Chocolate

The Divine Food

A tropical evergreen tree from the upper Amazon was known and used by Mayan Indians and cultivated for over 3000 years.  Its beans were used as currency and as a form of tribute and regrettably, also used later to buy slaves.  It is these beans of the tree Theobroma cacao that were so highly valued in those days and which in our times are used to make our commercial chocolate. 

There is no similarity however, between our chocolate and the substance which was concocted by the Mayans and Aztecs, when it was used in a sacred drink comprising peppers, honey, vanilla, annatto juice and musk.  Aztecs from tropical America and Mexico called it 'chocolatl'.  

There are about 20 varieties of this T. cacao species and they were all considered as utility plants by the native people, according to old records of a preacher and natural historian in 1720, who described their purposes as providing food and drink, milk, oil, honey, thread, spoons, baskets, paper, thatching and medicines.  

It was Columbus in 1502 on his 4th voyage who first saw cacao beans and it was Cortes who took samples to Spain in 1527, where the traditional ingredients of the Americas were replaced using vanilla, sugar and cream.  Spain held the secret of chocolate making for over 100 years before it became popular all over Europe.  Cortes fostered the cacao plantations in the Caribbean, West African islands and in Trinidad, developing a Spanish monopoly over the cacao trade which endured for nearly a century. 

By 1675 London had over 250 coffee houses selling chocolate and alcohol as well as coffee and its popularity was assured in England.   

The famous botanist Linnaeus in 1727 classified the cacao tree or the Chocolate Nut Tree as it was commonly known, in the genus Theobroma which means "divine food". 

It was the Dutch who invented the candy chocolate in about 1830.  The English firm Fry and Sons produced the first dark chocolate bar on the market in 1847.  It was made from cocoa butter, chocolate liquor and sugar.  

The Chocolate Tree

The tree is a broad leaved evergreen growing to 9m in the tropical Amazon Basin area.  It has pale brown bark, glossy oval leaves 30 cm in length, which when young are a pale pinkish colour, turning dark green and leathery as they age.  The tree starts bearing at 2-6 years and continues to yield for 40 years.  Clusters of small white, yellow to pink tinted flowers grow directly on the trunk and lower branches of the tree throughout the year.  Approximately 6000 flowers form on a mature tree, each developing into 20-40 pod fruits which are like pointed gherkins with furrows and warts.  Inside are about 30 cocoa beans, each surrounded by sweet, white sticky mucilage. 

It is only the nib, or part of the bean which is edible, but only after further treatment to remove bitterness.  This is done through a fermentation process which takes up to 10 days.  The beans are later sun dried and finally roasted and placed in large vats to develop flavour.  Eventually a rich reddish brown liquid is extracted which contains about 50% of cocoa fat or cocoa butter.  

It is at this stage that cocoa and chocolate undergo their separate manufacturing processes with sugar and vanilla being added to complete the very complex process of chocolate making. 

Cultivation of the Chocolate Tree

Introduced into West Africa as a crop the trees did very well and most of our cocoa is imported from there and now one third of the world's cocoa production is along Guinea coast, Cameroon, Nigeria, Ivory Coast and the Gold Coast.  U.S. and Europe each import half of the world production with England, Switzerland and Holland taking most of the European imports.  Switzerland has the highest consumption per capita at 10 kg annually! 

In South America, Brazil, Ecuador and Venezuela have extensive cocoa culture and similar tropical regions of the world will no doubt follow.  

Food Value

Chocolate contains theobromine and caffeine and phenyl ethylamine which acts upon the neurotransmitters of the brain helping stimulate sensations of euphoria and sensory satisfaction.   Its other constituents are proteins, cocoa butter, carbohydrates, tannins, oxalic acid, phosphorus, potassium and iron and small quantities of vitamins A and B.  

Although chocolate is acknowledged as a rich food source, it is avoided by those who do not wish for, or who cannot tolerate, its sugar content.  However, chocolate manufacturers are so accommodating that there are special chocolates made for different palates and health requirements.  They are packaged for convenience and for visual attraction to offer the supreme powerful enticement that chocolate presents.   In the midst of all the temptations, most of us succumb to an enjoyment of a taste sensation which can hardly be expected to be equalled.  Amongst the limitless variety of choices available, we are free to select chocolate ginger, sultanas, nuts, jellies, soft centred chocolates, toffee centred, chocolate coated violets, fruits, liquorice, caramels, shell-shaped chocolate, egg shaped chocolate and in addition all these are offered as milk chocolate, dark chocolate or white chocolate mix! 

We can convince ourselves that there is food value in this best of all possible confectionary worlds, but really it is best to just admit it is for pure pleasure that we consume chocolate.  We are informed that it is generally quantity that is the problem and we should not have too much in our diet.  So we must apply discipline to eat it in small quantities in which case perhaps more often? 

Who would not want to yield to the delicious temptation to consume the divine food?