Chocolate isn’t just a food, and it certainly isn’t just an ingredient. You can get into longer, more impassioned conversations about it than you can about any other ingestible.

If you want to start a food fight some time, just tell your milk-chocolate loving pal that you can’t stand the stuff. Or say to your friend who will only eat 76% cacao content or higher that Scharffen Berger is over-rated. Or mention to just the wrong person that white chocolate isn’t legally allowed to be called chocolate at all.

I’ll be writing about chocolate in all its glory.

Is chocolate a health food? Is it a drug? Do you have to give it up if you’re pregnant?

How dark is too dark when it comes to cocoa content? Which bar offers the highest percentage, without losing that silky sweetness every chocolate lover craves?

How long have we been eating chocolate, anyway? Did Shakespeare ever get to taste some? How on earth did anyone glance at such an unpromising-looking bean and think, “Mmm!”

What’s the best brand of cocoa? Is Dutch process worth the extra money? How about chocolate chips – should I pay a little more for a name brand, or just grab a bag of generic?

Is chocolate really bad for your skin? Your teeth? Will it perk up that bad mood, or is it all just in your head?

What do I give to my chocoholic friends when the holidays roll around?

I will certainly be posting recipes and cooking advice. Good, practical advice fit for the novice with a teensy kitchen as well as the full-fledged chocolate sophisticate. My goal is to have every recipe accessible to even the newest cook, but tempting enough that old hands will still want to give it a try.

I also want to make sure that every article is as enjoyable as it is informative. If instant chocolate pudding has a chemical aftertaste (and it does, it does), I’ll be the first to point out that so did the chocolate mousse in Rosemary’s Baby. If Dutch process cocoa makes a mucky cup of hot chocolate (still researching that one), the phrase “hippopotamus mud” may occur. I take chocolate seriously, but I do love a laugh.

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I hope you enjoy the BellaOnline Chocolate site. Please drop me a line if you have a chocolate question, or a recipe you’re dying to share.