Chocolate Covered Fruit

Most people love chocolate and fruit, so any chance to combine the two and have chocolate covered fruit is a wonderful taste experience. In the past, chocolate, which originated in Central America, was a luxury that only royalty and the wealthy were able to enjoy. Nowadays almost everyone has the opportunity to indulge him or herself by enjoying the wonderful taste of chocolate.

One way to enjoy chocolate covered fruit is a chocolate fountain, which is always a huge hit at functions such as dinner banquets, weddings, a family gathering, birthday parties or even a night hanging out with your friends. Not only is it an elegant, unique way to serve fruit and chocolate but people of all ages love to watch warm chocolate cascade over each tier of the chocolate fountain until it reaches the bottom. There are chocolate fountains made for smaller gatherings and home use and commercial fountains that are available to rent for large gatherings. Most places that rent or sell chocolate fountains also sell the milk chocolate, dark chocolate, white chocolate, and many mixtures, formulated especially for using with a fountain so it streams down the tiers properly.

Another wonderful thing about a chocolate fountain is that your imagination is the only limit to what you dip into that river of luscious chocolate. Avoid foods that crumble or fall apart and air-dry any fruit you dip, as a lot of excess moisture could cause problems. Chocolate covered fruit is as easy as making a fruit platter for dipping, using fruits such as grapes, whole strawberries, pineapple chunks, whole raspberries, banana chunks, melon, kiwi chunks, dried fruit, apple slices, and fresh cherries. This is sure to be a hit with all age groups. Other great dipping items and popular choices are rice crispy treats, biscotti, meringue cookies, pretzels, cheese, orange slices, marshmallows, and assorted cookies.

Another way to enjoy chocolate covered fruit is a chocolate fondue, which is easy and makes a decadent, fantastic dessert. Here is an easy recipe for the chocolate.

Ingredients

· 1 cup sifted premium cocoa powder
· 1 ¼ cups of water
· ¼ cup of corn syrup
· 1 ½ cups of sugar
· ½ cup plus 5 tablespoons of heavy cream
· 5 ounces of chopped semi-sweet chocolate

Place the sugar, water and corn syrup into a saucepan and bring this to a boil, allowing it to simmer for up to fifteen minutes. You want this to reduce by thirty percent, then remove from the heat. Gradually add the cocoa powder and whisk until smooth. Cook over medium heat, slowly adding the heavy cream, until it reaches boiling point. Turn the heat down and simmer for an additional five minutes. Remove this mixture from the heat, stir in the chocolate pieces and then pour it into your fondue pot. Serve bite size pieces of fruit for delicious chocolate covered fruit.