Essential Guide to Chocolate
HOW TO BE A HEALTHY CHOCOHOLIC
ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO Chocolate
WHERE DID IT COME FROM?
It’s estimated that chocolate has been around for over 2,000 years, though of course the cocoa bean existed long before. The crop was originally grown by ancient indigenous South American cultures, who used it to make hot chocolates.
According to the World Cocoa Foundation (worldcocoafoundation.org) the Spanish Conquistadors came across this cocoa drink when invading the native lands and added spices and sugar to it. After that, the popularity of this new, rich, sweet hot chocolate soared, and though the Spanish tried (and succeeded for 100 years) they could not keep the method of its creation a secret. The rest of Europe latched on and hot chocolates were served to the social elite, worldwide.
Solid chocolate was then invented by Joseph Fry, when he found that adding cocoa butter to cocoa powder formed a solid mass. Later on, Daniel Peter, a Swiss chocolatier (and neighbour to Henri Nestlé) experimented with the addition of condensed milk and hence, milk chocolate was then born. Today, over 4.5 million tonnes of cocoa beans are consumed annually, around the world.