Video Chocolate Video

[Ena Marklund]

Chocolateor cocoa is a food made from roasted and ground cocoa seed kernels that is available as a liquid, solid, or paste, either on its own or as a flavoring agent in other foods. Cocoa has been consumed in some form for at least 5,300 years starting with the Mayo-Chinchipe culture in what is present-day Ecuador. Later Mesoamerican civilizations also consumed chocolate beverages, and it was introduced to Europe in the 16th century.

The seeds of the cacao tree (Theobroma cacao) have an intense bitter taste and must be fermented to develop the flavor. After fermentation, the seeds are dried, cleaned, and roasted. The shell is removed to produce 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 may also 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 sugar. Powdered baking cocoa, which contains more fiber than cocoa butter, can be processed with alkali to produce Dutch cocoa. Much of the chocolate consumed today is in the form of sweet chocolate, a combination of cocoa solids, cocoa butter, and 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.

Chocolate is one of the most popular food types and flavors in the world, and many foodstuffs involving chocolate exist, particularly desserts, including cakes, pudding, mousse, chocolate brownies, and chocolate chip cookies. Many candies are filled with or coated with sweetened chocolate. Chocolate bars, either made of solid chocolate or other ingredients coated in chocolate, are eaten as snacks. Gifts of chocolate molded into different shapes (such as eggs, hearts, and coins) are traditional on certain Western holidays, including Christmas, Easter, Valentine's Day, and Hanukkah. 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, West African countries, particularly Cte d'Ivoire and Ghana, are the leading producers of cocoa in the 21st century, accounting for some 60% of the world cocoa supply.

A 2020 report estimated that more than 1.5 million children are involved in the farming of cocoa in Cte d'Ivoire and Ghana.[1] Child slavery and trafficking associated with the cocoa trade remain major concerns. A 2018 report argued that international attempts to improve conditions for children were doomed to failure because of persistent poverty, the absence of schools, increasing world cocoa demand, more intensive farming of cocoa, and continued exploitation of child labor.

Cocoa is a variant of cacao, likely due to confusion with the word coco.[2] It is ultimately derived from kakaw(a), but whether that word originates in Nahuatl or a Mixe-Zoquean language is the subject of substantial linguistic debate.[2][3] Chocolate is a Spanish loanword, first recorded in English in 1604,[4] and first recorded in Spanish in 1579.[5] The word for chocolate drink in early Nahuatl texts is cacahuatl meaning "cacao water", which chocolate does not immediately derive from.[6]

Despite theories that chocolate is derived from xocoatl meaning "bitter drink" or chocolatl meaning "hot water"[7][8] and uncertainty around the Nahuatl origin, there is a consensus that it likely derives from chicolatl.[9] Whether chicolatl means "cacao beater", however, is contested, due to difficulty knowing what chico means.[10]

The cocoa bean originated in the upper Amazon region. Evidence of its domestication dates back to 3300 BCE in southeast Ecuador by the Mayo-Chinchipe culture, and it was later introduced to Mesoamerica.[12] The earliest archeological evidence of use in Mesoamerica appears on the Pacific coast of Chiapas, Mexico at a Mokaya archaeological site, which contains evidence of cocoa beverages dating as early as 1900 BCE.[13] Evidence that chocolate was consumed as far North as Utah around 800 CE is controversial.[14] Cocoa beverages were not always made with seeds; evidence from 1100 BCE Honduras shows alcoholic drinks made by fermenting the sweet pulp around the seeds.[15]

Documents in Maya hieroglyphs stated that chocolate was used for ceremonial purposes in addition to everyday life.[16] The Maya grew cacao trees in their backyards[17] and used the cocoa seeds the trees produced to make a frothy, bitter drink.[18]

By the 15th century, the Aztecs had gained control of a large part of Mesoamerica and had adopted cocoa 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,[19] and identified its extrication from the pod with the removal of the human heart in sacrifice.[20] 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, chili pepper, allspice, vanilla, and honey.

The Aztecs were unable to grow cocoa themselves, as their home in the Mexican highlands was unsuitable for it, so chocolate was a luxury imported into the empire.[19] Those who lived in areas ruled by the Aztecs were required to offer cocoa seeds in payment of the tax they deemed "tribute".[19] Cocoa beans were often used as currency.[21] For example, the Aztecs used a system in which one turkey cost 100 cocoa beans[22] and one fresh avocado was worth three beans.[23]

The Maya and Aztecs associated cocoa with human sacrifice, and chocolate drinks specifically with sacrificial human blood.[24][25]The Spanish royal chronicler Gonzalo Fernndez de Oviedo y Valds described a chocolate drink he had seen in Nicaragua in 1528, mixed with achiote: "because those people are fond of drinking human blood, to make this beverage seem like blood, they add a little achiote, so that it then turns red. ... and part of that foam is left on the lips and around the mouth, and when it is red for having achiote, it seems a horrific thing, because it seems like blood itself."[25]

Until the 16th century, no European had ever heard of the popular drink from the Central American peoples.[19] Christopher Columbus and his son Ferdinand encountered the cocoa bean on Columbus's fourth mission to the Americas on 15 August 1502, when he and his crew stole a large native canoe that proved to contain cocoa beans among other goods for trade.[26] Spanish conquistador Hernn Corts may have been the first European to encounter it, as the frothy drink was part of the after-dinner routine of Montezuma.[citation needed][27] Jos de Acosta, a Spanish Jesuit missionary who lived in Peru and then Mexico in the later 16th century, wrote of its growing influence on the Spaniards:

Although bananas are more profitable, cocoa is more highly esteemed in Mexico... Cocoa is a smaller fruit than almonds and thicker, which toasted do not taste bad. It is so prized among the Indians and even among Spaniards... because since it is a dried fruit it can be stored for a long time without deterioration, and they brings ships loaded with them from the province of Guatemala... It also serves as currency, because with five cocoas you can buy one thing, with thirty another, and with a hundred something else, without there being contradiction; and they give these cocoas as alms to the poor who beg for them. The principal product of this cocoa is a concoction which they make that they call "chocolate", which is a crazy thing treasured in that land, and those who are not accustomed are disgusted by it, because it has a foam on top and a bubbling like that of feces, which certainly takes a lot to put up with. Anyway, it is the prized beverage which the Indians offer to nobles who come to or pass through their lands; and the Spaniards, especially Spanish women born in those lands die for black chocolate. This aforementioned chocolate is said to be made in various forms and temperaments, hot, cold, and lukewarm. They are wont to use spices and much chili; they also make it into a paste, and it is said that it is a medicine to treat coughs, the stomach, and colds. Whatever may be the case, in fact those who have not been reared on this opinion are not appetized by it.[28]

While Columbus had taken cocoa beans with him back to Spain,[26] chocolate made no impact until Spanish friars introduced it to the Spanish court.[19] Agustn Farfn, a former court physician and Friar in New Spain, in Tratado Breve de Medicina first introduced cocoa to Europe with a medical use (digestion). Through the 17th and 18th centuries, doctors affirmed the healthy effects of chocolate, consequently boosting the import of chocolate and introducing its consumption in the Europe.[29]

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 (the original sweetener used by the Aztecs for chocolate), to counteract the natural bitterness.[22] Vanilla, another indigenous American introduction, 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 tended to unsettle the European constitution; the Encyclopdie 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".[30] By 1602, chocolate had made its way from Spain to Austria.[31] By 1662, Pope Alexander VII had declared that religious fasts were not broken by consuming chocolate drinks. Within about a hundred years, chocolate established a foothold throughout Europe.[19]

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