Chocolate: America’s Favorite Treat Stephanie X. Do you know lots about the sweet treat called chocolate? Well today’s chocolate has many different components to it. It is used in many ways from liquid to solids. From its history to its types, chocolate is a complex subject with many facts and parts.
Part 1:History of Chocolate Chocolate has a long history dating back to before 1900 BC when the Makaya and other preOlmec people used it to make a beverage. There were a few of different beliefs about the cocoa bean. One was that the Aztecs believed the cocoa seed was a gift from the wisdom god so they used it for currency for a small period of time in 1400 BC. Another was that it was believed to have powers and gave the drinker strength. Chocolate seemed to have risen in Central America. Instead of being used as a drink, chocolate was used as a fermented bean in drinks. Scientist have found presences of chocolate in vessels around the world from the “chemical footprint.” The earliest evidence of chocolate was in the Preclassic period. It was used as a medical drink and little evidence of how it was made is left. Chocolate arrived to England in the 16th century and they added sugar to it was not so bitter. Christopher Columbus encountered the bean on his 4th mission to America in August 15, 1502. his son Ferdinand commented that the bean was valuable to the natives. Possibly, the first European to encounter it was Hernan Cortes when he was in court on 1519. Chocolates whole history is long and it has mainly eaten as a bitter beverage. Chocolate was brought to France in 1615 through the daughter of King Philip III when she married. The first ever solid chocolate sold on the market was in 1847 by a British company called J.S. Fry & Sons.
Part 2 :Types of Chocolate Chocolate is extracted from cocoa mixed with fat or cocoa butter and fine powdered sugar. Chocolate is also classified In many different ways. ways in its ingredients. There are 12 different types of chocolates. These are some of the most known types of chocolate. The first is dark chocolate. Dark chocolate is a type of chocolate made with the less amount of milk in it than any other chocolate or there may be no milk at all. Chocolate with more than 35% of chocolate solids is categorized as dark chocolate but anything higher would be classified differently. Because there is less milk in dark chocolate, it has a browner color to it so sometimes people refer to it as brown chocolate. Dark chocolate is sometimes sold with up 90% of cocoa solids in it. Dark chocolate with more cocoa solids will taste more bitter that dark chocolate with less in it. Milk chocolate is the type of chocolate that most people are familiar with and possibly the most favored out of all of them. It is made by adding milk or usually milk powder to the original chocolate mix of cocoa solids, cocoa butter, sugar and most times vanilla flavoring. Powdered milk is used so solid chocolate can be made because liquid milk will make the chocolate more in a liquid consistency. The third type of chocolate is white chocolate. This type of chocolate is the sweetest type. White chocolate is special because it is not made of cocoa solids so it is classified as a chocolate derivative rather as a original chocolate. It is made of cocoa butter, sugar and milk. It is white because it lacks cocoa solids in it.
Part 3: Nutrition and Research of Chocolate In the past, chocolate has been admired as a food the boost energy for athletes and others. More and more research has been conducted on cocoa. It has been found that cocoa contains substances that prevent cardiovascular disease and reduce the risk of cancer. Chocolate has also been accused of causing obesity because of it high calorie content. Chocolate is not only harmful but it has a few healthy parts to it. It has the highest source of antioxidant in the world. It can also improve health and lower risk of heart disease. Dark chocolate with a high cocoa content is very nutritious. It also can improve your cardiovascular system. Chocolate is not fat. The fat in chocolate is made of cocoa butter which is an equal amount of oleic acid (a heart healthy fat found in olive oil), stearic and palmitic acid. Some other extra ingredients added in chocolate may be unhealthy for you though like caramel and marshmallows. Dark chocolate is probably the healthiest chocolate compared to others like milk chocolate. Older people who eat chocolate have a 45% less chance of getting a heart disease, heart attack or stroke. But if you eat too much it will get to the point where it is un-
Part 4: Production of Chocolate Chocolate goes through a long process to become the chocolate we eat every day. It starts by harvesting the cocoa seed of the trees. Cocoa beans grow in pods that becomes green or yellow when they are ripe so the pick the pods by gently hacking the off the trees. They are then split open and the cocoa seed s are removed. One pods can contain up to 50 cocoa seeds in it. Now they go into the fermenting process. They are covered in banana leaves and left in the sun so they will slowly turn brown. Works come in time periods to stir
They must then be dried before they can be shipped away. They are just layed in the sun to dry. This process can take up to a whole week. The dried seeds are shipped to a manufacturer. There they roast the seed do they become cocoa nibs. They then go through a sorter where they are sorted by size. They then are grounded to become cocoa liquor. After that they are mixed with other substances to become whatever type of chocolate it is made into. After blending, molding is the only step left. The liquid is poured into a mold. It sits to harden and finally it gets packaged and shipped around the world to be enjoyed by us.
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"The Production of Chocolate." The Production of Chocolate. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Nov. 2015.