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Chocolate….
by Jerson Fernandes.
Accor management training programme(2007-08)-Culinary
Chocolate most commonly comes in dark, milk, and white varieties, with cocoa solidscontributing to the brown coloration.
Chocolate
( pronounced /tklət/
ˈ ʃɒ
 
(help·info
 
)
) comprises a number of raw and processedfoods that are produced from the seed of the tropical cacaotree. Native to lowland, tropicalSouth America,cacao has been cultivated for three millennia inCentral America andMexico,with its earliest documented use around 1100 BC. The majority of the Mesoamerican peoples made chocolate beverages, including theMaya and Aztecs, who made it into a beverage known as
 xocolātl 
, a Nahuatlword meaning"bitter water". The seeds of the cacao tree have an intense bitter taste, and must befermentedto develop the flavor.After fermentation, the beans are dried, cleaned, and roasted, and the shell is removedto producecacao nibs.The nibs are then ground and liquified, resulting in pure chocolate in fluid form:chocolate liquor .The liquor can be further processed into two components:cocoa solids andcocoa butter . Pure, unsweetened chocolate contains primarily cocoa solids and cocoa butter invarying proportions. Much of the chocolate consumed today is in the form of sweetchocolate, combining chocolate with sugar . Milk chocolateis sweet chocolate that additionally contains milk powder or condensed milk. "White chocolate" containscocoa butter, sugar, and milk but no cocoa solids (and thus does not qualify to beconsidered true chocolate).Chocolate has become one of the most popular flavours in the world. Gifts of chocolate molded into different shapes have become traditional on certain holidays:chocolate bunnies and eggsare popular onEaster , coins onHanukkah, Santa Claus and other holiday symbols onChristmas, and hearts onValentine's Day. Chocolate is also used in cold and hot beverages, to producechocolate milk and hot cocoa.Chocolate containsalkaloidssuch astheobromineand phenethylaminewhich have  physiological effects on the body. It has been linked to serotonin levels in the brain. Scientists claim that chocolate, eaten in moderation, can lower blood pressure.
[1]
 Dark 
 
chocolate has recently been promoted for its health benefits, including a substantialamount of antioxidants that reduce the formation of free radicals, though the presenceof theobromine renders it toxic to some animals.
History
 A mug of hot chocolate. Chocolate was first drunk rather than eaten.
Main article: History of chocolate
The word "chocolate" comes from theAztecsof Mexico, and is derived from the  Nahuatlword
 xocolatl 
( pronounced[okolat]
 ʃ ˈ ː ɬ
)
[2]
, which is a combination of thewords,
 xocolli
, meaning "bitter", and
atl 
, which is "water". The Aztecs associatedchocolate withXochiquetzal,the goddess of fertility. Chocolate is also associated with the Mayan god of fertility. Mexican  philologist Ignacio Davila Garibi, proposed that "Spaniards had coined the word by taking the Maya word
chocol 
and thenreplacing the Maya term for water,
haa
, with the Aztec one,
atl 
."
[3]
However, it ismore likely that the Aztecs themselves coined the term,
[4]
having long adopted into Nahuatl the Mayan word for the "cacao" bean; the Spanish had little contact with theMayans beforeCortés's early reports to the Spanish King of the beverage known as
 xocolatl 
.
[5]
William Bright (personal communication cited in a 1977 article by LyleCampbell
[6]
) noted that the word
 xocoatl 
does not occur in earlySpanishor Nahuatlcolonial sources.Chocolate has been used as a drink for nearly all of its history. The earliest record of using chocolate pre-dates the Maya. In November, 2007, archeologists reportedfinding evidence of the oldest known cultivation and use of cacao at a site inPuertoEscondido, Honduras,dating from about 1100 to 1400 BC.
[7]
 The residues found andthe kind of vessel they were found in, indicate that the initial use of cacao was notsimply as a beverage, but the white pulp around the cacao beans was likely used as asource of fermentable sugars for an alcoholic drink. The chocolate residue found in anearly classicancient Mayapot in Río Azul, northernGuatemala, suggests that Mayans were drinking chocolate around 400 A.D.. In the  New World, chocolate was consumed in a bitter, spicy drink called
 xocoatl 
, and was often flavored withvanilla,chile pepper , andachiote(known today asannatto). Xocoatl was believed to fight fatigue, a belief that is probably attributable to thetheobrominecontent. Other chocolate drinks combined it with such edibles asmaizestarch paste (which acts as anemulsifier and thickener), various fruits, and honey.
[
citation needed 
 
]
In 1689 noted physicianand collector Hans Sloane, developed a milk chocolate drink inJamaicawhich was initially used byapothecaries,but later sold by the Cadburybrothers.
[8]
Chocolate was also an important luxury good throughout  pre-ColumbianMesoamerica, and cacao beans were often used as currency.
[9]
For example, the Aztecs
 
used a system in which oneturkey cost one hundred cacao beans and one fresh avocadowas worth three beans.
[10]
South American and European cultures have used cocoa to treat diarrhea for hundredsof years.
[11]
Production
 Chocolate is created from the cocoa bean. A cacao tree with fruit pods in variousstages of ripeningRoughly two-thirds of the entire world's cocoa is produced in Western Africa, with43% sourced fromCôte d'Ivoire.
[12]
According to the World Cocoa Foundation[WCF], some 50 million people around the world depend on cocoa as a source of livelihood.
[1]
The industry is dominated by three chocolate makers,Barry Callebaut,Cargilland Archer Daniels Midland Company(ADM) and in theUK , 99.999% of  chocolatiers, whether they be large companies such asCadbury Schweppesor smallindependents, purchase their chocolate from them, to melt, mould and package totheir own design.
[13]
Despite some disagreement in theEUabout the definition, chocolate is any productmade primarily of cocoa solidsandcocoa fat. The different flavours of chocolate can  be obtained by varying the time and temperature when roasting the beans, byadjusting the relative quantities of the cocoa solids and cocoa fat, and by adding non-chocolate ingredients.Production costs can be decreased by reducing cocoa solid content or by substitutingcocoa butter with a non-cocoa fat. Cocoa growers oppose allowing the resulting foodto be called "chocolate", because that would lower demand for their crops.
[1]
There are two main jobs associated with creating chocolate candy,
chocolate makers
and
chocolatiers
. Chocolate makers use harvestedcacao beansand other ingredientsto producecouverture chocolate.Chocolatiers use the finished couverture to make chocolate candies (bars, truffles, baked goods, etc.).
[14]
Cacao varieties
Cacao trees are small, understory trees that need rich, well-drained soils. Theynaturally grow within 20 degrees of either side of the equator because they need about2000 milimeters of rainfall a year, and temperatures in the range of 21 to 32 degreesCelsius, and cannot tolerate a temperature lower than 15 degrees Celsius (59 degreesFahrenheit).
[17]
The three main varieties of cacaobeans used in chocolate arecriollo,forasteroand trinitario.
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