Chocolate
Chocolate is a common ingredient in many kinds of sweets -- one of the most popular in the world -- made from the fermented, roasted, and ground seeds of the tropical cacao tree Theobroma cacao. Dictionaries refer to this cacao substance as "chocolate," which is an intensely flavored bitter (not sweet) food, although this is legally defined as cocoa in many countries. This is usually sweetened with sugar and other ingredients and made into chocolate bars (the substance of which is also and commonly referred to as chocolate), or beverages (called cocoa or hot chocolate).
Chocolate is often produced in the form of little sculptures, for example as rabbit- or egg-shaped chocolates, near a holiday in many countries called Easter, and other shapes for Christmas and Saint Nicholas (for the latter also chocolate letters).
Different kinds of chocolate
Chocolate is an extremely popular ingredient, available in many types, and great quantity. Different forms and flavors of chocolate are usually produced by varying the amount of the ingredients used to make the chocolate.
- Dark chocolate
- Milk chocolate
- White chocolate
- Semisweet chocolate (used for cooking purposes)
- Strawberry chocolate (a specialty found in Italy)
The history of chocolate
The Aztecs associated chocolate with Xochiquetzal, the goddess of fertility. In the New World, chocolate was consumed in a drink called xocoatl, often seasoned with vanilla, chili pepper, and pimento. Xocoatl was believed to fight fatigue, a belief that is probably attributable to the caffeine content. Chocolate was an important luxury good throughout Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica, and cocao beans were often used as currency. Other chocolate drinks combined it with such edibles as maize gruel and honey.
The xocoatl was said to be an acquired taste. Jose de Acosta, a Spanish Jesuit missionary who lived in Peru and then Mexico in the later 16th century, wrote:
- Loathsome to such as are not acquainted with it, having
a scum or froth that is very unpleasant to 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 Chocolaté. 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.
The first recorded shipment of chocolate to the Old World for commercial purposes was in a shipment from Veracruz to Seville in 1585. It was still served as a beverage, but the Europeans added sugar to counteract the natural bitterness, and removed the chili pepper. By the 17th century it was a luxury item among the European nobility.
In 1828, Conrad J. van Houten patented a method for extracting the fat from cocoa beans and making powdered cocoa and cocoa butter. This made it possible to form the modern chocolate bar. It is believed that Joseph Fry made the first chocolate for eating in 1847.
Daniel Peter, a Swiss candle-maker joined his father-in-law's chocolate business. In 1867 he began experimenting with milk as an ingredient. He brought his new product, milk chocolate, to market in 1875. He was assisted in removing the water content from the milk to prevent mildewing by a neighbor, a baby food manufacturer named Henri Nestlé.
Chocolate as a stimulant
Chocolate is very mildly psychoactive since it contains theobromine, small quantities of anandamide, an endogenous cannabinoid found in the brain, as well as caffeine and tryptophan.
Why chocolate tastes so good
Part of the enjoyability of the chocolate eating experience is ascribed to the fact that its melting point is slightly below human body temperature and so it melts in the mouth.
Chocolate in the media
- Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (book, movie)
- Chocolat (book, movie)
- The Poisoned Chocolates Case (book)
- Like Water for Chocolate (book, movie)
See also
Further reading
- The True History of Chocolate by Sophie D. Coe & Michael D. Coe, Thames & Hudson, 1996