Godiva Chocolate Gifts | Perfect Gifts 4 Them

Drinking hot chocolate is such an everyday occurrence for most of us that it is strange to think that hundreds of years BC people were also enjoying hot cocoa, perhaps not in the same form as we do, but never the less they were brewing a drink with cocoa beans.

Anthropologists have found shards of pottery at sites in Puerto Escondido in northern Honduras to have traces of theobromine – which is an alkaloid specific to cocoa, and caffeine on them. By making use of innovative extraction techniques they can find traces of the contents of ancient pottery. It is not necessary to find a whole vessel in order to see what it was used for, as tests can be conducted on the shards.

Traces of a substance also found, indicates that these ancients brewed a type of wine by fermenting the mucous, which surrounds the cocoa seeds in the pods.

An interesting fact is that vessels with narrow spouts were used for drinking, but the vessels found that had cocoa residue on them, where all short, wide jug-like vessels. This indicates that they brewed the cocoa beans in the vessels. This was a strong, bitter and frothy drink, which would account for the wide-mouthed vessel to accommodate the froth. These discoveries indicate that people were drinking cocoa hundreds of years before was originally thought.

The Mayas of Central America appear to have been the first people to use the cacao trees seeds to make a drink. There could have been people doing it before their time, which we still have to learn about. Archaeologists found this information from ancient Mayan paintings. The drink was used for medicinal purposes, as they felt it gave them strength and vitality. For this reason, it was only preserved for the nobility. Poor, common folk were not permitted to drink the fruit of the cacao tree.

The custom of making a drink of cocoa beans boiled in water, carried on for centuries. Generation after generation planted the cacao trees and made use of the seeds. Some groups flavored the drink with chilies and pepper, and later years vanilla, berries and honey were added to make a sweet drink as opposed to the previous bitter one. The sweetness of the honey probably brought out the flavor and aroma of the chocolate. This was then more a social drink than a medicinal one, as in former years.

In 1502 Christopher Columbus discovered the cacao beans on a ship, which he seized off the coast of Honduras. Years later in 1521 Cortez introduced the cacao beans to the Spanish Court. This drink immediately became a firm favorite, but sugar and spices were added to it and they drank it warm. For about 100 years they kept the cacao beans a secret from the rest of Europe.

When the secret eventually got out the news spread through Europe. Once again it became a drink for the wealthy, as these beans had to be imported from tropical regions at great cost. Chocolate only became affordable to the masses during the Industrial Revolution in the mid 1700’s.

Chocolate, as we all know is made from cocoa which is ground cacao beans from the cacao tree. The cacao trees only grow in forests in tropical regions where the soil is always damp and there is heavy shade all day.

It is strange to think that there are no famous brands of chocolates that come from the regions where the cacao tree is grown. The beans were taken to Europe many years ago and were experimented with until they began to add sugar to it and eventually chocolate as we know it evolved. This is why European chocolates are still considered the tastiest in the world.

There is something about chocolates from Belgium with delectable soft centers that no one can resist. The Swiss have always been renowned for their smooth and tasty chocolates and so have the British.

Chocolate recipes for any type of goodies are always popular. Remember that the quality of the chocolate you put into your baking will determine the taste. If you are baking something very special, buy a better brand chocolate and you will find that the end result is so much better.

Here are a few tips to melt chocolate correctly

It is always at the back of our minds that something that we really enjoy should be bad for us! This is not the case with dark chocolate, which many of us find delectable. There are many myths about chocolate that makes us wary of eating it too often. Fortunately many of them have been disproved.

Chocolate is made primarily from cocoa, which is a natural product full of nutrients. We tend to forget this fact, because we buy chocolate from the candy store we tend to think of all chocolate as candy. Some of us almost feel guilty when we indulge in a bar of chocolate.

Only the dark chocolates that contain a high percentage of cocoa can be considered beneficial to your health. This includes all the dark chocolates. Cocoa contains antioxidants that protect the cells of your body and help promote good health. The antioxidants in cocoa are very concentrated.

Antioxidants help reduce stress and reduce the risk of various diseases like heart disease and cancer. They can reduce blood pressure, enhance the blood flow through the heart and reduce cholesterol in some cases.

It is a fact that dark chocolate contains more antioxidants than does green tea and red wine, which are high on the list of foods containing the most antioxidants. It must be remembered that we are talking about dark chocolate, and not the milk and white varieties that do not contain cocoa, or very little of it.

