22 September

White chocolate. Pale ivory in colour, buttery, milky and sweet-tasting. It's a deliciously sweet treat, but technically not considered chocolate because it doesn't contain cocoa solids, unlike milk and dark chocolate.

White chocolate is made by blending cocoa butter, extracted from cocoa beans, with milk powder, sugar, and often vanilla. It's naturally lower in caffeine than milk chocolate but also lower in antioxidants.

Until the 1930s, the world had only known rich, mahogany chocolate. Highly prized for more than 4,000 years, chocolate was sacred to the Maya Culture, with the pods symbolising life and fertility, and the ancient Aztecs considered chocolate so valuable that they used it as currency. In 1502, Christopher Columbus was the first European to discover cocoa beans, and some 26 years later, chocolate arrived on European shores for the first time. But it wasn't until 1936 that 'chocolate' in its white form was introduced to the world when Swiss confectioner Nestlé launched the first white chocolate bar - the Galak - better known as 'Milkybar'. It's been a popular treat ever since.

So today, on National White Chocolate Day, indulge in white chocolate and celebrate its versatility. Try truffles, buttons, bars and even cocktails. We'll be drinking a Pisco Kid, a spirituous stirred cocktail inspired by memories of Nestle's Milkybars and the 1980s British TV ads featuring the Milkybar Kid promoting the white chocolate bars. This is one of our 20 best white crème de cacao cocktails.

It's also World Carfree Day

Today is World Carfree Day, a time to opt out of the vehicle and brave public transport, cycle, or even walk to wherever you have to be. In some cities, roads will be closed to powered traffic today, allowing cyclists to take them over. And, even in traffic-choked China, many cities will be cutting down on exhaust fumes by shutting roads down today.

Now, we would never recommend you drink and drive. So, duck driving and drink a Moonwalk, or perhaps La Bicyclette.

Anniversary of last Salem hangings

When nine-year-old Betty Parris and her cousin Abigail Williams began having screaming fits, throwing things about the room, making strange noises and contorting themselves, the villagers of Salem, Massachusetts, instantly thought of witchcraft.

In a town notorious for both its bickering and its religious intensity - dancing, Christmas, and dolls were all forbidden - panic set in. The mass hysteria resulted in the execution of 20 people, most of them women - the last eight of them on this day in 1692. We are drinking a Black Magic cocktail, and thanking our lucky stars for the century we live in.