Chocolate theme by Tim
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| Region or state | Mesoamerica |
|---|---|
| Main ingredients | Cocoa bean |
| Variations | Chocolate liquor, cocoa butter, cocoa solids, solid chocolate |
Chocolate, or cocoa, is a food made from roasted and ground cacao seed kernels that is available as a liquid, solid, or paste, either on its own or as a flavoring agent in other foods. Cacao has been consumed in some form for at least 5,300 years starting with the Mayo-Chinchipe culture in what is present-day Ecuador.[1] Later Mesoamerican civilizations also consumed chocolate beverages before being introduced to Europe in the 16th century.[2]
The seeds of the cacao tree have an intense bitter taste and must be fermented to develop the flavor. After fermentation, the seeds are dried, cleaned, and roasted. The shell is removed to produce cocoa nibs, which are then ground to cocoa mass, unadulterated chocolate in rough form. Once the cocoa mass is liquefied by heating, it is called chocolate liquor. The liquor may also be cooled and processed into its two components: cocoa solids and cocoa butter. Baking chocolate, also called bitter chocolate, contains cocoa solids and cocoa butter in varying proportions without any added sugar. Powdered baking cocoa, which contains more fiber than cocoa butter, can be processed with alkali to produce Dutch cocoa. Much of the chocolate consumed today is in the form of sweet chocolate, a combination of cocoa solids, cocoa butter, or added vegetable oils and sugar. Milk chocolate is sweet chocolate that additionally contains milk powder or condensed milk. White chocolate contains cocoa butter, sugar, and milk, but no cocoa solids.
Chocolate is one of the most popular food types and flavors in the world, and many foodstuffs involving chocolate exist, particularly desserts, including cakes, pudding, mousse, chocolate brownies, and chocolate chip cookies. Many candies are filled with or coated with sweetened chocolate. Chocolate bars, either made of solid chocolate or other ingredients coated in chocolate, are eaten as snacks. Gifts of chocolate molded into different shapes (such as eggs, hearts, and coins) are traditional on certain Western holidays, including Christmas, Easter, Valentine's Day, and Hanukkah. Chocolate is also used in cold and hot beverages, such as chocolate milk and hot chocolate, and in some alcoholic drinks, such as creme de cacao.
Although cocoa originated in the Americas, West African countries, particularly Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana, are the leading producers of cocoa in the 21st century, accounting for some 60% of the world cocoa supply.
With some two million children involved in the farming of cocoa in West Africa, child slavery and trafficking associated with the cocoa trade remain major concerns.[3][4] A 2018 report argued that international attempts to improve conditions for children were doomed to failure because of persistent poverty, the absence of schools, increasing world cocoa demand, more intensive farming of cocoa, and continued exploitation of child labor.[3]
Etymology[edit]
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Cocoa, pronounced by the Olmecs as kakawa,[5] dates to 1000 BCE or earlier.[5] The word "chocolate" entered the English language from Spanish in about 1600.[6] The word entered Spanish from the word chocolātl in Nahuatl, the language of the Aztecs. The origin of the Nahuatl word is uncertain, as it does not appear in any early Nahuatl source, where the word for chocolate drink is cacahuatl, "cocoa water". It is possible that the Spaniards coined the word (perhaps in order to avoid caca, a vulgar Spanish word for "faeces") by combining the Yucatec Mayan word chocol, "hot", with the Nahuatl word atl, "water".[7] A widely cited proposal is that the derives from unattested xocolatl meaning "bitter drink" is unsupported; the change from x- to ch- is unexplained, as is the -l-. Another proposed etymology derives it from the word chicolatl, meaning "beaten drink", which may derive from the word for the frothing stick, chicoli.[8] Other scholars reject all these proposals, considering the origin of first element of the name to be unknown.[9] The term "chocolatier", for a chocolate confection maker, is attested from 1888.[10]
History[edit]
South America[edit]
The cocoa bean was first domesticated at least 5,300 years ago, in equatorial South America from the Santa Ana-La Florida (SALF) site in what is present-day southeast Ecuador (Zamora-Chinchipe Province) by the Mayo-Chinchipe culture, before being introduced in Mesoamerica.[1][11]
Mesoamerican usage[edit]
Chocolate has been prepared as a drink for nearly all of its history. For example, one vessel found at an Olmec archaeological site on the Gulf Coast of Veracruz, Mexico, dates chocolate's preparation by pre-Olmec peoples as early as 1750 BCE.[12] On the Pacific coast of Chiapas, Mexico, a Mokaya archaeological site provides evidence of cocoa beverages dating even earlier to 1900 BCE.[13][12] The residues and the kind of vessel in which they were found indicate the initial use of cocoa was not simply as a beverage; the white pulp around the cocoa beans was likely used as a source of fermentable sugars for an alcoholic drink.[14]
