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Delectable, flavorful, albeit sometimes bitter, chocolate reigned as the delicious topic of the day at the Alliance Area Retired Teachers Association (AARTA) June meeting. President Gerry Baier welcomed members, new member Shirley Mason and guest Carol Kinsey of the Ohio Retired Teachers Association (ORTA). Marsha Graham selected "Beautiful Ohio" as the opening song and to acknowledge the centennial celebration of the U.S. national forests and parks.
McKinley Museum library assistant and historian-curator Kim Kenney gave the presentation "Sweet Stuff: The Story of Chocolate." Kenney explained the cacao tree Theobroma Cacao was named by Swedish botanist Carolus Linnaeus. This Greek name translates to English as "food of the gods." Cacao was first grown commercially in South America, where its market expanded to Spain, Europe and the United States. Today's major cacao producers are Brazil, Colombia, Peru, Mexico, Dominican Republic, Ghana, Indonesia, and India though Africa has emerged as the global leader in cacao production.
Influenced by the elements in the soils and the environmental conditions of various countries, cacao beans develop distinctive flavors. For example, the Dominican Republic cacao bean produces the buttery "Sanchez" and the fermented bean "Hispaniola." Ecuador's dried cacao beans have a complex refined flavor. The color differentiations of the cacao pods and their beans can identify their country's origin, except for Brazil and West Africa, whose cacao trees produce the same smooth yellow pods and deep purple beans. The Indonesian red pods yield white, ivory or pale purple beans. Caribbean pods have a variety of colors, such as orange, brown, yellow or pale yellow with brown speckles. The Caribbean beans are also a variety of colors. Regardless of origin, each pod contains 20-30 beans. Cacao beans are harvested manually, dried, fermented, roasted and pulverized to produce the cocoa powder used for baking and candies. The processes involved in pulverizing the beans and number of stirrings are trade secrets.
The Spanish were the first to add sugar to chocolate drinks. The Nestle Company, in 1876, was the first manufacturer to add milk to make a lighter chocolate flavor. Chocolate will keep for years if stored at 65 to 75 degrees. When it's too warm the chocolate will melt and if it gets too cold it will "bloom" with a white coating of cocoa butter. Kenney said, "The secret is if you're comfy, the chocolate is comfy." Cocoa has a long-lasting quality, however, should the powder clump, it can easily be broken up with a fork. The three categories of cocoa are baking cocoa in powder form with no sugar; bittersweet chocolate with some sugar; and milk chocolate with sugar and milk. White chocolate is not legally a chocolate. Real chocolate has cocoa in it. Tasty chocolate square favors donated by Anastasiades Chocolates were distributed by Kim Kenney.
Kenney, a graduate of Wells College, is conducting the study "Project Eat!" to document the history of the foodways of Stark County residents. Materials are needed to provide the basis for the study, such as restaurant/banquet menus, advertisements, grocery store ads/circulars, school menus, amateur cookbooks, handwritten recipes, and diaries/journals/letters that mention food. She plans to author a book defining the results. Those who have any of the requested items to submit for the book can contact her at 330-455-7043.
The teacher recognition conducted by Public Relations Chairwoman Faye Heim opened with two brief readings from "To Teach is to Touch Lives Forever," which recalled the responsibility of teaching the curriculum and the creative spark needed to link the teachers' and students' intellectual processes to learning tasks. Two AARTA members, Marolyn Korte and Ruth Shannon of the select group of having a 30-year career, were presented AARTA certificates, in absentia, for 30 teaching years matching 30 years of retirement. Continuing the recognition of select groups, Heim is compiling a roster of AARTA teachers who participated in the Newspaper in Education (NIE) program during their teaching careers. The NIE roster will be a new listing in the 2017 yearbook.
The AARTA Book Award display by Chairwoman Diana Moore exhibited print articles of the 2017 Book Award winners. The winners and their future goals are: Alliance High School graduate Mariana Romeo, who will attend Kent State University to study early childhood education; West Branch High School graduate Grace Skolosh, who will attend Baldwin Wallace University to study secondary science education; and West Branch High School graduate Ashley Weber, who will attend Mount Vernon Nazarene University to study elementary speech pathology.
Kinsey announced that the State Teachers Retirement System will periodically review the cost of living allowance.
Winners of the Old-Fashioned Candy Bar Trivia Game conducted by Gerry Baier were Marsha Graham, Jackie Wellman, Kathryn Miller, Joyce Fife and Mary Jo Bourne. Each received a box of Heggy's chocolates. The door prize winners were Linda Bell, Heggy's candy; Mary Jo Bourne, AARTA lunch; Marsha Graham, ream of paper; Jim Lackey, Lowe's gift card; Kathryn Miller, Panera gift card; and Jackie Wellman, assorted cookies.
A new fundraiser for the AARTA Book Awards coordinated by Jackie Wellman is the Picnic Packs for Pages, scheduled for 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. July 22 at Abiding Savior Lutheran Church, 1845 S. Sawburg Ave., Alliance. The $6 meal may be consumed at the church pavilion or taken as carryout. The menu is a hot dog or Coney dog or sloppy Joe, potato chips, sliced apples, a cookie and beverage or bottled water.
The yearbook prompts for June were to name and describe a place in the Alliance area which you think adds to the beauty of America and/or to identify one or more Alliance individual/s who have contributed to the maintenance of Alliance the beautiful and tell of their contributions.
The July 21 AARTA noon luncheon meeting will be held at St. Nicholas Romanian Orthodox Church on Sawburg Avenue. In celebration of the centennial of the U.S. national forests and parks, the program will be "Theodore Roosevelt," portrayed by re-enactor Ted Dudra, of North Canton.