Valentines day is celebrated in every country across the globe  - and practically everywhere with chocolate! Naturally all the traditions can’t be covered in a single article, but we’ve done our best to find the most interesting ones and then we took the liberty of mixing and matching the recipes here and there to sweeten the day.  Happy Valentines Day to all of you as you celebrate the love in all it’s forms – if you think about it, it was love that gave you life in the first place. The Japanese and the Koreans have had the foresight to extend the day. In Japan, on the 14th of February, women give men gifts of handmade white

chocolate and then,one month later, on the 14th of March (known as White Day) they get it back again!  In Korea, the women give sweets to the men and one month later, on White Day, the men are permitted to profess their love (or not) – and, if you didn’t get a valentine, don’t worry!! On the 14th of April all the singles get together and have a huge party where they eat Jajang black noodles.  The day is known as Black Day.

WHITE CHOCOLATE MOUSSE

Ingredients

• 250g White chocolate
• 1 tsp Vanilla extract
• 1 tbsp Caster sugar
• 5 large Eggs
• 250ml Cream

Method

• Grate the chocolate and melt using whatever method you prefer, add vanilla and incorporate very well whilst the chocolate is warm.
• Whisk yolks with sugar until pale and thick at which point, please add a little of the chocolate mixture to egg mixture stirring well.
• Now pour the rest of the chocolate mixture to the egg mixture and whisk until everything is properly mixed.
• Wisk egg whites to the stiff peak stage and then fold into chocolate mixture.
• Whisk the cream until soft peaks form and fold into mousse lightly.
• Pour mixture into moulds and refrigerate until set.
• Serve with strawberries for Valentines night!

The British, who started writing love poetry on this day, still do so beautifully and biscuits are decorated with messages and valentines day paraphernalia, as are cards and letters.  In Australia they made exquisite cushions called valentines that were always ornate and very costly. The satin valentines, often adorned with taxidermied humming birds, designed with flowers and ribbons and shells were placed in boxes to be delivered to the lucky ladies.  In Austria and Germany flowers are the norm and very special attention is paid with respect to the type of flower, both in terms of colour and fragrance!  However, most lovers, wives and girl-friends also receive gifts, chocolates and a night out on the town and the really lucky ones have husbands that cook a meal for them.

VALENTINES BLACK DAY BISCUITS

Ingredients

• 200g best quality dark chocolate chocolate, diced (70%)
• 125g unsalted butter, cubed
• 100g brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 190g plain flour
• 40g self-raising flour
• 200g  best quality dark chocolate, extra, roughly chopped (70%)
• 60g hazelnuts, roughly chopped

Method Preheat oven to 160°C. Line a baking tray with non-stick baking paper.

• Melt the chocolate using whichever method you prefer and cool slightly.
• Whisk the butter and brown sugar in a medium bowl until just combined. (I suggest you use an electric beater here)
• Whisk in the cooled chocolate.
• Add the eggs individually, beating well after each egg, until well combined.
• Sift plain and self-raising flours into a bowl.
• Add ½ of the sifted flour to the chocolate mixture and use a wooden spoon to mix until combined.
• Add the rest of the flour, the second batch of chopped chocolate and hazelnuts and mix until well combined, cover with cling wrap and place in the fridge for an hour or until mixture is firm.
• Roll 1 ½ tablespoons of mixture into balls and place them 4cm apart on the baking tray and flatten the balls of dough slightly with your hands.
• Return the remaining dough to the fridge.
• Bake in preheated oven for 18 minutes or until firm and biscuits have cracked slightly on top.
• Remove them from the oven and stand the biscuits on the tray for about 3 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.
• Repeat with remaining dough.
• Ice as per your own choice.

For Valentines day, ice with whatever tickles your fancy or pile into a picnic basket with bottle of really good champagne. If you have snow this time of the year, pack the picnic basket and have dinner in front of the fire – there’s nothing more sensual!

In the USA cards are the order of the day, humorous and serious.  Loved ones go out for dinner, do something special or eat special meals at home. For those who feel like celebrating their love there are There are plenty of Valentines parties to celebrate this thing called love. In Denmark people send pressed white flowers called Snowdrops and Danish men may also send a gaekkebrev (funny letter). The sender of the gaekkebrev writes a rhyme but does not sign his name – he only writes down dots – one dot for each letter in his name. If the lady who gets the card guesses the name of the sender, she’s given an Easter Egg later in the year.

