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Show WEDNESDAY, MARCH 9,2005 EVERYDAY! 11 • sit AGGIE />? LIFE ONLY AT CARLSEN GAS FOR LESS 598 N. MAIN KR7 photo OLIVET COLLEGE INSTRUCTOR PATRICK FIELDS holds a doctorate in botany and teaches about the allure and mysteries of chocolate. His ' students call him Doc Choc. Doc Choc lectures on the science of sweet BY MARTY HAIR KRT i Patrick F. Fields, who holds a PhD in botany, teaches classes about the mystery, history and allure of chocolate. Students call him Doc Choc. For chocolate lectures, Fields slips into a milk chocolate-colored lab coat to explain how the leathery seeds of the cacao tree-whose botanical name, Theobroma cacao, means "food of the gods"-are made into chocolate. The topic of chocolate is hot. Pricey, luxury chocolates with labels telling the beans' origin and cocoa butter content are showing up in stores and on the Internet. On the bookshelf, a new arrival is "Chocolate: A Bittersweet Saga of Dark and Light" by Mort Rosenblum (North Point Press, $24). Beth Kimmerle's book "Chocolate: The Sweet History" (Collectors Press, $39-95) is due out in April. And the diet book sensation "French Women Don't Get Fat" by Mireille Guiliano (Knopf, $22) describes how female Francophiles can savor the occasional chocolate while remaining svelte. Some medical studies, meanwhile, suggest dark chocolate may help stave off hardening of the arteries and boost heart health. The National Institutes of Health is launching a study of dark chocolates effect on blood pressure and insulin sensitivity in people with hypertension. Who would have thought? At the house he shares with his wife, Sandra, near Lansing, Mich., Patrick Fields takes what might be called a longer view of chocolate. What fascinates him is that anybodyfiguredout how to make it "It's a multi-step process. How did humans ever come up with it?" Fields wonders, sitting at a table within view of two potted cacao trees he grows near the kitchen window. Fields outlines the sequence: In the tropics, 25-foot-tall cacao trees bear pods. TXvice a year, the pods are harvested and the almond-shaped seeds inside are soaked, fermented and dried, then shipped and sometimes blended with seeds grown elsewhere. The beans are then roasted and hulled. The shelled nibs ("the good stuff," Fields says ) are 60 percent cocoa butter, the natural fat in the bean. The ground nibs are called chocolate liquor. The liquor gets pressed to remove some of the cocoa butter, resulting in cocoa powder. For eating chocolate, manufacturers often put back much of the cocoa butter after mixing in milk, sugar, vanilla, stabilizers and other flavorings. More expensive chocolates contain higher percentages of cacao or cocoa butter. White chocolate has no cocoa solids; it consists of cocoa butter, milk, sugar and other ingredients like vanilla, Fields says. Complexity is one thing that fascinates Fields about chocolate. "There's "It's a multi-step process. How did humans ever come up with it?" Patrick F. Fields, 'Choc Doc' complexity on all levels: its chemistry, people's response to it, the complexity of all the kinds offered. I'm just always learning more and enjoying it," he says. CHOCOLATE ON THE BRAIN At his day job, Fields, 50, is an adjunct science instructor at Olivet College. As Doc Choc, he collects all things chocolate. His house has one room with shelves of chocolate and cocoa tins. On the dining table, looseleaf binders contain 700 alphabetized chocolate labels. Fields occasionally sends out a free e-mail newsletter about chocolate (to subscribe, send a note to PatrickFFields(AT)aol.com, with "chocolate newsletter" in the message field). He reads up on chocolate development and marketing and how companies that sell chocolate go about their business. Friends going to Europe bring back chocolate bars for him. Yet while Fields happily samples chocolates from around the world, he is no chocolate snob. He's better described as a chocolate explorer. His next favorite chocolate could be anywhere - on the shelf at Wal-Mart, at the local party store or on the Web - Western Wats is hiring all shifts! If you need a Job that's flexible with your schedule, has a great environment and pays weekly, WE ARE m We'll give you time off for football games, tests, and holidays. Call 435-753-1303 or stop by 22 E. Center in Logan for more info or apply online: survevnetwork.com/application PREGNANT and ALONE? You now face some important decisions. Take time to explore your options, get accurate information and decide what is best for you and your baby. We can help. Services are FREE to all faiths, confidential, and without Our Birth Parent pressure. Services are Free. LDS Family Services • 95 W. 100 S. #340 • 752-5302 and he's willing to take a bite of them all. "People ask me what my favorite is, and it changes based on what I've tasted lately," he says. Current raves go to a Scharffen Berger dark chocolate with cocoa nibs ("so like chunky peanut butter," Fields says) and Godiva Chocolatier's solid dark chocolate bar. He also likes chocolate from the Omanhene Cocoa Bean Co. (800-588-2462 anytime, or www.omanhene.com), which uses beans raised on family farms in Ghana that, according to its Web site, don't engage in slave labor. The chocolate is also made in Ghana. "As dark of a milk chocolate as you could get, but it has a kind of fruityflavor," he says. HE MAKES FOLKS DROOL' Fields found a lot to like about chocolate during his childhood in Palo Alto, Calif. "See's Candies, Hershey's - to me, those were the best brands in the world," he says. He remained a casual admirer of chocolate during his school years, where he began specializing in paleobotany, the study of plant fossils. Fields received a bachelor's degreefromthe University of California at Davis, a master's from UC Berkeley and a doctorate in botany and plant pathology from Michigan State University. While at Berkeley, he learned that a new course on chocolate had a two-year waiting list to enroll. So at MSU, during discussions about new courses that might attract students, he suggested a class on chocolate. He eventually taught an adult education class on the topic there in 2001. Since then, he has also taught a four-week course on chocolate at University of Michigan's Matthaei Botanical Gardens. He also gives talks to clubs and other groups about chocolate. Dressed in his chocolate lab coat, Fields is an imposing 6 foot 1 with the melodious, distinctive voice of a radio broadcaster. The pace of his words picks up as he gets going on chocolate. 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