The Many Faces of Chocolate

It’s the guilty pleasure for nearly every sweet tooth in the world. In countless forms and flavors, chocolate’s richness and complexity is what makes it so ceaselessly appealing. The specialty food industry is continually cooking up new and innovative ways to appreciate and enjoy chocolate that it can be tough to keep up. To help you on your path to becoming a distinguished chocolate connoisseur, here are 14 facts about the world’s favorite dessert.  

1. Chocolate was first used to make alcoholic beverages.

The earliest documented use of chocolate was around 1100 BC. In 2007, archaeologists were able to extract residues from pottery excavated in Puerto Escondido, Honduras where they found remnants of cacao. It seems that long before using cacao beans, the sweet pulp of the chocolate fruit was fermented and used to make alcoholic beverages. Good thinking.

2. Chocolate grows
on trees.

Chocolate comes from the seed of the Theobroma cacao tree. Theobroma is Greek for "food of the gods." A cacao tree can produce close to two thousand pods per year.
 

3. The Aztecs coined the word chocolate.

It comes from the Aztec word xocolatl, which means "bitter water.” Chocolate was first served as a hot or cold frothy beverage, long before it became the ubiquitous break-apart bars we know and love today.

4. Cacao beans were used as currency.

Who says money doesn’t grow on trees? Dating back to Mayan civilization, cacao beans were so precious they were used as currency—and continued to be used as such in parts of Latin America until the 19^th century. Because of their monetary value, usually only the wealthy were lucky enough to use beans to make and enjoy drinking chocolate. In fact, emperors were buried with jars of chocolate at their side. 

5. Christopher Columbus was the first to
bring cacao beans to Europe.

Christopher Columbus brought back cacao beans from his 1502 voyage, after he robbed the cargo of a native Mayan trader. Funny enough, Columbus had thought the beans were a type of almond:

 "They seemed to hold these almonds at a great price; for when they were brought on board ship together with their goods, I observed that when any of these almonds fell, they all stooped to pick it up, as if an eye had fallen"  

6. Conquistador Hernan Cortes hated the taste of chocolate.

Just before Cortez conquered the Aztecs, he and his army tried chocolate for the first time and hated it, finding it bitter and undrinkable.  However, as the Spanish continued to conquer other lands, they took over the Caribbean islands, where sugar abounded. When sugar met chocolate, it was love at first sip. 
  
 

7. The first solid chocolate was made by the English.

Image Source:  Salcombe Chocolate Academy

 In 1657, the world’s first chocolate house opened in London. In the 1850s, Englishman Joseph Fry decided to change the traditional Mesoamerican recipe and add more cocoa butter, rather than hot water to cocoa powder and sugar. From there, the world's first solid chocolate was born.

Image Source: My Recipes

8. German Chocolate Cake: Is it Really German?

Contrary to popular belief, German chocolate cake did not originate in Germany. Its roots can be traced back to 1852 when an American by the name Sam German developed a brand of dark baking chocolate, now known under the brand Baker's Chocolate Company. The product, Baker's German's Sweet Chocolate, was named in honor of him.

9. Dark Chocolate can be stored for 10 years.

Dark chocolate stored under perfect conditions—at a constant temperature of 65 degrees F and 50% humidity—will last for 10 years. Also keep it wrapped in foil and then in sealed plastic.

10. Chocolate is like a passionate kiss.

Studies have shown that letting chocolate melt in your mouth produces brain and heart rate activity similar to, or in some cases seven times stronger than, that produced with passionate kissing.
 

11. Chocolate is not a proven aphrodisiac. 

While several components in chocolate have been linked to having potential aphrodisiac effects, they get broken down so much that you would need to eat copious amounts of chocolate to feel any effect. By that time, you would probably be sick. Bottom line: the evidence for chocolate acting as an aphrodisiac is basically nonexistent.
 

12. Dark chocolate has many health benefits.

The USDA measures antioxidants on a scale called The ORAC Scale (Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity). According to that scale, cold-processed dark chocolate has tested as one of the highest in antioxidant compounds, including polyphenols, flavonoids, anthocyanins and catechins. Incredibly, antioxidants from one piece of pure dark chocolate is the equivalent to that of one pound of broccoli.

Dark chocolate has also been said to reduce the possibility of a heart attack when consumed regularly in small amounts.
 

13. Chocolate does not cause tooth decay.

Although chocolate contains fermentable carbohydrates (which are what can cause tooth decay), a number of dental research studies are suggesting that chocolate is less likely to promote tooth decay than previously believed.

In fact, some ingredients found in chocolate products may actually slow down the tooth-decaying process. For example, milk chocolate's protein, calcium and phosphate content may provide protective effects on tooth enamel.
 

14. The most expensive chocolate in the world is…

La Madeline au Truffe, made by Fritz Knipschildt of Knipschildt Chocolatier in Connecticut, was recognized by Forbes Magazine as the most expensive chocolate in the world. The luscious truffle chocolate is worth $250—or $2,600 per pound.

The rare French Perigord truffle is surrounded by rich decadent ganache then enrobed in Valrhona dark chocolate. As the finishing touch, this extravagant chocolate is rolled in fine cocoa powder. A guilty pleasure, indeed.