The seeds of the cacao tree have an intense bitter taste and must be fermented to develop the flavor. After fermentation, the beans are dried, cleaned, and roasted. The shell is removed to produce cacao nibs, which are then ground to cocoa mass, unadulterated chocolate in rough form. Once the cocoa mass is liquefied by heating, it is called chocolate liquor. The liquor also may be cooled and processed into its two components: cocoa solids and cocoa butter. Baking chocolate, also called bitter chocolate, contains cocoa solids and cocoa butter in varying proportions, without any added sugars. Much of the chocolate consumed today is in the form of sweet chocolate, a combination of cocoa solids, cocoa butter or added vegetable oils, and sugar.
Milk chocolate is sweet chocolate that additionally contains milk powder or condensed milk. White chocolate contains cocoa butter, sugar, and milk, but no cocoa solids. Cocoa solids are a source of flavonoids[3] and alkaloids, such as theobromine, phenethylamine and caffeine.[4] Chocolate also contains anandamide.[5]Chocolate has become one of the most popular food types and flavors in the world, and a vast number of foodstuffs involving chocolate have been created, particularly desserts including cakes, pudding, mousse, chocolate brownies, and chocolate chip cookies. Many candies are filled with or coated with sweetened chocolate, and bars of solid chocolate and candy bars coated in chocolate are eaten as snacks. Gifts of chocolate molded into different shapes (e. Western holidays, such as Easter and Valentine's Day. Chocolate is also used in cold and hot beverages such as chocolate milk and hot chocolate and in some alcoholic drinks, such as creme de cacao.
Although cocoa originated in the Americas, recent years have seen African nations assuming a leading role in producing cocoa. Since the 2. 00. 0s, Western Africa produces almost two- thirds of the world's cocoa, with Ivory Coast growing almost half of that amount.
Etymology. Maya glyph referring to cacao. The word "chocolate" entered the English language from Spanish in about 1. The word entered Spanish from Nahuatl word chocolātl, the language of the Aztecs, but the exact etymology of the Nahuatl word is debated. One proposed etymology derives it from the word chicolatl, meaning "beaten drink", which may derive from the word for the frothing stick, chicoli.[7] The term "chocolate chip" was first used in 1. The term "chocolatier", for a chocolate confection maker, is attested from 1.
History. Mesoamerican usage. A Maya lord forbids an individual from touching a container of chocolate.
Chocolate has been prepared as a drink for nearly all of its history. For example, one vessel found at an Olmec archaeological site on the Gulf Coast of Veracruz, Mexico, dates chocolate's preparation by pre- Olmec peoples as early as 1.
BCE.[9] On the Pacific coast of Chiapas, Mexico, a Mokaya archaeological site provides evidence of cacao beverages dating even earlier, to 1. BCE.[1][9] The residues and the kind of vessel in which they were found indicate the initial use of cacao was not simply as a beverage, but the white pulp around the cacao beans was likely used as a source of fermentable sugars for an alcoholic drink.[1. Aztec. Man Carrying a Cacao Pod, 1.
Volcanic stone, traces of red pigment. Brooklyn Museum. An early Classic- period (4. AD) Mayan tomb from the site in Rio Azul had vessels with the Maya glyph for cacao on them with residue of a chocolate drink, suggests the Maya were drinking chocolate around 4. AD.[1. 1] Documents in Maya hieroglyphs stated chocolate was used for ceremonial purposes, in addition to everyday life.[1.
The Maya grew cacao trees in their backyards,[1. By the 1. 5th century, the Aztecs gained control of a large part of Mesoamerica and adopted cacao into their culture. They associated chocolate with Quetzalcoatl, who, according to one legend, was cast away by the other gods for sharing chocolate with humans,[1.
In contrast to the Maya, who liked their chocolate warm, the Aztecs drank it cold, seasoning it with a broad variety of additives, including the petals of the Cymbopetalum penduliflorum tree, chile pepper, allspice, vanilla, and honey. The Aztecs were not able to grow cacao themselves, as their home in the Mexican highlands was unsuitable for it, so chocolate was a luxury imported into the empire.[1. Those who lived in areas ruled by the Aztecs were required to offer cacao seeds in payment of the tax they deemed "tribute".[1. Cocoa beans were often used as currency.[1. For example, the Aztecs used a system in which one turkey cost 1. European adaptation.
Chocolate soon became a fashionable drink of the European nobility after the discovery of the Americas. The morning chocolate by Pietro Longhi; Venice, 1. Until the 1. 6th century, no European had ever heard of the popular drink from the Central and South American peoples.[1. Christopher Columbus and his son Ferdinand encountered the cacao bean on Columbus's fourth mission to the Americas on 1. August 1. 50. 2, when he and his crew seized a large native canoe that proved to contain cacao beans among other goods for trade.[1. Spanish conquistador. Hernán Cortés may have been the first European to encounter it, as the frothy drink was part of the after- dinner routine of Montezuma.[1.
Jose de Acosta, a Spanish Jesuit missionary who lived in Peru and then Mexico in the later 1. Spaniards: Loathsome to such as are not acquainted with it, having a scum or froth that is very unpleasant taste. Yet it is a drink very much esteemed among the Indians, where with they feast noble men who pass through their country. The Spaniards, both men and women that are accustomed to the country are very greedy of this Chocolate. They say they make diverse sorts of it, some hot, some cold, and some temperate, and put therein much of that "chili"; yea, they make paste thereof, the which they say is good for the stomach and against the catarrh.[2. Traités nouveaux & curieux du café du thé et du chocolate", by Philippe Sylvestre Dufour, 1.
While Columbus had taken cacao beans with him back to Spain,[1. Spanish friars introduced it to the Spanish court.[1. After the Spanish conquest of the Aztecs, chocolate was imported to Europe. There, it quickly became a court favorite. It was still served as a beverage, but the Spanish added sugar, as well as honey, to counteract the natural bitterness.[2. Vanilla was also a popular additive, with pepper and other spices sometimes used to give the illusion of a more potent vanilla flavor. Unfortunately, these spices had the tendency to unsettle the European constitution; the Encyclopédie states, "The pleasant scent and sublime taste it imparts to chocolate have made it highly recommended; but a long experience having shown that it could potentially upset one's stomach," which is why chocolate without vanilla was sometimes referred to as "healthy chocolate."[2.
By 1. 60. 2, chocolate had made its way from Spain to Austria.[2. By 1. 66. 2, Pope Alexander VII had declared that religious fasts were not broken by consuming chocolate drinks. Cinnamon Cream Cheese Bars. Within about a hundred years, chocolate established a foothold throughout Europe.[1. The new craze for chocolate brought with it a thriving slave market, as between the early 1.