A Piece Full of Chocolatey Goodness

Nov. 26, 2010 - PRLog -- Chocolate - no matter where you go in the world you will see that it is one of the worldwide sensations.  It is loved and consumed in various different forms, it is said that the United States spends roughly a billion dollars.  This alone shows how loved chocolate has become.

But do you know where chocolate actually came from and how it spread.  First lets look at what chocolate comes from, the Cacao which is the seed of the Theobroma Cacao tree.  These seeds have an extremely bitter taste and have to be fermented to develop the flavour.  But let's also look at where the word chocolate came from many people believe the word derives from Spain or at less the Latin language but actually the word comes from Nahuatl.  This was the language of the Aztec’s and it is said it comes from the word chocolatl, which derives from the word xocolatl which means bitter water and the Mexicans from the Pre-Columbian era drank chocolate vanilla, chile pepper and achiote.  

In the times of the Aztec’s Xocolatl was only allowed to be consumed by those of the highest rank in the society.  There were various different types of cacao which led to different flavours, but all the cacao were processed the same way.  They were beated until the liquid was nice, thick and had a frothy foam at the top.  The drink would be served in gold goblet that had the base covered with jaguar skin and a tortoise shell would be a spoon to eat the foam.  So Hot Chocolate came before the chocolate in the form of a snack as a Mexican beverage.

In order to get the chocolate flavour you have ferment the beans, dry, clean and then roast them.  After that process they would remove them from their shell which produces cacao nibs, these are then grounded into pure chocolate otherwise known as cocoa mass.  This is the form that is wanted as the beginning stage into making the various forms of chocolate things like milk chocolate bars and chocolate liquor

The first chocolate bar (or chocolate in solid form) was invented by Joseph Fry and his son.  They had found a way to make a paste that could be moulded into any shape, by putting some cocoa and sugar into some dutched chocolate.  This process of forming chocolate hasn't changes and is the blueprint for chocolate companies.  It wasn't until the industrial revolution though that they saw it fit to make to make ways of making the chocolate easier.  As Mechanical mills made it easier to squeeze out coca butter that would help the hardening process and a more quicker rate.

Chocolate is just as popular as it is now as it was back in the days of its discovery.  Chocolate is still used as one of the main ingredients of the piquant mole sauces of Puebla and Oaxaca.  Also hot chocolate is still a popular beverage, it also is a beverage used to accompany many meals.  So next time you are in the country in one of the many Mexico vacation rentals in the country why don't you have a cup of hot chocolate to blend in.










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