Chocolate or Cacao

Pods in various stages of 
ripening from the cocoa
or cocoe bean tree.

      Chocolate, either as candy or a drink, is familiar to almost every person throughout the world. Chocolate is not a new substance. It is as old as the ancient Incas and Aztecs of South America and Mexico.

       Mention of chocolate or the cacao tree from which it came was made frequently in the old stories about Cortez and his conquest of Mexico. Montezuma, who was ruler of Mexico at that time, was especially fond of chocolate to drink. It was said that he took no other beverage than chocolate, which was made from ground cacao beans flavored with vanilla, honey, and spices and beaten until it was covered with foam. Fifty golden pitchers of chocolate were served to Montezuma every day; two thousand more jars of it were prepared for his household each day. Montezuma drank the chocolate from golden goblets aided by spoons of gold or finely carved tortoise shell and each golden cup, after being drained, was tossed into a lake that was close by.

       Ever since those early days cacao has been very important in Mexico and South America. The beans have been used for money; they were the usual small change in Mexican markets and were used in some places until 1850. In the last few centuries the importance of cacao has spread until now great plantations exist in Africa, Trinidad, and other tropical countries.

       When cacao trees are three or four years old they begin to flower. The very small flowers, yellow or pink, are delicate, star-shaped, and not fragrant. They grow in clusters from small cushions on the trunks and larger branches of the trees. It takes about four months for the blossoms to develop into fruits. As the trees bloom continuously, blossoms and fruits are found on the trees all. through the year. If proper care is taken, a cacao tree will produce fruit for fifty or more years.

       The fruits ripen into fairly large, brown, oval-shaped pods. These cacao pods are filled with twenty to forty cocao beans imbedded in soft, white pulp. The pods are split open and the beans are removed and piled up to ferment. Then they are dried, cleaned, and shipped to the manufacturers of chocolate products. There the outer shells are removed and the kernels taken out and roasted. Roasting takes away some of the bitter taste. The kernels are then put through grinding machines. They come out in the form of a dark brown paste that is molded into the cakes we call bitter chocolate. To produce the powdery cocoa, the kernels are ground up and put through a pressure machine that squeezes out about half of the fat or cacao butter.

       The familiar candy bars usually contain only about forty-five per cent of chocolate while the remainder is sugar, milk, and flavoring material. The great botanist, Linnaeus, was fond of chocolate, and perhaps because of this he gave the cacao tree the dignified and fitting name of Theobroma, which means "food of the gods." Miriam Wood

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A quick history of Chocolate by Deanna Pucciarelli.