A presentation by Charlotte
What is chocolate? Where does it come from? Chocolate today
Raw ingredients: – Cocoa beans from Central/ South America and Africa – Fermentation process Cocoa bean processing: – Screening and cleaning – Storing until needed – roasting
The Aztec Emperor Montezuma is said to have drank 50 cups of chocolate each day! Apparently the Victorians couldn’t pronounce cacao so it was renamed cocoa! The world’s largest chocolate bar weighed 5,792 kgs ! Eating dark chocolate every day reduces the risk of heart disease by one third.
Cocoa grew wild in Central America The Mayan and Aztecs would crush the bean and mix it with water to create a drink.
Aztecs served some to Hernando Cortez, a Spanish explorer in years later he brought some back to Spain and served it with sugar and it became very popular. About 30 years before Christopher Columbus had already introduced chocolate, from the Caribbean, to the Spanish King but it was too bitter.
Chocolate was quickly introduced to the French Royal family. It became the most important medicines for doctors, mainly in France and Italy. The first English chocolate house opened in London in 1657
The first English chocolate factory was opened by Joseph Fry & Sons in 1759 They still make chocolate today! Milk chocolate was created in 1875 when a Swiss man changed the original recipe by adding condensed milk made by Henri Nestle.