National Chocolate Day Observed

Above, left: A green chocolate hat created by Ann de Gersem in collaboration with the autistic employees of a Belgian chocolate factory. “De Gersem’s Au(then)tism collection offers a visual language created in collaboration outside the culture of the neurologically typical” (via culiblog via we make money not art). Above, right: A chocolate Manhattan skyscraper hat (via linkinn).

We previously reported that two chocolates—Teasers and Truffles (Celebrations, Masterfoods UK, Melton Mowbray)—were strikingly similar to the 8 ml bead of the orchidometer used to assess testicular volume. We therefore suggested that they could be used to stage puberty in males and, because of their wide availability and low cost, commended their use.

We were recently dismayed to discover that the manufacturer has changed the shape of both these chocolates. Both are now flat bottomed, and even non-specialists will notice that they bear little resemblance to testes. More disturbingly, they are no longer much use for assessing testicular volume. Only one of six paediatric endocrine specialists (comprising trainees, consultants, and specialist nurses) felt confident that they could use the new Teasers or Truffles to gauge testicular volume relative to the 8 ml cut-off which indicates that puberty is proceeding satisfactorily. [British Medical Journal, via boing boing]

Above left: Chocolate shoes (via OHLALA Mag). Above right: Chocolate tool set from Frantz Kobe Sweets [Link, via dump trumpet].

I learned today is National Chocolate Day from yumsugar, and had it confirmed by the National Confectioners Association.

Other chocolate news items:

• June 2008: The candy company Mars announced this week that it was joining with IBM and the Department of Agriculture to sequence and analyze the cocoa genome. [Link, via CHOW]
• April 2008: Wanted: Women to eat chocolate for a year. [Link, via Full Circle Associates]
• February 2008:A group known as BioTruck modded a 1989 Ford Iveco Cargo to run entirely by biodiesel made from chocolate — specifically, discarded “waste chocolate” (*snort*) from a manufacturer (via boing boing).
• February 2006: Eating chocolate may halve risk of dying. [Link]
• 2005: British archivists revealed Monday that Nazi German saboteurs plotted — unsuccessfully — during World War II to ship explosives into Britain hidden in bars of chocolate and other products. [Link]

See also chocolate-covered Perigold truffle; absinthe-flavored chocolate; chocolate maps; chocolate gods and demi-gods; chocolate keyboards; chocolate toothpaste; Tcho chocolate; and Customized M&Ms. the greatest technological achievement in my lifetime.

Oh, and Tim’s Chocolate Mission, a review of candy bars from around the world. (via dump trumpet)

Tags: Autism, Chocolate, Hats, Shoes, Testicles, Tools

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