Chocolate, how about you?
Chocolate, how about you?
A few days ago my anthropology department
professor gave me a chocolate but the funny thing is that I was so busy with
studies that I didn’t get time to eat the chocolate he gave me. The Prime
Minister of India may not have come across such an unrealistic situation like
me. Anyway, I woke up today and ate the chocolate given by my professor as
breakfast while eating it a stranger question come to my mind. I questioned
myself well, who invented this chocolate? And how many years ago was it
discovered? And why do children love to eat so much chocolate? What is the
mysterious substance that it is made of? Is it just cocoa powder? Both the
method and ingredients are written on the back of the chocolate wrapper but
honestly, I have tried to make it at home but never succeeded. I keep asking
myself why everyone likes to eat more or less chocolate? I remember telling my
father repeatedly when I was a child, I loved eating dairy milk chocolate so
much that I used to say to my father every day Dad, “I won’t marry anyone but
the owner of a Dairy Milk company” the purpose is only to eat Dairy Milk
chocolate for breakfast, lunch and dinner. At that time, I never thought why I
was so addicted to chocolate? But now I am studying anthropology which has
taught me to question everything. Just ask the question? No, I have to tell
everyone the answer also otherwise everyone will call me crazy. To prove that
I’m not crazy, I looked up the history of chocolate. The first one I got was
this …….
[https://www.magnumicecream.com/ca/en/stories/food/the-history-of-chocolate.html]
From this website I came to know that….
The world ‘Chocolate’ is traced back to Aztec word
“xocoatl”, and the name for the cacao plant, Theobroma cacao, means “food of
the god. Coenraad Johannes van Houten (15 March 1801 – 27 May 1887) was a Dutch
chemist and chocolate maker known for the treatment of cocoa mass with alkaline
salts to remove the bitter taste and make cocoa solids more water-soluble; the
resulting product is still called "Dutch process chocolate".
Chocolate’s 4,000-year history began in ancient Mesoamerica,
present day Mexico. It’s here that the first cacao plants were found. The
Olmec, one of the earliest civilizations in Latin America, were the first to
turn the cacao plant into chocolate. They drank their chocolate during rituals
and used it as medicine. By the 15th century, the Aztecs used cocoa beans as
currency. They believed that chocolate was a gift from the god Quetzalcoatl,
and drank it as a refreshing beverage, an aphrodisiac, and even to prepare for
war.
The Spanish kept chocolate quiet for a very long time. It
was nearly a century before the treat reached neighbouring France, and then the
rest of Europe.
In 1615, French King Louis XIII married Anne of Austria,
daughter of Spanish King Phillip III. To celebrate the union, she brought
samples of chocolate to the royal courts of France.
Following France’s lead, chocolate soon appeared in Britain
at special “chocolate houses”. As the trend spread through Europe, many nations
set up their own cacao plantations in countries along the equator.
Chocolate remained immensely popular among European
aristocracy. Royals and the upper classes consumed chocolate for its health
benefits as well as its decadence. Chocolate was still being produced by hand,
which was a slow and laborious process. But with the Industrial Revolution around
the corner, things were about to change.
In 1828, the invention of the chocolate press revolutionised
chocolate making. This innovative device could squeeze cocoa butter from
roasted cacao beans, leaving a fine cocoa powder behind.
The powder was then mixed with liquids and poured into a
mould, where it solidified into an edible bar of chocolate.
And just like that, the modern era of chocolate was born.
Brussels, Belgium the place is known as the 'Chocolate
Capital of the World'. There are many amazing places to buy chocolate in
Brussels as the city is famous for its creative chocolates and dotted with
chocolate shops.
The chocolate that first reached India was the criollo varieties of South America. The British Cadbury in 1960-70 gave away free beans and chocolate farming thrived in Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
Chocolate appeals to all five senses such as sight, touch, hearing, smell, taste. Thanks to its attributes, color, snap mouth feels as complexity of flavors and aromas so that chocolate is getting popular. Fat and cacao composition is the secret of chocolate as soon as the piece of chocolate begins to melt in the mouth fat has the on us to ensure the sensation of chocolate’s signature flavor following this the cacao particles present in the chocolate ensure the physical sensation.
https://www.simplychocolate.com/learn-about-chocolate
I found
the 8 fun facts about chocolate from this website and you will be glad to
know….
1. Chocolate was once money that
literally grew on trees.
2. Chocolate was not always solid or
sweet.
3. It took eight years to develop the
recipe for milk chocolate.
4. When it comes to cocoa beans a
little does not go a long way.
5. White chocolate is not really
chocolate.
6. Chocolate does funny things to our
brains. {That’s why this funny question came to my mind as soon as I ate
chocolate.}
7. One of the best chocolate treats was
a complete mistake.
8. Chocolate is good for your health.
[ This fax number eight
raised two questions in my mind. The two questions are ….
1. Why doctors forbid us to eat
chocolate?
2. Why no toothpaste company has yet
launched a toothpaste with chocolate flavor or chocolate in it?
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