" of commerce. To obtain cocoa -- naturally occurring bacteria and yeasts to eliminate their bitter, astringent quality ferment the harvested pods. The seeds are then cured and roasted.

The clean kernels, called cocoa nibs, are manufactured into various products. Their large percentage of fat, removed by pressure, is the so-called cocoa butter used in fine soaps and cosmetics and in medicine for emollients and suppositories; the residue is ground to a powder (cocoa) and used for beverages and flavoring.

Chocolate is a product in which the cocoa butter has been retained. Cacao products have a high food value because of the large proportion of fat, carbohydrates, and protein.

Cacao is classified in the division Magnoliophyta, class Magnoliopsida, order Malvales, family Sterculiaceae.

Chocolate was first manufactured in the United States at Milton Lower Mills, near Dorchester, Mass., in 1765. About 1876, M. D. Peter of Vevey, Switzerland, perfected a process of making milk chocolate by combining the cocoa nib, sugar, fat, and condensed milk. The United States has the world's largest chocolate-manufacturing industry.

Here are some of the memories I've collected so far for "Chocolate Gravy & Homemade Biscuits".

A lady in her mid-fifties that grew up in Illinois remembers her mother making chocolate gravy as a treat for the weekends, when friends would be over. She would surprise them with this sweet breakfast treat. Her parents were born and raised in Arkansas and this would place chocolate gravy in that area around the early 1900.

Here's a Recipe for Chocolate Gravy -- 1 cup white sugar; 2 1/3 tablespoons cocoa; 3 tablespoons flour; 1/4 teaspoon salt; 3 1/2 cups whole milk; 1/2 stick margarine. Mix all dry ingredients well and gradually add milk, stirring until smooth. Melt margarine in iron skillet. Add mixture and cook until the consistency of regular gravy. Serve over homemade biscuits -- by Virginia Maye Courtney.

I heard on the news tonight that chocolate it turns out may be good for your health and fighting off heart attacks because of some ingredient in it. That should be good news to all those chocolate addicts out there. Including me in them! :)

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