VALENTINES TRUFFLE COOKIES

Ingredients

• 125g dark chocolate, chopped
• 125g dark chocolate chips
• 120g butter
• 3 eggs
• 220g white sugar
• 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
• 65g plain flour
• 2 tablespoons cocoa powder
• ¼ teaspoon baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 250 dark chocolate, grated

Method

• Preheat oven to 175 degrees C.
• Melt the dark chocolate, the dark chocolate chips and the butter over heat using the method of your choice and set aside.
• Using a large bowl, whisk the eggs and sugar until thick and pale, about 2 minutes.
• Stir in the vanilla and the chocolate mixture until well mixed.
• Sift the flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt together into a bowl. Gradually stir into the chocolate mixture.
• Fold in remaining 1 cup chocolate chips, cover dough and chill for at least 1 hour or overnight.
• Roll chilled dough into 2.5cm balls.
• Place on ungreased baking tray so they are 5cm apart and bake for 9 to 11 minutes.
• Allow biscuits to cool on tray for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.
• Roll in white icing sugar (optional).

In France a type of lottery once existed where singles, both young and old, could go into homes that  face one another and shout across the way from one window to the other in order to pair-off with a chosen partner. If a man didn’t like his valentine, he could simply leave her.  To console her, a bonfire was made and lit where all the jilted ladies could burn images of the offending male and verbally abuse him loudly whilst he the effigy burnt.  Thankfully it’s a thing of the past. Today it’s celebrated much like anywhere else in the world.

ITALIAN HOT CHOCOLATE

Ingredients

• 500 ml full cream, organic milk
• 2 tsps molasses sugar
• 200 ml dark Amedei Single Cru Ecuador chocolate, grated (70 cocoa solids) (Try the Jamaica, Madacascar en Trinidad if you like)
• 2 g chilli powder (optional)
• 5 ml good Cognac

Method

• Gently melt the grated chocolate over simmering water.
• Warm milk to just before boiling point and remove from the heat.
• Stir the choclate into the milk gently until everything is combined.
• Add the chilli and do the same and right at the end, add the cognac.

In Italy, on Valentine’s Day a Spring Festival was held in the open air, where young people would to listen to music and poetry readings. It hasn’t been celebrated in this way for years. In Torino, betrothed couples announced their engagements on February 14 and for several days ahead of time, the stores would be decorated and filled with all manner of bon-bons.

In Scotland, Valentine’s Day is celebrated with a festival. At this festival, there is an equal number of unmarried males and females, each of whom write their name or pseudonym on a piece of paper which is then folded and placed into a hat…one hat for the ladies and one for the men. The females then draw a name from the hat containing the men’s names and vice versa. Of course, it is highly likely that the two drawn names will not match, in which event, it is usually expected that the male partner with the female who selected his name. This rite having been completed, the company split up into couples and gifts are given to the ladies. The females would then pin the name of their partner over their hearts or on their sleeves. A dance often follows and, at the end of the festival, it is not unusual for marriages to take place.

SCOTTISH VALENTINES DAY FUDGE

Ingredients

• 450g granulated sugar
• 1 x 170g tin of evaporated milk
• A pinch of salt
• ½ teaspoon of vanilla extract
• 120g milk chocolate buttons or chocolate chips

Method Grease a 20cm shallow square cake tin. Fill a shallow roasting tin with cold water.

• Put all the sugar in a heavy-based (not a non-stick) medium sized pot with the milk and heat gently while stirring on low heat until the sugar is dissolved.
• Don’t let the mixture boil during this time otherwise it will crystallise.
• Bring slowly to the boil and allow it to simmer for about 20 minutes or until it registers 118 degrees C on a sugar thermometer (reaches the hard ball stage. i.e. when a little of the mixture will form a hard ball when dipped in cold water).
• Immediately stand the base of the pan in cold water and stir in the salt and vanilla extract.
• Remove the pot from the water and beat the mixture as it begins to go grainy around the edge of the pan.
• Do not over-beat, otherwise the mixture will not pour (if it is under-beaten, the fudge will be chewy and that’s not fudge)!
• Stir in the chocolate and mix well.
• While still liquid, transfer the mixture into the prepared tin and allow it to cool slightly until set.
• Mark into squares and leave until completely cold, then cut into squares and store in an airtight container.

Thanks to Anne who sent in this recipe, we tested it and we loved it.  In the old days, stil in  Scotland, the first young man or woman encountered, by chance, on a street or elsewhere would become that individual’s valentine. Valentine’s Day gifts in Scotland are frequently given by both parties in the form of a love-token or true-love-knot. In Spain, it is customary for courting couples to exchange gifts on Valentine’s Day and for husbands to send their wives bouquets of roses and the to close,  in Taiwan the 14th of February is repeated on the 7th of July which is, according to their lunar calendar, reserved just for this. Both dates are equally important. Many men purchase expensive bouquets of roses and other flowers for their sweethearts on these days. According to Taiwanese tradition, the colour and number of the roses holds has great importance.  For example, one red rose is for an only love, eleven roses for a favorite, ninety-nine roses means forever, and one hundred eight roses ask the beloved the age old question, marry me?