The first cocoa beans arrived in Europe in 1502. Christopher Columbus brought them back from the New World. More than 2000 years ago, however, the populations of South America used cocoa beans in magical rituals, which they considered sacred. Theobroma cacao, the Latin name of the cocoa tree, means "food of the gods". However, this gift of the gods did not receive too much attention when meeting the Europeans, because no one knew what the unusual grains were used for.
Casanova's secret
In 1519, the conquistador Hernando Cortez discovered that Montezuma, the leader of the Aztecs, used to drink a drink made from cacao seeds, called "chocolatl" or "xocoatl". And he even drinks fifty cups a day. Although bitter to the taste, Cortez introduced cacao concoction to Europeans as an exotic and miraculous liquor. The addition of sugar changed the fate of the cocoa beans. Who spread the news about their virtues is unknown, but it is known that, in just 100 years, the love for chocolate swept Europe, and all the royal courts of the Old Continent valued cocoa. Only the world's rich could afford this drink, which they considered nutritious, healing, and also aphrodisiac. Legends of the time suggested that Casanova himself owed his fame as a great conqueror to chocolate.
The first chocolate shop opened in 1657
In France, chocolate was raised to the status of a symbol, reserved by royal decree only for members of the aristocracy. The English were more pragmatic about chocolate and anyone with money could buy it. In 1657, the first chocolate shop opened in London. Like coffee shops, these places were frequented by high society. Chocolate remained a privilege of the wealthy until the Industrial Revolution, when new technologies were created that made chocolate accessible to the general public.
The first chocolate bar was manufactured in 1847
In 1828, Conrad J. van Houten patented a discovery crucial to the history of chocolate. He invented the method by which the cocoa butter could be separated from the powder. In this way, both drinks and chocolate cakes were much easier to prepare. The first chocolate bar was made by Joseph Fry in 1847, when he discovered that if he mixed cocoa butter with powder, he could get an easily moldable paste. In 1868, Cadbury, a small factory in England, produced the first chocolate box. However, the first milk chocolate was invented by the Swiss Daniel Peter, in collaboration with Henri Nestle, in 1857.
The fineness of today's chocolate is due to the Swiss Rudolph Lindt who, in 1879, invented a special machine that homogenized the chocolate to the point where it became fine and melted in the mouth.
• The first Romanian chocolate factory was established in 1930 and exported candies and cakes. To'ak chocolate is the most expensive in the world. A bar of 50 grams is delivered packed in an elm wood box, which also contains a wooden tong, specially created for tasting the chocolate, and a 116-page booklet in which you can find all the details related to the origin of cocoa beans. It costs 260 dollars and is considered a luxury.
• The largest chocolate in the world is 14 meters long and 10 meters wide and was created by the company "Cokoladnica cukrcek" from Ljubljana, the record being recognized in the new international edition of the Guinness Book of Records. The gigantic chocolate was prepared from 28.000 small chocolates, was "assembled", measured and mostly eaten at the Chocolate and Sweets Festival in Radovljica, Slovenia in December 2016. So far, it is officially the largest chocolate produced ever in the world.
• The best chocolate in the world comes from Tuscany and means the passion and effort of three generations of women from the Tessieri family. Master chocolatier Cecilia Tessier, her mother, who created the packaging design, and her grandmother, who was the inspiration, are the ones who created Ameda's six-time Golden Bean Chocolate Academy Award winner. The cocoa beans arrive directly from the plantations in Venezuela and Ecuador. Each bean is roasted separately, at temperatures between 80 degrees Celsius and 137 degrees Celsius and, depending on the type of bean, between 10 and 40 minutes. The chocolate flakes are then crushed, forming a fine paste, mixed with only three ingredients: refined sugar, vanilla and cocoa butter. The entire composition is pressed for 72 hours, a time 10 times longer than that of other chocolatiers.
• The biggest chocolate festival in Europe is hosted by the Italian city of Perugia. This year, the event, which attracts over 900 thousand visitors every year, takes place between October 13 and 22.
Article made by Redaccia Arta Albă.
