All stories written by John or

Sarah Elliott unless otherwise noted

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Gunfire reported

at Crystal Cave

   Sequoia National Park rangers are investigating a report received Saturday, Aug. 22, of shots fired somewhere in the vicinity of Crystal Cave. The popular summer attraction was closed at 3 p.m. that day and has remained closed all week as a precaution.

  “Right now the plan is to reopen Crystal Cave on Saturday, August 29,” said Adrienne Freeman, Sequoia National Park public information officer. “Safety of park employees and visitors is foremost, and it’s not worth the risk having anyone in the area until the investigation has been concluded.”
   NPS rangers have been conducting flyovers in the steep terrain below and around Crystal Cave in an attempt to locate where the gunfire might have originated. The incident commander heading up the investigation is Dan Pontbriand, Sequoia district ranger.
   There is speculation that the gunfire came from an illegal pot plantation or someone might be illegally hunting in the area. Freeman said the park will release more information on the incident Friday, prior to the reopening of Crystal Cave.
   Anyone may report information anonymously on this incident or any crime in the national parks by calling 1-888-NPS-CRIME.

Monarch burns

in Crescent Meadow

   For some folks seeing or just knowing that a giant sequoia has fire in its crown and its limbs are crashing to the forest floor below is enough to evoke tears of sadness and stir deep emotions. To witness the death of one these majestic monarchs is a tragedy nobody who witnesses it will ever forget.
   So this week, when it was discovered that a giant sequoia, perhaps thousands of years old, was engulfed in flame as a result of a prescribed burn near Crescent Meadow, there were several calls to the Commonwealth voicing a collective plea to look into this latest burning of another Big Tree.
   Since the accidental burning of the Washington Tree in 2003 during a prescribed fire, then listed as the second largest tree in the world, park policy on the protection of named trees is very specific.

  “We protect named trees from fire unless it is a safety issue,” said Deb Schweizer, parks fire education specialist. “Apparently, the tree in question was an unnamed monarch that already had a structural weakness that allowed fire easily to get in.”
   Deb explained that like all organic things, these trees die as a part of the life cycle and during their lifetimes are changed by natural processes including fire.

  “Fire has created several trees that visitors love to see like Tharp’s Log, the Chimney Tree, and Tunnel Log to name a few examples,” Deb said. “This process is continuing now and will create the next generation of hollowed trees that attract visitors.”
   The recent burning near Crescent Meadow was the aftermath of a 64-acre prescribed burn that was ignited the first week of August. Fires of this size and scope generally are permitted to creep and smolder in the forest until they are doused by an extended period of precipitation.

Solar Star is rising

in Three Rivers

by Brian Rothhammer

   Want to reduce your carbon footprint, reduce global warming, and save money while you’re at it?
   Perhaps you’re already doing your part to reduce, reuse, and recycle but would like to do more. What about those fancy solar systems? Are they cost-effective for the typical Three Rivers homeowner? And where does one go to find out?
   Phil Gomes, a licensed contractor for 10 years and lifelong Three Rivers resident, has the answers. Phil has just completed an intensive immersion in the practical applications of state-of-the-art solar energy systems for homes and businesses.
   Phil has long cultivated an interest in solar energy and is very concerned about the effects of over-consumption of fossil fuels on the environment. As a contractor, that wasn’t enough. Phil believes in building for a better future.
   Already an authorized dealer with Sunwise, a provider of complete, engineered residential grid-tie systems with the largest inventory of products of any solar distributor in North America, Phil sought out some hands-on experience.
   Opportunity knocked when Randy Norris, an old Three Rivers friend, who knew of Phil’s passion for solar, offered him a job with AC Solar of Colorado. As service manager for AC Solar and with six years experience with the 20-year-old company, Randy showed Phil the ropes.
   Now armed with the latest advances in solar technology installations and knowledge of all the current incentives offered by the federal government as well as the California Solar Initiative, Phil Gomes knows solar and longs to see his Solar Star rising.
   Solar Star is Phil’s new Three Rivers business. With one call to Solar Star you could be on the way toward energy independence and on the front line of environmental responsibility.

  “The technology that is available is amazing,” said Phil. “The benefits go beyond ecology and include energy independence, price stability, tax relief, and increased property value to name a few of the direct benefits to the consumer.”
   Southern California Edison is required by law to issue credits for each kilowatt a customer generates in excess of their usage. Indeed, one feature of the grid-tie system is Net Energy Metering, where a fully automatic bi-directional meter manages the energy flow to and from the grid silently and efficiently while you relax and enjoy an energy-efficient home.
   Grid-tie solar electric systems are a tried-and-true residential application and are adaptable and upgradeable. As a complete engineered system, they are quite user friendly. There are no moving parts.

