Chocolate was first used by the ancient cultures of the Maya and then then the Aztec. The Mesoamericans as far back at 250 to 900 AD were not only harvesting the plant from the rainforest where it grows naturally, but planting and farming it where they lived.
By the 1400’s the Aztec empire was dominating a sizable part of Mesoamerica. They traded with the Maya and others for cacao which they couldn’t grow themselves in the cooler and higher elevations that comprised their home in the dry highlands of central Mexico.
Early people consumed chocolate by drinking it as a beverage. First the cacao seeds were ground into a chocolate paste and then mixed with water. Other ingredients were added like chile peppers, cornmeal and spices. The mix was poured back and forth between containers till it developed a thick foam on the top. Sugar wasn’t available as a commodity till much later in history, so the beverage, if sweetened at all, was sweetened with honey.
The Aztec ruler, Montuzuma, was said to have consumed massive quantities of this drink per day. The chocolate was considered not only as a luxury but part of sacred religious and cultural events. Rulers and priests used cacao as offerings to the gods, as acceptable payment of taxes from conquered peoples and as currency. BE SURE TO HIT THE "READ MORE" LINK
The Spanish in the 1500’s, while searching for treasures in the new world, took chocolate back to Europe where it later became hugely popular. After the Spanish conquered the Aztecs, more chocolate was shipped back to Spain where the demand kept on growing. For the next couple of centuries many of the conquered Mesoamerican peoples were used as slaves on plantations to grow, harvest and process the cacao. Chocolate is a product that even today still uses a lot of hand labor to produce.
In Spain the chocolate was mixed with sugar and other ingredients to make it less bitter. It was also found to have it’s “restorative” qualities that come from the caffeine and theobromine it contains. Since it’s naturally high in calories, it was a food that could be used to keep away hunger and carried easily by groups of people such as soldiers.
To produce enough chocolate for the European demand, plantations were set up to keep the “Old World” supplied. The plantations were large and essentially a monoculture. When fungal disease hit, whole plantations would be wiped out. A new source of cacao tree needed to be found that was resistant to the fungal problems. Meanwhile, many plantations were abandoned and left to the former slave population that used to work them.
There are three main types of cacao trees. The Criollo is known for it’s complex and fruity flavor. It’s grown mainly in Latin America but this type has lower productivity and more susceptibility to disease. It was hugely affected by the fungal infestations. Forastero cacao, which now accounts for 90% of the beans used for chocolate making, has a clean chocolate flavor but lacks the fruity or aromatic flavors. It’s dependability makes it the most used by chocolate producers.
The third type of tree is the Trinitario. It’s a hybrid of the first two strains and some say it combines the best of both. It has good flavor and good hardiness. It’s name comes from the island of Trinidad were it was first grown. These hybrids can have flavors that range from fruity to spicy to acidic.
Forastero beans are used as the “bulk” beans and Trinitario and Criollo are used as the “flavor” beans when processing them into the chocolate we consume.
The cacao can be made into chocolate liquor, cocoa butter or cocoa powder. Chocolate liquor (while containing no alcohol) is made by grinding the cacao bean into a smooth, liquid state. Cocoa butter is the fat that is naturally present in the cacao bean. Beans usually are comprised of 50 to 60% cocoa butter. Cocoa powder is the product which is made by removing part of the fat (cocoa butter) from the bean and grinding this remaining material to a powder. The FDA has defined the kinds of chocolate:
Milk Chocolate: A combination of chocolate liquor, cocoa butter, sugar and milk or cream. Milk chocolate must contain at least 10% chocolate liquor and at least 12% total milk ingredients.
Sweet Chocolate: A combination of chocolate liquor, cocoa butter and sugar, but contains at least 15% chocolate liquor.
Semisweet or Bittersweet Chocolate: A combination of chocolate liquor, cocoa butter and sugar, but contains at least 35% chocolate liquor. Bittersweet chocolate and semisweet chocolate are often called dark chocolate.
Unsweetened Chocolate Or Baking Chocolate: Straight chocolate liquor formed into a bar with no added sugar is known as unsweetened chocolate or baking chocolate.
White Chocolate: Made from the same ingredients as milk chocolate (cocoa butter, milk, sugar) but without the nonfat cocoa solids. In 2002, FDA established a standard of identity for white chocolate. White chocolate must contain at least 20% cocoa butter and 14% total milk ingredients.
Some chocolate is produced as “single source” chocolate. It comes from a particular region or even a particular plantation (like wine) and has it’s own individual flavor unique to it’s origin. Some of the places that you will find chocolate like this are Ecuador, Venezuela, Guatemala, Sao Tome, Java, Madagascar, Papua New Guinea, Ivory Coast and Ghana.
Besides the individual flavors of chocolate beans, differences come from the processing of the bean. Historically, chocolate used to be gritty feeling on the tongue. A process called “conching” was developed to grind and refine the chocolate and sugar into particles so small that they cannot be detected on the tongue. This gives the smooth feeling in the mouth when eating some brands of chocolate.
All of this comes from a tree! It is a shade tolerant, moisture loving, understory rainforest tree. It can grow up to 50 feet high, but when used commercially they are trimmed to grow much shorter so that harvesting the pods is easier.
It requires very warm, consistent temperatures of about 67 to 87 degrees F. It also requires 40 to 100 inches of rain a year. That’s a whopping 8.3 FEET of rain a year. This is what makes them hard to grow as typical house plants.
Although the cacao is native to South America, 41% of the world’s production comes from the Ivory Coast. Ghana produces 13% of the world’s supply and Indonesia exports 11%. Like coffee cacao is grown in poorer countries that have very hot climates. It requires the shade of the jungle to grow, so the rainforest doesn’t have to be destroyed to grow the crop, but all to often it still is destroyed to make the harvesting easier.
The University of Minnesota’s greenhouse has a cacao tree that is about 40 years old. It produces pods with yellow-orangish fruit that is shaped somewhat like a gourd or squash. Ripeness can be told by the color and the furrowing on the pod. The tree produces small white flowers which grow right out of the trunk of the tree. When cut open the seeds are encased in a whitish “fruit” which tastes sweet and a little like pineapple. The fruit itself is not valued and does not have a chocolate flavor, but the large bean shaped seeds are greatly valued.
The pods are usually picked by hand and cut open by someone who scoops out the beans. The beans, with the pulp still attached, are placed in large flat trays with banana leaves placed over them so that they begin to ferment. This takes 2 to 8 days. The fermentation process chemically changes the composition of the bean and activates enzymes that create the beginnings of the flavor we associate with chocolate.
The beans are dried next and then they are ready for being sold. When they are purchased and delivered to a factory they then are roasted to develop the flavor. After roasting the beans are winnowed which removes the outer shell leaving behind just the bean. This bean, called a nib, is what is ground into the chocolate liquor.
Tasting chocolate is the best way to appreciate it’s differences, subtle or otherwise. Some chocolates to try are: Green and Black Organic Chocolate, found at Target stores, El Rey Chocolate from Venezuela which can be purchased online, Ethel M’s Chocolates, also purchased online, Dove, Lindt, Godiva, Hershy’s, and fortunately countless others!
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