Sage Fisher

3/4/2016
Chocolate
Chocolate Has been around for thousands of years. Consumption Of chocolate is a
relatively new thing. Chocolates popularity grew very quickly, and the chocolate business
generates millions of dollars each year. My curiosity about the history, the process, and how easy
it would be to make on my own began when my friend Evelyn made chocolate on her own. It
began with Evelyn, Josh, and I going over to Evelyn's house so she could show us how it's made.
I Later looked up the history and process on my own. A lot of the websites and recipes just
suggested I start with cocoa powder, but we did it with cacao nibs. Most recipes were similar
fudge rather than chocolate.
Chocolate has been a big economic help in the countries that produce cacao. The
chocolate we made used fair trade cacao nibs so the families that worked hard to farm them get
the money. Cacao trees are very difficult to grow, and can only survive within about 20 degrees
from the equator. It takes four to five years of maturing before the trees will even begin to
produce pods. Once the pods are ripe, they are harvested and opened by hand. Each pod holds
roughly fifty to sixty seeds. The seed get much of their flavor that we associate with chocolate
from the process of fermenting in the pulp, and then being dried as much as possible. The beans
are then shipped out.(The Story of Chocolate.) From there the beans are roasted, and pressed the
roasting adds the flavor , and makes the nibs (the inner part of the seed) loose, while the pressing
breaks up the nibs and extracts the cocoa butter. The cocoa powder is milled and ground until it
liquefies, and now needs to be conched. Conching is the name given to the process of adding
the powder and butter back together, and grinding it up even finer. They also add the sugar,

powdered milk, and flavoring at this time along with the extra cocoa butter if the recipe calls of
it. Factories use large ceramic turnstiles to do this, and can take anywhere from an hour to days,
depending of the quality of the chocolate.This how chocolate is so smooth. (Chocolate
Alchemy.)The last step is to temper the chocolate, this is done by pouring the chocolate on a big
stone slab and the is moved and folded to stop it from crystallizing this method is called tabling.
This can also be done by seeding the chocolate, seeding is where you add an already tabled piece
of chocolate to the mix and the chocolate will maintain the proper structure.

The history of chocolate begins around four thousand years ago, though it is nothing like
what we eat to this day. Rather than a sweet solid, it was more of a spicy, frothy beverage.
(History.com) Based upon newfound archaeological knowledge, the first chocolate was made in
1900 BCE by ancient pre-Olmec people. (Klien.) The pre-Olmec people were of the civilization
before the Mayans and Aztecs in Central and South America. Though used to think it originated
from the Mayans and Aztecs, That does not seem to be the case. The pods were used even earlier,
though for a different purpose: Last November, anthropologists from the University of
Pennsylvania announced the discovery of cacao residue on pottery excavated in Honduras that
could date back as far as 1400 B.C.E. It appears that the sweet pulp of the cacao fruit, which
surrounds the beans, was fermented into an alcoholic beverage of the time. (Smithsonian.) The
cacao beans were possibly even used as currency. You may think its been forever since
chocolate could actually be used as money, but chocolate was used to pay soldiers during the
Revolutionary War as well.
When the Spanish conquistadors invaded Central and South America they found
chocolate. The natives served it to the Spaniards, but the taste wasnt to their liking until they
mixed it with honey or sugar. It became very popular in Spain and was in high demand. The

Spanish shipped in thousands of slaves to work the cocoa plantations. The beverage that was
made is closer to todays hot chocolate, and was created for the rich, and it was believed to have
medicinal properties. It does have some health benefits, and endorphin enhancers. Dark
chocolate in small amounts can be really good for cardiac health. Cacao beans have large amount
of flavonoids, which help build cell pathways and provide antioxidant effects, as well as trace
minerals that can be hard to obtain otherwise. Chocolate continued to be a treat reserved for the
wealthy until the Industrial Revolution, when processes emerged to make the production cheaper
and faster.
Dutch process chocolate was the first chocolate to resemble what we think of as
chocolate. Dutch process chocolate is still made today, and is famous for its dark color and mild
taste. Coenraad van Houten is credited for the creation of the cacao press and the treatment of
the beans, and thus the next step of progress in chocolates production. First, the beans are
treated with alkaline salts to make them less bitter and more water soluble. The cacao press
machine takes a cacao nib, or the center of the cacao bean, and presses a lot of the fats out of it.
The fat of the nib is what is now referred to as cocoa butter. Once the fats have been smooshed
out, a dry cake is left behind, or cocoa powder. It was then mixed with milk and sugar to create
Dutch process chocolate(Evelyn Hunt 5 ) Dutch process chocolate is very similar to modern
chocolate. Without the invention of the cacao press, its possible that modern chocolate wouldnt
exist .Joseph Fry later created the modern chocolate bar by taking the cocoa butter and adding it
back into the Dutch chocolate. The cocoa butter makes the chocolate softer, adds more flavor,
and gives it a better texture,Creating the basis of what we eat today. Chocolate has evolved from
the bitter bean to Chocolate bars over time. It is now a multimillion dollar business, with several

billion pounds being consumed each year. An average American consumes roughly twelve
pounds of chocolate a year, while the Swiss eat nearly double that.(Evelyn Hunt 6 )
When we made the chocolate we used a small coffee grinder to grind the stuff together.
This was tedious because of how little the coffee grinder could make at a time. We then took a
heated up mortar and pestle and poured the chocolate we made into it, and ground it up using the
mortar and pestle. We spent nowhere near the amount of time grinding that chocolate factories do
but it didn't turn out too gritty. We decided to make a chocolate that we were proud of and would
be fine with giving to others, so we decided to make truffles. This time we used pre made
chocolate because ours never turned out the best. Truffles take melted chocolate, whipping
cream, and flavoring. From there it's mixing and then getting the right temperatures. You roll
them and dip them and decorate them. This is what we will use to present with. In conclusion i
have way more respect for chocolate, it's history, and how it's made.