  “In Colorado, I have seen systems over 20 years old that are still more than 80-percent effective, and with the advances and improvements since, today’s systems are even more reliable.”
   With the 25-year warranty that comes with modern solar panels, a home or business owner can rest assured with decades of trouble-free service.
   Got solar in your future? If the answer to that question is yes, give Phil a call. Perhaps you’ll be the next Solar Star.

Delaware North commemorates

Sequoia milestones: Part Two

Bearpaw High Sierra Camp:
75th season is much like its first

   Each morning and night, from the middle of June to the middle of September, a member of the kitchen crew at Bearpaw High Sierra Camp bangs the large, rusty pan that is hung up by the rear porch of the rustic dining tent. The gong-like sound reverberates off the granite walls — the unmistakable sound that has called camp guests to breakfast and supper much in the same manner since 1934.
   There are only scant traces of receipts and records from the early days but legends and stories have survived, passed among the generations of camp guests, workers, and High Sierra Trail users. The famous HST route to Mount Whitney was started in 1928 and completed four years later to Kaweah Gap, the trail’s highest point at 10,700 feet.
   The trail made a backcountry camp a necessity at Bearpaw’s strategic location at 7,800 feet and 11.3 miles from the trailhead at Crescent Meadow. Today the High Sierra Trail is traveled by hundreds of hikers each summer, some destined for the tent hotel at Bearpaw but most on a weeklong journey to summit Mount Whitney or a quest of a few days in the wondrous upper Kaweah backcountry.
   To monitor trail traffic, a patrol cabin, located just above Bearpaw tent camp, was constructed for ranger use in 1934. Built of hewn logs, it is now used for camp storage. The present-day A-frame ranger station replaced the old log cabin in 1970.
   The HST passes directly through the popular High Sierra Camp that has operated continuously since 1934 except for the summers of 1978 and 1980 when trail closures below Bearpaw made supplying the camp an insurmountable task.

  What’s in a name?  The very mention of a bear or its paw conjures all kinds of images, especially among first-time visitors who might lie awake at night listening intently for any critter that comes calling to inspect the sights and smells of the camp or its renowned kitchen.
   According to Place Names of the Sierra Nevada: From Abbot to Zumwalt by Peter Browning (Wilderness Press, 1991), Bob Barton (1899-1977), a lifelong resident of Three Rivers, is quoted: “Jim Hamilton, for whom Hamilton Lakes were named, and Alex Anderson of Yokohl, used to pasture stock in that country. One of Anderson’s men set a trap for a bear in the meadow, fastening the trap to a log. A bear was trapped by the paw. He dragged the log through the meadow until it caught between some rocks. The bear went over a little cliff, but the trap with the paw sticking up was just visible at the edge of the precipice as Anderson’s man came to it. He named the place Bearpaw Meadow.”
   These days, there is no meadow at Bearpaw High Sierra Camp. It has undoubtedly been claimed by an encroaching pine forest, as well as the high amount of foot traffic through the area.

  Amenities — Luxuriously rustic. In addition to the two-room dining tent, the camper’s resort, operated since 1998 by Delaware North Companies Parks & Resorts, consists of six rental tent cabins, two showers, a flush toilet, and several employees’ tents. Reservations for each upcoming season are made available on January 2 and prime dates are booked within a few minutes, mostly by returning guests.
   The record for most all-time overnights, at least in the recent past, belongs to John Uhlir of Three Rivers. John has a regular routine when it comes to staying at Bearpaw.

