chocolate, food product made from cocoa beans, consumed as candy and
used to make beverages and to flavour or coat various confections and
bakery products. Rich in carbohydrates, it has several health benefits and is
an excellent source of quick energy. It also contains minute amounts of the
stimulating alkaloids caffeine and theobromine, which is highly toxic to dogs.
History of chocolate
Unsung women in chemistry historyThe chemical properties and benefits of
chocolate.
The cacao tree was cultivated more than 3,000 years ago by
the Maya, Toltec, and Aztec peoples, who prepared a beverage from its fruit,
the cocoa bean (sometimes using it as a ceremonial drink) and also used
the bean as a currency. The Maya considered chocolate to be the food of the
gods, held the cacao tree to be sacred, and even buried dignitaries with
bowls of the substance (along with other items deemed useful in the
afterlife). In fact, the identification of the (Olmec-originated) word ka-ka-
w (“cacao”) inscribed on those containers was key to deciphering the Maya’s
phonetic manner of writing.
engraving of an Aztec with cocoa beans and chocolate beverage“American
with his chocolate pot and goblet,” an engraving of an Aztec with cocoa
beans and chocolate beverage, from a French history of chocolate, tea, and
coffee, 1685.(more)
Spain was the earliest European country to incorporate chocolate into
its cuisine, but exactly how that happened is vague. It is known
that Christopher Columbus took cocoa beans to Spain after his fourth voyage
in 1502, though little was made of it at that time. It has been commonly
thought (though there appears to be no evidence) that in 1519 Montezuma
II, the Aztec ruler of Mexico, served a bitter cocoa-bean drink to the
Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés, who subsequently introduced the drink
to Spain. A strong possibility is that chocolate first arrived in Spain in 1544
with representatives of the Kekchí Mayan people of Guatemala, who
came bearing gifts (including chocolate) to visit the court of Prince Philip.
However, it was not until 1585 that the first recorded shipment of cocoa
beans arrived in Spain from Veracruz, Mexico. Sweetened and flavoured
with cinnamon and vanilla, chocolate was served as a hot beverage and
became quite popular in the Spanish court. It was many years before
chocolate had its introduction to France, England, and bey
In 1657 a Frenchman opened a shop in London at which solid chocolate for
making the beverage could be purchased at 10 to 15 shillings per pound. At
that price only the wealthy could afford to drink it, and there appeared
in London, Amsterdam, and other European capitals fashionable chocolate
houses, some of which later developed into famous private clubs. In London
many chocolate houses were used as political party meeting places as well
as high-stakes gambling spots, notably Cocoa-Tree Chocolate-House (later
the Cocoa-Tree Club), which opened in 1698, and White’s, which was opened
by Francis White in 1693 as White’s Chocolate-House. About 1700 the
English improved chocolate by the addition of milk. The reduction of the cost
of the beverage was hampered in Great Britain by the imposition of high
import duties on the raw cocoa bean, and it was not until the mid-19th
century, when the duty was lowered to a uniform rate of one penny per
pound, that chocolate became popular.
Food history: How to make German Black Forest cakeLearn more about the
history of the German Black Forest cake.
How to make Belgian chocolatesLearn how Belgian chocolates are made.
See all videos for this article
Meanwhile, the making of chocolate spread overseas and grew in
sophistication. Chocolate manufacture started in the American colonies in
1765 at Dorchester, Massachusetts, using beans brought in by New
England sea captains from their voyages to the West Indies. James
Baker financed the first mill, which was operated by an Irish immigrant, John
Hanan. Waterpower was used for grinding the beans. In the Netherlands in
1828, C.J. van Houten patented a process for pressing much of the fat,
or cocoa butter, from ground and roasted cocoa beans and thus obtaining
cocoa powder. In 1847 the English firm of Fry and Sons combined cocoa
butter with chocolate liquor and sugar to produce sweet (eating) chocolate—
the base of most chocolate confectionary—and in 1876 Daniel
Peter of Switzerland added dried milk to make milk chocolate. The
proliferation of flavoured, solid, and coated chocolate foods rapidly followed.
Production of chocolate
Know about the MIT Laboratory for Chocolate Science dedicated to the
science, history, politics, and economics of chocolateOverview of the
Laboratory for Chocolate Science, a student activity at the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology (MIT).(more)
See all videos for this article
Chocolate is made from the kernels of fermented and roasted cocoa beans.
The kernels are ground to form a pasty fluid chocolate liquor, which may be
hardened in molds to form bitter (baking) chocolate, pressed to reduce the
cocoa butter content and then pulverized to make cocoa powder, or mixed
with sugar and additional cocoa butter to make sweet (eating) chocolate.
The addition of dried or concentrated milk to sweet chocolate produces milk
chocolate.
Unwrapping the chemistry of white chocolateIs white chocolate really
chocolate?
See all videos for this article
White chocolate, prized for its rich texture and delicate flavour, is technically
not a chocolate. White chocolate is made from cocoa butter with added milk
products, sugar, and flavourings such as vanilla.
