World Chocolate Day

Do you know World Chocolate Day? It happenson July7th of each year. To celebrate, read the history of chocolate and the interesting journey from cocoa beans to chocolate bars.

A brief history of chocolate was first used as a beveragein Central America more than 3,500 years ago. It is very popular among the Mayans and Aztecs, who mixed cocoa beans with vanilla or chili. In fact, cocoa beans are so important to them that they are used as money. Cocoa was first grown in Ecuador, which has long been the world’sleading producer of cocoa beans. It is still one of the ten soybean producers, but today more than 70% of cocoa beans come from West Africa.

Cocoa Beans Cocoa Beans come from the cacao tree. These trees grow in tropical forests all over the world, from South America to Indonesia. The beans grow in colorful red, yellow, and purple pods. Inside the pod are beans. Each tree producesabout 50 pods per year and each pod can contain 20 to 60 beans. It takes about 100 beans to make 100 grams of chocolate. Pick the pods by hand to protect the trees. Prepare the beans After removing the pods from the tree, split them and remove the beans. Beansmust go through many different processes before they are ready to become chocolate. First, the beans and pulp are placed in special boxes, where they are slowlyfermented for up to five days. Here, the beans turn brown and begin to develop their special flavor. They were then exposed to the sun to dry for about 14 days. After that, roast them for about 15 minutes to prepare them for the final stage, at which point the beans are removedfrom the shell. At the end of this process, we obtained cocoa beans,thepurest chocolate and the basic ingredient of all chocolate products. From cocoa beans to chocolate syrup The first step is to grind the cocoa beanswitha machine or between two large stones. This produces cocoa liquor, a semi-solid paste. It is then cooked and mixed continuously for hours or even days until just right. This is also the stage where other ingredients are added: sugar, milk, various flavors. Interestingly, chocolate melts at 34ºC. This is just below body temperature, which explains why it is so sticky and messy, and why it melts as soon as itis put in the mouth. From liquid to solid At this point, the cocoa bean is ready for the last legof the journey. In orderto turn the cocoa liquor into solid chocolate, it must be heated, cooled and heated again until a solid mass is formed.In this way, in the end, the journey from bean to bar is over.Nowthat you know how to make chocolate, you might want to celebrate this day by eating one of your favorite chocolate snacks!