  “I like to make an early-season visit right around the June opening then go at least three or four more times throughout the season,” John said about one of his favorite High Sierra haunts. “I first stayed at Bearpaw 20 years ago. My plan is to eventually stay there 100 nights.”
   Another guest, Richard Stone, 83, from Southern California, has been staying at Bearpaw every summer since he was a boy and now brings his grandchildren.
   Carolyn Pistilli, the current manager who has been at the helm of the backcountry camp for 15 seasons, says a big part of the attraction for her to return year after year is a chance to see old friends like Stone and Uhlir, and to meet and greet a very special clientele. But like any seasonal occupation, especially those that require spending the entire summer in the backcountry, there are sacrifices.
   There are obvious tradeoffs, Carolyn said, but now after working 30 years for the concessions and the NPS in the local parks, she has been able to thrive and even have some normalcy, even in her marriage. Her husband of nine years, Chris Waldschmidt, is a law-enforcement ranger at Sequoia-Kings Canyon.
   For most of the hundreds of guests who have hiked the 11.3 miles (and back) to stay a night at this unique backcountry camp in the last 15 years, it wouldn’t have been the same without Carolyn as a guiding light. An inspirational hiker in own right, she exudes a peaceful demeanor and an infectious smile, all the more enhanced by her backcountry lifestyle.
   The one thing that everyone at Bearpaw is passionate about, she said, is dinner. It’s a special time for guests to revel in the place and share time together they remember fondly for the rest of their lives.

  “I guess if I had to single out one outstanding employee in my time here it would have to be Joni Badley,” Carolyn said. “She really upgraded our kitchen operation. What we serve here can on certain occasions rival the food served anywhere.”
   Joni, an accomplished backcountry chef, worked nine seasons at Bearpaw from 1993 until 2006 and, previously, at Phantom Ranch on the floor of the Grand Canyon. Currently, she resides in Three Rivers and is the manager of the dining room at Wuksachi.
   Most guests, Carolyn said, stay for two nights so that leaves another day for more hiking or relaxing around camp. The majority opt for more hiking and begin with Hamilton Lakes (4 miles), Tamarack Lake (4.4 miles), or a shorter hike down into the gorge to a secluded spot along Lone Pine Creek or the Kaweah River’s Middle Fork.
   A day of hiking ends here with lemonade and brownies, a delectable hot shower with water from the wood-fired water heater, congregating with other guests on the porch before dinner, a deliciously satisfying meal, alpenglow during dessert, watching the moon rise over the jagged peaks of the Great Western Divide, then curling up in a bed with a down comforter.

  “Guests who come here are able to get in touch with their inner child,” Carolyn said. “At Bearpaw, they get back to who they really want to be and we get to share that special time.”
   In celebration of Bearpaw’s 75th anniversary season, Carolyn commissioned a distinctively Bearpaw design for a Pendleton blanket. The luxurious blanket features clouds over mountains decorated with bear paws and wrapping up in one truly captures the essence of the warmth of a night in camp.
   Park visitors may purchase the commemorative blanket while supplies last at the Wuksachi gift shop. For more information on Bearpaw Meadow High Sierra Camp or for reservation information go to: www.visitsequoia.com (click on Accommodations).

Parks volunteers honored at potluck

   About 40 people attended a potluck and presentation at the Beetle Rock Education Center in the Giant Forest area of Sequoia National Park on Thursday, Aug. 20. Volunteers-in-Parks (VIPs) throughout the country were honored on this day.
   Locally, VIPs were recognized for their work with public education and other projects. Volunteers staff visitor centers, rove riverways, patrol trails, replant native plants, and more.
   Former NPS director George Hartzog established the VIP program in 1970. In the past year, about 163,000 volunteers nationwide devoted 5.4 million hours of work valued at more than $100 million to national parks.

Smithsonian Institution Shelter turns 100

   Residents of Lone Pine financed the first trail to the summit of Mount Whitney, which is today located in Sequoia National Park. It was engineered by Gustave Marsh and completed July 22, 1904. Four days later, Byrd Surby, a U.S. Bureau of Fisheries employee, was eating lunch at the top with two co-workers when he was struck and killed by lightning.
   The original trail builder was contracted again to construct the Mount Whitney summit shelter, which was completed in the summer of 1909 with funding from the Smithsonian Institute. The project was completed in just over a month with the wood hauled up the mountain on mules and native stone cut with hand tools.
   Several scientific expeditions have used the hut as have climbers and hikers seeking shelter from storms. These days, those on the summit are advised against seeking shelter from storms in the hut because the metal roof attracts lightning that can be conducted through the building to the individuals inside. Hikers and climbers are warned to stay off the top of the mountain or any exposed high place during a thunderstorm.

