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Organic Chocolate Scones
Bake Some...Recipe
NBC co-anchor Joanne Nesti graciously donated her time to emcee the evening!
Back at the Bent. John Longstreth, Executive Director, the Audubon Center at Bent of the River; John Pittari, Owner, New Morning Store and Ellen Turner, the Bent Education Program Manager, reflect on the first annual chocolate dinner, The Sweet Truths Of Chocolate, in 2004.
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Discover Dark Organic
An evening of chocolate from soup to nuts.
Saturday, March 4, 7:00-9:30 pm
Thanks for joining New Morning Store and the Audubon Center at Bent of the River for our naturally exquisite dinner set to a Central American theme last Saturday. It was the third annual chocolate dinner benefit created by New Morning’s Executive Chef, Carol Byer-Alcorace. The event was held at the new Performing Arts Center at Westover School in Middlebury, CT. All proceeds benefited the programs of the Audubon Center at Bent of the River in Southbury. Bent of the River is a 650-acre sanctuary and education center that features 15 miles of hiking trails.
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Guests enjoyed good company, fabulous food, great organic wines and music of the Americas. Michael Coe, PhD, Anthropology Professor Emeritus, Yale, shed light on the ancient Mesoamerican origins of chocolate in his talk entitled: "The Birth of Cacao: Olmec-Maya Genesis". Some feathered members of the Sharon Audubon Center raptor education program were on hand to greet guests.
Although the ties between Audubon and birds are fairly well documented, people are often curious about the connection between birds and chocolate. Many of the birds that live in the northeast, migrate south for the winter. Those that do, fly to the coffee and chocolate-growing regions of the world. John Pittari, owner of New Morning Store readily admits that, "Our birds are actually their birds. If cocoa and coffee are properly raised, the region is a wonderful habitat for songbirds and broad winged hawks.”
The majority of Connecticut's migrant bird populations are declining due to habitat destruction. In recent years, conversion of coffee and chocolate plantations from shade to full sun growing techniques has dramatically affected the growers and the environment. Clear-cutting the forest canopy destroys habitat that migratory birds depend on. The increased use of chemical and water resources necessary renders the land unable to support the families who tend it or the birds and other wildlife who lived there.
Purchasing organic and shade-grown coffee and cocoa products is one way to be environmentally responsible. New Morning Store only carries shade-grown coffee and cocoa products, meaning that the coffee and cocoa plants are grown using environmentally sustainable methods, not in fields that have been clear cut of rainforest.
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