An early Classic-period (460–480 CE) Maya tomb from the site in Rio Azul had vessels with the Maya glyph for cocoa on them with residue of a chocolate drink, which suggests that the Maya were drinking chocolate around 400 CE.[15] Documents in Maya hieroglyphs stated that chocolate was used for ceremonial purposes in addition to everyday life.[16] The Maya grew cacao trees in their backyards[17] and used the cocoa seeds the trees produced to make a frothy, bitter drink.[18]
By the 15th century, the Aztecs had gained control of a large part of Mesoamerica and had adopted cocoa into their culture. They associated chocolate with Quetzalcoatl, who, according to one legend, was cast away by the other gods for sharing chocolate with humans,[19] and identified its extrication from the pod with the removal of the human heart in sacrifice.[20] In contrast to the Maya, who liked their chocolate warm, the Aztecs drank it cold, seasoning it with a broad variety of additives, including the petals of the Cymbopetalum penduliflorum tree, chili pepper, allspice, vanilla, and honey.
The Aztecs were unable to grow cocoa themselves, as their home in the Mexican highlands was unsuitable for it, so chocolate was a luxury imported into the empire.[19] Those who lived in areas ruled by the Aztecs were required to offer cocoa seeds in payment of the tax they deemed "tribute".[19] Cocoa beans were often used as currency.[21] For example, the Aztecs used a system in which one turkey cost 100 cocoa beans[22] and one fresh avocado was worth three beans.[23]
The Maya and Aztecs associated cocoa with human sacrifice, and chocolate drinks specifically with sacrificial human blood.[24][25] The Spanish royal chronicler Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo y Valdés described a chocolate drink he had seen in Nicaragua in 1528, mixed with achiote: "because those people are fond of drinking human blood, to make this beverage seem like blood, they add a little achiote, so that it then turns red. ... and part of that foam is left on the lips and around the mouth, and when it is red for having achiote, it seems a horrific thing, because it seems like blood itself."[25]
Adaptation outside Mesoamerica[edit]
Until the 16th century, no European had ever heard of the popular drink from the Central American peoples.[19] Christopher Columbus and his son Ferdinand encountered the cocoa bean on Columbus's fourth mission to the Americas on 15 August 1502, when he and his crew stole a large native canoe that proved to contain cocoa beans among other goods for trade.[26] Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés may have been the first European to encounter it, as the frothy drink was part of the after-dinner routine of Montezuma.[15][27] José de Acosta, a Spanish Jesuit missionary who lived in Peru and then Mexico in the later 16th century, wrote of its growing influence on the Spaniards:
Although bananas are more profitable, cocoa is more highly esteemed in Mexico... Cocoa is a smaller fruit than almonds and thicker, which toasted do not taste bad. It is so prized among the Indians and even among Spaniards... because since it is a dried fruit it can be stored for a long time without deterioration, and they brings ships loaded with them from the province of Guatemala... It also serves as currency, because with five cocoas you can buy one thing, with thirty another, and with a hundred something else, without there being contradiction; and they give these cocoas as alms to the poor who beg for them. The principal product of this cocoa is a concoction which they make that they call "chocolate", which is a crazy thing treasured in that land, and those who are not accustomed are disgusted by it, because it has a foam on top and a bubbling like that of feces, which certainly takes a lot to put up with. Anyway, it is the prized beverage which the Indians offer to nobles who come to or pass through their lands; and the Spaniards, especially Spanish women born in those lands die for black chocolate. This aforementioned chocolate is said to be made in various forms and temperaments, hot, cold, and lukewarm. They are wont to use spices and much chili; they also make it into a paste, and it is said that it is a medicine to treat coughs, the stomach, and colds. Whatever may be the case, in fact those who have not been reared on this opinion are not appetized by it.[28]
While Columbus had taken cocoa beans with him back to Spain,[26] chocolate made no impact until Spanish friars introduced it to the Spanish court.[19] Agustín Farfán, a former court physician and Friar in New Spain, in Tratado Breve de Medicina first introduced cocoa, derived from cacao (native to New Spain), to Europe with a medical use (digestion). Through the 17th and 18th centuries, doctors affirmed the healthy effects of chocolate, consequently boosting the import of chocolate and introducing its consumption in the Europe.[29]