Universal healthcare:

We really can have it all

by Bill Haxton

   In his reply last week to my article about healthcare reform [Speaking Out: “Healthcare debate not about reform but is a ‘propaganda campaign,’” August 21, 2009], Steve Crigler raised valid concerns, concerns shared by many Americans whether they are against reform or for it.
   One concern is that government will take over the entirety of the health services industry. The other is that any government involvement at all amounts to socialism.
   First, government takeover. Despite the fears stoked by conservative talk show hosts and the big national insurers, a government role in healthcare does not necessarily result in a takeover. These same arguments were made in the run-up to Medicare legislation the 1960s, and they turned out not to be true. A measure of proof is staring us in the face right now.
   Currently, the healthcare industry is wildly profitable and staggeringly innovative in an environment in which government-sponsored coverage (Medicare, Medicaid, Veterans Administration, TriCare, SCHIP, the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program, plus state and local plans) currently pays 45 percent of total national expenditures, while private health insurance pays 36 percent.
   Bottom line? Government already plays a large role and yet health industry profits are at historic highs. New products and techniques are entering the marketplace faster than they can be adopted.
   Assertions about a government takeover or an erosion of innovation are baseless. We have every reason to expect that most of the healthcare industry will remain independent, innovative, and profitable under a public option or even under a single-payer system.
   The socialism concern is more difficult to approach. Government-sponsored healthcare is socialistic. And so is every government program that serves a social purpose and is paid for with taxes. Include the military here. The problem is that extremists vehemently proclaim that healthcare reform will propel the nation headlong into socialist tyranny when, in fact, it won’t.
   But perhaps we should pause for a moment. It might help if we had a better understanding of what socialism is, what capitalism is, and where America resides on that spectrum.
   In its pure form, socialism means government ownership of all services and all means of production — most, if not all, wage earners on the government payroll. Obviously, we’re nowhere near that condition and never will be.
   On the other hand, capitalism in its pure form means no government involvement whatever in regulation, in provision of services, or in the means of production. Although America began life more or less in this condition, we are nowhere near it now and haven’t been for at least a century-and-a-half.
   What we have is a kind of hybrid system with both capitalistic and socialistic elements, but which is far more capitalistic than socialistic. This system, which some have called Interventional Capitalism, evolved naturally over 140 years.
   From 1797 until 1937, America had buckled under the oppression of four severe Depressions, eight Panics, and 17 Recessions. That’s a Depression, a Panic, or a Recession every five years, and once they struck they lasted an average of more than two years.
   Even before the 1930s, it had become painfully apparent that laissez-faire supply-side economics weren’t working. Despite the claims of its evangelists, capitalism does not self-regulate and the little bit of trickle down that occurs during the boom part of the cycle is not enough to offset the pain of the busts.
   During the 1930s, government became significantly more involved in regulating markets (especially financial services) and pushed out the boundaries of physical and social infrastructure. Conservatives, of course, howled, “Socialism! Tyranny!”
   Since that time 72 years ago, the American economy has experienced 11 Recessions (most of them mild), no Panics and no Depressions, with the average recession lasting just less than a year. That period also propelled the U.S. to become the most dynamic social, political, and economic force in human history, a time during which the nation became more open, more democratic, more egalitarian — not less.
   Nevertheless, ideological conservatives continued to complain, and still complain, that America has abandoned its founding principles. The America they want is a vision of a bygone era best characterized by Jefferson’s concept of democracy, a scaled-down nation of small independent farmers and artisans, well-educated, well-informed, completely engaged in the political life of the nation, government nearly impotent in the deep background. Any more government than that is socialism trending toward tyranny.
   But the Jeffersonian Ideal never existed outside Jefferson’s mind, not even for a minute. For better or worse, the moment we became a nation, the realities of the broader world began pushing us in a different direction. Even during Jefferson’s time, urban life, capital-intensive manufacturing, and high finance were well established.
   So, if the real America — the one we inhabit day in and day out — is a hybrid system containing mostly democratic and some socialistic elements, does healthcare reform really threaten our traditions of democracy and free markets, as conservatives contend?
   Two recent publications from starkly conservative institutions address this issue. One, The Economist magazine’s 2008 Index of Democracy, ranks the U.S. as the 18th most democratic nation in the world.
   The 17 countries ahead of us exceed us in social pluralism, electoral integrity, individual civil liberties, political participation, and government efficiency. All of them have government-sponsored universal healthcare.
   The other publication, The Heritage Foundation’s and the Wall Street Journal’s 2009 Index of Economic Freedom, surveys a nation’s commitment to the fundamental principles of free market capitalism.
   Here, the U.S. ranks sixth. All five countries ahead of us, those with more economic freedom than the U.S., have publicly funded universal healthcare. Of the top 20, all but a couple also have publicly funded universal healthcare.
   This doesn’t look much like tyranny or like socialism. Tyranny disempowers, but government-sponsored universal healthcare appears to liberate the societies that have it. It has little or no impact on democratic liberties, little or no impact on economic freedom.
   This is one of those rare instances in which we really can have it all — freedom, capitalism, and universal healthcare — without conflict.
   Bill Haxton is a resident of Three Rivers. He authored a previous article on healthcare that appeared in the August 14, 2009, issue of The Kaweah Commonwealth.

