Chocolate " A sensuous delight."

Chocolate.......is pure pleasure. Chocolate the word itself is enough to make anyone's mouth water. Who doesn’t love chocolate? Chocolate is so good that sometimes it’s hard to find the right words to describe it. But where did the story of this bitter sweet earthy aromatic treat started......

The history of chocolate can be traced to the ancient Mayans, and even earlier to the ancient Olmecs of southern Mexico. 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 and also the Mayans praised chocolate as the drink of the gods.By the 15th century, the Aztecs used cocoa beans as currency. They believed that chocolate was a gift from the god. Both the Mayans and Aztecs believed the cacao bean had magical, or even divine, properties, suitable for use in the most sacred rituals of birth, marriage and death.  

Until the 16th century, the cacao tree was wholly unknown to Europeans. After the Spanish conquest of the Aztecs, chocolate was imported to Europe.Though in the beginning, Spaniards would use it as a medicine to treat illnesses such as abdominal pain because it had a bitterness to it. Once sweetened, it transformed.Within about a hundred years, chocolate established a foothold throughout Europe.

The creation of the first modern chocolate bar is credited to Joseph Fry, who in 1847 discovered that he could make a moldable chocolate paste by adding melted cacao butter back into Dutch cocoa. By 1868, a little company called Cadbury was marketing boxes of chocolate candies in England. Milk chocolate hit the market a few years later, pioneered by another name that may ring a bell – Nestle.pan . In the 20th century, the word "chocolate" expanded to include a range of affordable treats with more sugar and additives than actual cacao in them, often made from the hardiest but least flavorful of the bean varieties (forastero). 

(Cacao tree)

So how is chocolate made......Chocolate comes from the cacao tree, which is formally known as Theobroma Cacao. The Cacao trees produce large fruit pods on the trunk of the tree. The pods are harvested with machetes. When you crack them open, you'll find about fifty or more seeds within a sweet pulp. Then the beans are removed from their pods and pulp for the next step fermentation. The process is fairly simple with the beans being allowed to ferment naturally in a warm and moist environment for about seven days. Once the fermentation process is complete, the beans are removed and allowed to dry out to prevent mold growth and rot. Finally, the last vestiges of wood, jute fibres, sand, and even the finest dust are extracted by powerful vacuum equipment. The beans are then roasted typically using a dry roast method. Roasting intensifies the final taste of the chocolate. When the beans are ready, the shells are then removed. What you are left with is the essence of the bean - cocoa butter and other chocolate solids. A machine grounds the shelled beans into a paste that is referred to as chocolate liquor even though it is not a liquid or contains alcohol. From here, it is a magical process, if you will, that varies from manufacturer to manufacturer.

A necessary step, conches are always filled with the largest amounts of chocolate for efficiency, the molding machines can only accept small amounts of chocolate paste at one time, in order to shape it into bars, chocolates and other products. Chocolate is frequently shipped in a liquid state to other food manufacturers, or it can be stored for short periods of time. For longer periods, it is solidified, usually in the form of hundredweight blocks.

Do u know a chocolatier is a person or company who makes confectionery from chocolate. Chocolatiers are distinct from chocolate makers, who create chocolate from cacao beans and other ingredients. There are several types of chocolate, classified according to the proportion of cocoa used in a particular formulation. There are three main types of chocolate — White chocolate, Milk chocolate, and Dark chocolate. As well as Semisweeet Chocolate, Bittersweet Chocolate, 

Unsweetened Chocolate (or Baking Chocolate), Cocoa Powder, Couverture Chocolate, Sweet German Chocolate, Ruby Chocolate are also types of Chocolate. 

Chocolate is the most popular sweet treat in the world. People around the world (but mostly in Europe and the United States) consume more than 3 million tons of cocoa beans a year. And, not only does eating chocolate make you feel good, it may also be good for your heart and your brain. Though it have both pros and cons as any other treat. As we all know it is used in many desserts like pudding, cakes, candy, ice cream, cookies. It can be in a solid form like a candy bar or it can be in a liquid form like hot chocolate.

Chocolate as a gift has a strong symbolic meaning, that of love, passion, care and, happy life. Taste, aroma and mouthfeel mixed in one treat is what chocolate feels. A smooth, velvety texture and pleasant flavor. Afterwards, the taste which linger for several minutes in your mouth is a sign of good chocolate.  Chocolate is not only delicious taste and smooth texture, but they also have powerful effects on the human brain to make us feel happy and alert may be that's why we enjoy it so much. A sweet silky ride for one's tastebuds..... Chocolate the word itself is enough to bring a smile on anyone's face and having it is pure joy. So I hope you enjoyed this sweet journey of chocolate. Now next time when  you have  a chocolate or if anyone asks you about it ....you know and can tell everything about this sweet little bundle of joy which is chocolate............