After the Spanish conquest of the Aztecs, chocolate was imported to Europe. There, it quickly became a court favorite. It was still served as a beverage, but the Spanish added sugar, as well as honey (the original sweetener used by the Aztecs for chocolate), to counteract the natural bitterness.[22] Vanilla, another indigenous American introduction, was also a popular additive, with pepper and other spices sometimes used to give the illusion of a more potent vanilla flavor. Unfortunately, these spices tended to unsettle the European constitution; the Encyclopédie states, "The pleasant scent and sublime taste it imparts to chocolate have made it highly recommended; but a long experience having shown that it could potentially upset one's stomach", which is why chocolate without vanilla was sometimes referred to as "healthy chocolate".[30] By 1602, chocolate had made its way from Spain to Austria.[31] By 1662, Pope Alexander VII had declared that religious fasts were not broken by consuming chocolate drinks. Within about a hundred years, chocolate established a foothold throughout Europe.[19]
The new craze for chocolate brought with it a thriving slave market, as between the early 1600s and late 1800s, the laborious and slow processing of the cocoa bean was manual.[19] Cocoa plantations spread, as the English, Dutch, and French colonized and planted. With the depletion of Mesoamerican workers, largely to disease, cocoa production was often the work of poor wage laborers and African slaves. Wind-powered and horse-drawn mills were used to speed production, augmenting human labor. Heating the working areas of the table-mill, an innovation that emerged in France in 1732, also assisted in extraction.[32]
In 1729, the first water-powered machinery to grind cocoa beans was developed by Charles Churchman and his son Walter in Bristol, England.[33] In 1761, Joseph Fry and his partner John Vaughan bought Churchman's premises, founding Fry's.[33] The same year, Fry and Vaughan also acquired their own patent for a water-powered machine that could grind the cocoa beans to a fine powder and thus produce a superior cocoa drink.[34] In 1795, chocolate production entered the Industrial era when Fry's, under the founder's son Joseph Storrs Fry, used a Watt steam engine to ground cocoa beans.[33] The Baker Chocolate Company, which makes Baker's Chocolate, is the oldest producer of chocolate in the United States. Founded by Dr. James Baker and John Hannon in Boston in 1765, the business is still in operation.[35][36]
Solid chocolate[edit]
Despite the drink remaining the traditional form of consumption for a long time, solid chocolate was increasingly consumed since the 18th century.[37][38] Tablets, facilitating the consumption of chocolate under its solid form, have been produced since the early 19th century. Cailler (1819)[39] and Menier (1836)[40] are early examples. In 1830, chocolate is paired with hazelnuts, an innovation due to Kohler.[41]
Meanwhile, new processes that sped the production of chocolate emerged early in the Industrial Revolution. In 1815, Dutch chemist Coenraad van Houten introduced alkaline salts to chocolate, which reduced its bitterness.[19] A few years thereafter, in 1828, he created a press to remove about half the natural fat (cocoa butter) from chocolate liquor, which made chocolate both cheaper to produce and more consistent in quality. This innovation introduced the modern era of chocolate, allowing the mass-production of both pure cocoa butter and cocoa powder.[26]
Known as "Dutch cocoa", this machine-pressed chocolate was instrumental in the transformation of chocolate to its solid form when, in 1847, English chocolatier Joseph Fry discovered a way to make chocolate more easily moldable when he mixed the ingredients of cocoa powder and sugar with melted cocoa butter.[22][33] Subsequently, in 1866 his chocolate factory, Fry's, launched the first mass-produced chocolate bar, Fry's Chocolate Cream, and they became very popular.[42] Milk had sometimes been used as an addition to chocolate beverages since the mid-17th century, but in 1875 Swiss chocolatier Daniel Peter invented milk chocolate by mixing a powdered milk developed by Henri Nestlé with the liquor.[19][26] In 1879, the texture and taste of chocolate was further improved when Rudolphe Lindt invented the conching machine.[43]
Besides Nestlé, several notable chocolate companies had their start in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Rowntree's of York set up and began producing chocolate in 1862, after buying out the Tuke family business. Cadbury of Birmingham was manufacturing boxed chocolates in England by 1868.[19] Manufacturing their first Easter egg in 1875, Cadbury created the modern chocolate Easter egg after developing a pure cocoa butter that could easily be molded into smooth shapes.[44] In 1893, Milton S. Hershey purchased chocolate processing equipment at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, and soon began the career of Hershey's chocolates with chocolate-coated caramels.
