Chocolate is a delicious treatliked by most people, and it has a history almost as rich as its velvety-smooth taste. Around 4,000 years ago, the Olmec people of ancient Mesoamerica were the first to make chocolate from the cacaoplant. Their chocolate was in liquid form, and they drank it during rituals. Later on, the Mayans mixed in chiliesand called it “xocolatl,” which meant “bitter water.” The 15th-century Aztecs used cacao beans as currency. In 1528, the famous explorer Hernán Cortés brought chocolate to Spain. There, people added sugar, honey, and later on, milk in order to reduce its bitter taste.
Today, there are three kinds of chocolate that most people are familiar with—dark, milk, and white chocolate. They all start with the cacao podsproduced by the evergreencacao trees, with the specific differences attributed to the ingredients added and the way the cacao beans are processed.
Dark chocolate, in its purest form, should only contain cacao beans, cocoabutter, and occasionally sugar. It should have a cacao percentage of between 60% and 100%. It is rich in antioxidants, is good for your heart, and is said to improve one’s mood. Milk chocolate starts out much the same way as dark chocolate, but with added sugar and milk powder. Milk chocolate bars in the United States must contain 10% cocoa. In the European Union (EU), the number is doubled. White chocolate foregoes the cacao beans and is only made up of cocoa butter, milk powder, and sugar. White chocolate bars in both the US and EU must contain at least 20% cocoa butter and no more than 55% sugar.