LETTER FROM THE
SUPERINTENDENT OF
THREE RIVERS SCHOOL

Vandals target TRUS

To TRUS students and
the community of Three Rivers:
   Over the last month, some very disturbing things have happened on the TRUS campus. Several incidences of vandalism have occurred after hours.
   They took place most frequently when men’s softball was happening on Tuesday and Thursday evenings. More than once, a staff member working here preparing for the start of school or I would see a large group of upper graders and high school students wandering, running, yelling, and/or hiding around the campus. We knew them, we talked to them, and then the next day some vandalism occurred.
   Here are some examples of the disturbing behaviors that have been occurring:

  —Students were up on the administration roof; a few tiles were torn up and, along with other items, thrown to the ground.

  —A breaker switch was flipped on an air conditioner.

  —Inappropriate writing was scrawled on the roof.

  —Mrs. St. Martin, the new kindergarten teacher, regularly found broken glass on the kindergarten play-yard, as well as play equipment that had been flipped over.

  —Excrement was smeared on a classroom window.

  —Insulting and inappropriate words were etched into one of the doors.

  —Someone walked by the portable classrooms with something sharp and slashed all the screens. They all now have to be rescreened.

  —The night before the first day of school (Wednesday, Aug. 19), the lower playground was strewn with broken beer bottles and glass. Several parents spotted it and worked to clean it up, but pieces were missed and have subsequently been found by students.

  —I came to work last Sunday to find the hallways totally covered and wrapped in plastic wrap, from pole to pole, across the hallways, around the trees. No harm done, but it had to be cleaned up. (Moms, are you missing your roll from the kitchen?)

  —Some stop signs were put up around campus to assist a kindergarten student in remembering his boundaries. Those were ripped out of the ground, and one was found half-burned on the upper field.
   My question is, why? What is the point?
   It is obvious to me that it is our kids, not kids from the Valley, not gang-bangers from another community, but our present or past Three Rivers students.
   I have lived in Three Rivers for almost 35 years, and I love this school and community. I find these actions to be completely disrespectful.
   Susan Sherwood is embarking on her 15th year as superintendent of Three Rivers School.

Public invited to

informational tour of Crystal Cave

   The public is invited to visit Crystal Cave on Tuesday, Sept. 1, for an informational presentation on the cave-area facilities. This is in preparation of a proposed redevelopment and restoration project at the cave.
   A special cave tour will be provided at 10 a.m. for meeting participants with an informational presentation to follow at the Crystal Cave parking lot at 11:30 a.m.
   Only the first 50 people who register will be able to take advantage of the free cave tour. Call 565-3102 if interested in attending.
   However, all members of the public are welcome to attend the 11:30 a.m. meeting.
   Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks and the Sequoia Natural History Association are currently seeking input from the public in preparation of an environmental assessment. Work being considered to improve the existing visitor facilities includes improving the parking lot and picnic area, replacing the existing bathrooms with vault toilets, rehabilitating the access trail to the cave, constructing a new sales and information facility, and restoring the cave entrance to improve habitat and ecology.
   The public comment period on this project will continue through September 25.
   Comments may be submitted online at http://parkplanning.nps.gov/seki; by email at seki_planning @nps.gov; by mail to Superintendent, Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks, Attn: Crystal Cave Redevelopment and Restoration Project, 47050 Generals Highway, Three Rivers, CA 93271; or hand-delivered to the Ash Mountain headquarters.

