Chocolate

Back when it was discovered I’m sure nobody thought that chocolate would become such a popular, world- famous treat. It’s almost weird to think about where it comes from and how it’s made. I know when I’m eating a piece of chocolate I don’t think about that it came from a bean. 

The history of chocolate traces back to Mexico. It was known that the Aztecs made a drink that was from the beans of the cocoa tree. In 1528, the Spaniards conquered the Aztecs and took this chocolate drink with them. In 1615 a chocolate drink was brought to the royal wedding in France, and chocolate was welcomed into England in 1662.

In 1847 the first “eating of chocolate” was introduced by Fry and Sons in England but, it had a bitter taste and didn’t appeal to people. So in 1874 a Swiss chocolatier named Daniel Peterson played with different mixtures to try and balance out the perfect taste and texture. Once he found the milk was a great ingredient to use, he spread chocolate’s popularity.

Chocolate comes from cocoa beans which are usually grown on plantations. A mature cocoa tree is expected to produce 5 pounds of chocolate per year, and these trees are usually planted in the shade of other trees. They take 5 to 8 years to mature and after harvesting these beans they are split open and removed from the coverings, and then covered with burlap until they turn brown. Then they are sundried which usually takes 3 days.

After that the beans are weighed and roasted. The shells are removed and chocolate “nibs” are what is left. The “nibs” are smashed and become a chocolate “mass”. The crushed “nibs” then become the base raw material for all chocolate products. Personally my favorite chocolate is milk chocolate. I think it tastes the best and it’s probably the most common kind.

 Something I’ve never understood about chocolate is why white chocolate is even called chocolate at all. It doesn’t contain any actual chocolate at all, and it doesn’t have the yummy taste of chocolate either. The only time I like white chocolate is when it’s covering homemade Oreo balls but, otherwise I don’t like it.

 

Source: http://csis.pace.edu/~varden/is660R/project3/history.html