Types[edit]
Several types of chocolate can be distinguished. Pure, unsweetened chocolate, often called "baking chocolate", contains primarily cocoa solids and cocoa butter in varying proportions. Much of the chocolate consumed today is in the form of sweet chocolate, which combines chocolate with sugar.
Eating chocolate[edit]
The traditional types of chocolate are dark, milk and white. All of them contain cocoa butter, which is the ingredient defining the physical properties of chocolate (consistency and melting temperature). Plain (or dark) chocolate, as it name suggests, is a form of chocolate that is similar to pure cocoa liquor, although is usually made with a slightly higher proportion of cocoa butter.[45] It is simply defined by its cocoa percentage. In milk chocolate, the non-fat cocoa solids are partly or mostly replaced by milk solids.[46] In white chocolate, they are all replaced by milk solids, hence its ivory color.[47]
Other forms of eating chocolate exist, these include raw chocolate (made with unroasted beans) and ruby chocolate. An additional popular form of eating chocolate, gianduja, is made by incorporating nut paste (typically hazelnut) to the chocolate paste.[48]
Other types[edit]
Other types of chocolate are used in baking and confectionery. These include baking chocolate (often unsweetened), couverture chocolate (used for coating), compound chocolate (a lower-cost alternative) and modeling chocolate. Modeling chocolate is a chocolate paste made by melting chocolate and combining it with corn syrup, glucose syrup, or golden syrup.[49]
Production[edit]
Roughly two-thirds of the entire world's cocoa is produced in West Africa, with 43% sourced from Côte d'Ivoire,[50] where, as of 2007[update], child labor is a common practice to obtain the product.[51][52] According to the World Cocoa Foundation, in 2007 some 50 million people around the world depended on cocoa as a source of livelihood.[53] As of 2007[update] in the UK, most chocolatiers purchase their chocolate from them, to melt, mold and package to their own design.[54] According to the WCF's 2012 report, the Ivory Coast is the largest producer of cocoa in the world.[55] The two main jobs associated with creating chocolate candy are chocolate makers and chocolatiers. Chocolate makers use harvested cocoa beans and other ingredients to produce couverture chocolate (covering). Chocolatiers use the finished couverture to make chocolate candies (bars, truffles, etc.).[56]
Production costs can be decreased by reducing cocoa solids content or by substituting cocoa butter with another fat. Cocoa growers object to allowing the resulting food to be called "chocolate", due to the risk of lower demand for their crops.[53]
Genome[edit]
The sequencing in 2010 of the genome of the cacao tree may allow yields to be improved.[57] Due to concerns about global warming effects on lowland climate in the narrow band of latitudes where cocoa is grown (20 degrees north and south of the equator), the commercial company Mars, Incorporated and the University of California, Berkeley, are conducting genomic research in 2017–18 to improve the survivability of cacao plants in hot climates.[58]
Cacao varieties[edit]