WELCOME TO MY FOOD COLUMN

CHOCOLATE!

by Tina St. John

   Chocolate. Sometimes I think there may not be enough delicious words in the dictionary to describe the extraordinary wonders of chocolate.
   Growing up, I had the great fortune of receiving a large tin filled with Belgian chocolates regularly. My grandmother, Germaine Launoy, who lived in Montigny, Belgium, outside Brussels sent us a tin filled with assorted chocolates every month for as long as I can remember.
   These were not your Hershey’s or Dove chocolates; these were Belgian chocolates! The package was distinctly wrapped in a brown packaging unlike anything I had ever seen in the U.S.
   The writing on the outside was my grandmother’s, undoubtedly, so I always knew what was inside. Plus it would have the words Par Avion written on the outside, which means “air mail” in French. (This must be the way the Belgians write as my mother’s handwriting was of the same style.)
   At any rate, it was the tin box delivering the chocolates that we children so loved. The smell, the wrapping, and the anticipation of what she sent us.
   It was always the same, but never dull. There were bars of white chocolate, milk chocolate with centers of hazelnut cream, and fancy-shaped dark chocolates.
   When the box arrived my mother would lock it up in a cedar closet, which happened to be across the hall from my bedroom. She would hide the key somewhere in her room.
   When she would go out for whatever reason, my sister and I would try to find the key. If we were lucky enough to find it, we would steal some chocolate out of the box and hope that my mother wouldn’t notice any missing.
   It was as though we were robbing a bank. Timing and precision were key in order to pull off our heist. It was worth it, even if we did get caught.
   My paternal grandmother also fancied chocolate in her American way. She made the most delicious chocolate cake that a child could ever hope for. Or at least that’s how I felt every time she would bribe me to recite a first grade poem I’d learned for a slice of her chocolate cake.
   Little did she know her wish was always my command for her moist, slathered-in-butter-cream-frosting, melt-in-your-mouth chocolate cake.
   Last year, when two of my children traveled to Europe, they had second thoughts about visiting Brussels. When they emailed me their travel plans, I told them that not going to Brussels was not an option.
   This was their trip and who was I to demand they go to Brussels? However this was different. They had to go. How else were they going to get the beloved Côte d’Or chocolate?

  “Are you serious, Mom?” Absolutely!
   My taste for chocolates was born from my childhood. What could I do? It’s my destiny.
   As a result of reaping the benefits of fine chocolates and regular tasting of the best chocolate cake, I became a chocolate connoisseur. Studying and eating chocolate is a lifelong passion.
   Don’t you think someone has to be doing that?
   Did you know that way back 1528 when Cortez returned to Spain from the land of the Mayans and Aztecs, he brought with him cacao beans? He was the first to introduce chocolate to Europe. The world has never been the same since.
   There are movies dedicated to this luscious treat: Chocolat, Like Water for Chocolate, and Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.
   There are even chocolate quotes:
   Money talks. Chocolate sings.
   Forget Love. I’d rather fall in chocolate.
   Will work for chocolate.
   Eat a square meal a day: a box of chocolate.
   Chocolate: Here today… gone today.
   I mean, really, what would our lives be without this delectable food? And, yes, it is a food.
   Raw chocolate, cacao, is a superfood with many nutrients: magnesium, iron, chromium, zinc, manganese, and omega-6-fatty acids to name a few.
   Below are two chocolate recipes for you chocolate lovers. One is a delicious, rich Belgian Truffle (my mother’s recipe) to be eaten in moderation. It actually should have a warning label on it.
   The other is Cacao Truffle Fudge. Eat as many as you like. It’s a superfood, so it’s really good for you! Trust me, you won’t be disappointed.
   Bon Appetit!

MADELEINE’S CHOCOLATE TRUFFLES

½ lb. (2 sticks) of butter, softened
¾ lb. imported European chocolate, melted (Callebaut bittersweet chocolate can be found at specialty stores)
¼ tsp. vanilla extract
2 egg yolks
6 Tbsp. powdered sugar
Powdered chocolate (sweetened or unsweetened cocoa powder)

   Mix well together butter, melted chocolate, vanilla extract, egg yolks and powdered sugar. Pour in flat container such as pie plate. Let cool in refrigerator. Cut into pieces and form into small balls. Roll in powdered chocolate. Store in airtight container. Used wax paper to separate layers of truffles. Refrigerate or freeze.
  Recipe from Tina St. John’s “Welcome to My Food Column,” published August 28, 2009, in THE KAWEAH COMMONWEALTH.

CACAO TRUFFLE FUDGE

1 cup of organic raw coconut butter
½ cup organic raw honey
1/3 cup raw cacao powder
½ cup golden raisins, cranberries or chopped nuts (optional)

   Mix ingredients and roll into balls. Refrigerate. These are a perfect snack. Each ingredient is a superfood.
  Recipe from Tina St. John’s “Welcome to My Food Column,” published August 28, 2009, in THE KAWEAH COMMONWEALTH.