Chocolate is a sweet brown food preparation of roasted and ground cacao
seeds that is made in the form of liquid, paste or in a block or used as a flavoring ingredient in other foods .The word ‘Chocolate’ is the Aztec word, ‘Xocolatl’, which means ‘Bitter Water’.Theobroma cacao is the scientific name of the tropical tree that bears the fruit whose name means the ‘food of he gods’.

The Brief history behind chocoloate

Before the 16th century chocolate existed in mesoamerica. The first
people to use chocolate were probably known as Olmec of what is today southeast Mexico. They lived in the area around 1000 BC where the cacao trees grew
wild. It is not yet known if the Olmecs actually used chocolate.However the Maya who inhabited the same general area a thousand years later did use chocolate. The Mayans used the cacao beans as currency. Even after
counterfeits were made by carving clay, the beans were still used as currency in parts of Latin America until the 19th century. The Mayans also used chocolate in religious rituals. They were also
used in marriage ceremonies and baptism. They even had a cacao god. But the Mayans prepared chocolate strictly for drinking. Only the rich
could afford this luxury. Emperors were often buried with jars of chocolate at their side.After the Aztecs overthrew the Mayas they kept the chocolate tradition
alive. The Aztecs dominated the region and continued using cacao as currency. Soon after the Spanish conquest of the Aztecs, chocolate was imported to Europe.

How did chocolate become so popular?

The Spanish initially did not like the bitter taste of chocolate but imported it back
to Europe. It was therefore initially used as medicine to cure abdominal pain . By the 1590s chocolate was mixed with honey, vanilla, and sugar, giving it a much
sweeter taste. Initially chocolate was considered sinful by some members of the church as some
drank it to divert themselves from a long service. This changed as the elite and
noblemen supported its consumption. However chocolate always remained a drink.
After the introduction of industrialization, entrepreneurs began experimenting
with different machinery to facilitate the process of separating cacao butter from
cacao seeds. Soon cacao powder was produced and chocolate now became more mass
produced. However it was still a product for the upper class.

Who first invented chocolate

The creation of the first modern chocolate was by Joseph Fry who
discovered in 1847 that he could make a mold able chocolate paste by
adding melted cacao butter into Dutch cacao.It was 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 – Nestle. By the 19th century chocolate became a mass produced.

Types of chocolates

Chocolate Liquor : Its referred to as unsweetened chocolate and is the
base of all types of chocolate. This thick dark brown paste is created from
cacao nibs, the inside of the cacao beans. Despite the name it doesn’t
contain alcohol.
● White chocolate : It is made by combining sugar, cacao butter, milk,
vanilla, and an emulsifier (lecithin).
● Milk chocolate : It is made by combining chocolate liquor, sugar and milk.
Sometimes emulsifiers are added for smoothness.
● Dark chocolate : It is referred to as black or semisweet and made of
chocolate liquor and sugar.
● Bittersweet chocolate : It is often referred to as extra dark chocolate.
● Ruby chocolate : This chocolate has a hot-pink hue as it derives colour
from a specific type of cacao. It gives a taste of fruitiness and sour taste.