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SAVORING CHOCOLATE
Infinitely indulgent and deeply satisfying, chocolate is a necessity that tantalizes our taste buds and awakens our senses. For chocolate lovers just the thought, the word, evokes images and sensations of the texture and warmth of chocolate in all its forms. Chocolate is a natural product made from the bean of the cacao tree. ... When the nibs are crushed, they yield two main substances: cocoa butter and chocolate liquor. ... The chocolate liquor is what we know as unsweetened chocolate. If chocolate liquor is pulverized, it becomes unsweetened cocoa powder, which may be “dutched” for a milder taste and darker color. For all dark sweet chocolate, chocolate liquor is blended with cocoa butter, sugar, lecithin and vanilla. For milk chocolate, dried milk solids are added to the mix as well. White chocolate is not true chocolate because it contains no chocolate liquor and, likewise, very little chocolate flavor. White chocolate is usually a mixture of sugar, cocoa butter, milk solids, lecithin and vanilla. Chocolate wasn’t always enjoyed the way we enjoy chocolate today. ... The history of chocolate spans from 200 BC to the present, encompassing many nations and peoples of our world. ... The frothy, murky, sinister-looking chocolate drink was cold, fiercely bitter, and exotically flavored with chili, flowers, or allspice. ... The chocolate drink was transformed from the Aztec’s bitter spicy concoction, to a sweeter, hot drink by blending it with sugar, vanilla and water. ...
By the mid- 1600’s, chocolate was known as a beverage in Britain. Interestingly, the appearance of chocolate coincided with the arrival of coffee from the Middle East and tea from China. Chocolate remained expensive long after the other two beverages were affordable to the middle classes, but it was one of the offerings commonly found in British coffeehouses.
Approximate Word count = 1405
Approximate Pages = 5.6
(250 words per page double spaced)
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