Chocolate lovers: all about chocolate

If you're like many people, chocolate is not a luxury, but a necessity. Often considered the fifth food group, Brown has inspired one of the most knowledgeable and passionate love affairs of the people's food. While some amazing sense, charm with Brown since found more than 2000 years ago we benefit too. Brown is considered an aphrodisiac, cure the Blues, and a natural part of cardiovascular health (more recently), and even a form of currency. With a rich history and in particular health and social matters, we thought it only right to Recipe4Living's Guide to chocolate. Satisfy Your curiosity about Brown in the past, and how it is made, and how you can define, store, and prepare the chocolate in your home.

History of chocolate

The beginning of Maya

We've started a chocolate obsession many, many centuries ago by the Maya civilization in Mexico and Central America (250-900 ad). But Mayan chocolate, almost no resemblance to what we enjoy today. Most of the Mayan cocoa trees grow, the source of chocolate, in the backyard, and harvest the seeds, which are then fermented, roasted and ground. Along with water, spices, hot chili paste the Earth into pale unsweetened drinks as regularly as part of the virtual life.

Aztec Sacred drink

Adapt this bitter drink Aztec and even considered food for the gods. The word chocolate is derived from the Aztec word "axokwatl," meaning a bitter drink. While most Maya can enjoy drinks, reserved chocolate Kings, priests and other members of the high social classes in the Aztec culture. Chocolate is an essential part of Aztec society that cocoa beans have become a form of currency.

Travel to Europe

When Spain invaded, led by Hernando Cortez, Mexico in 1521, quickly took on importance of Brown for the Aztecs and started shipping from home. Spain added the cinnamon and sugar and other spices for importing is too expensive, and chocolate drinks secretly maintained only by nobility Spain almost 300 years. When the King of Spain began marrying other Europeans, Word spread quickly, and soon it's popular all over Europe, but only for the rich. Not until the 18th and 19th centuries, when sea trade expanded and mass-produced chocolate, most middle-class can afford chocolate. The end of the 18th century, chocolate House is as popular as coffee houses throughout the United Kingdom.

Make chocolate

Unlike many crops, cocoa tree centuries sensitive must be picked by hand, which makes the process of creating a chocolate affair. The fruit is opened one after the other, and extract the pulp coated seeds. To reduce the bitterness, the cocoa beans are fermented for a few days (like wine), and then dried. At this point, the farmers sell sacks of cocoa beans for corporate buyers, where industrial machinery. At the factory, roast the seeds from a large machine to release the flavor and smell. Cracked roast the seeds of open to access the tip of the pen or the liver, which then milled in the chocolate syrup (Liquor). This thick liquid, made from cocoa butter and cocoa solids, which are manipulated to make different kinds of chocolate.