Scientists are finding that heart health can be improved by eating dark chocolate. It helps relax the arteries and promotes better blood flow and reduces the strain on the heart. It is also thought to help stop the build-up of plague in the arteries.

Antioxidants protect your cells from damaging molecules called free radicals. Free radicals bring about changes in the structure of the healthy cells. This damage to the cells is thought to be the cause of many diseases. Antioxidants neutralize the free radicals.

Chocolate contains cocoa butter, which is a natural fat and has no effect on the level of the potentially harmful cholesterol in your blood. Milk chocolate on the other hand has additional fats added from the milk.

Dark chocolate does not have the same effect as candy does on the body, even though it is sweet. It has a low glycemic index, which means that it will not put the body on a

Chocolates have been said to be stimulants as they contain a small amount of caffeine and theobromine, because of this it is not a good idea to have chocolates too soon before bedtime. It could cause you to have a sleepless night.

Remember that dark chocolate is more of a stimulant than white chocolate. The negative side is that white chocolate has much more sugar than the darker varieties. Maybe it will just be better to indulge in the silky smooth taste of chocolate earlier in the evening and enjoy a good night

Chocolate is indeed something to be celebrated. By the amount of chocolate festivals held all over the world annually, makes one realize that chocolate is a global favorite!

There are chocolate festivals in almost every State of USA and many towns and cities participate. The programs seem to be much the same, with plenty of chocolate tasting and fun for the kids. Many of them have chocolate sculpting and chocolate cooking demonstrations, and talks on the history of chocolate. There is usually a show or concert in the evening with plenty of music.

There are festivals with a difference like the one that was held in Versoix, Switzerland, earlier this year. As this is the year of astronomy

Where did chocolate bars come from, when generations of people were drinking the chocolate in liquid form? Only after many centuries did the cocoa beans reach Europe. Obviously the beans were experimented with and was discovered that by adding sugar and various flavors of spices, fruit and nuts it became a delicious sweet substance.

It took a couple of nations to each add their expertise to the process of making chocolate bars. Each invention was obviously born from the desire to make more of the cocoa bean than just a drink. During the 1600’s Sir Hans Sloane added milk to the cocoa drink to make it lighter and give it a smoother taste. This caught on quickly and a better tasting cocoa drink was invented.

In 1657 the first Chocolate House of England was opened in London. These Chocolate Houses were later opened all over England and were run on the same grounds as coffee houses. People went there to relax, smoke a pipe and socialize over a cup of chocolate.

In later years a certain Frenchman invented a hydraulic machine to grind the cacao seeds into a paste. Then another Frenchman, named Dubuisson, invented a steam driven chocolate mill. Things were now becoming easier to refine the cocoa bean.

In 1828 a Dutchman by the name of Coenraad van Houten invented a press, which could squeeze the cocoa butter from the cocoa seeds. This was a great stride in chocolate making, as the chocolate could now be made much smoother, creamier and cheaper. This was the birth of solid chocolate and the chocolate bar. Now the cocoa paste and cocoa butter were separated and the cocoa butter could be added in much smaller amounts as desired.

Van Houten also found that by adding alkaline salts to the powdered chocolate it would make it darker in color, easier to mix with water and give it a milder flavor

It was only in 1849 that Joseph Storrs Fry, a chocolate maker produced the first chocolate bar. In 1875, a Swiss chocolate maker named Daniel Peter and Henri Nestle, who invented powdered milk, teamed up to put condensed milk in chocolate. This was a hit as it gave the chocolate a rich, creamy flavor not experienced before.

A couple of years later a guy name Rodolphe Lindt, a Swiss chocolatier, invented the conching machine, which blended the chocolate into a smooth delectable blend, which was ideal for making chocolate bars as there were no more lumps and grit in the chocolate.

In 1893 an American confectioner, Milton S. Hershey, discovered chocolate processing equipment at the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago. He immediately bought the machinery and set up a factory in a small town in Pennsylvania, called Derry Church, to start making his chocolate bars.

He chose this spot as it was in the heart of dairy country where he could get easy access to milk, as he had planned to experiment with various ways of making milk chocolate bars. He started making the world’s finest milk chocolate in what ended up being the largest factory of its kind in the world.

During this period chocolate makers in Europe were also making huge strides in refining chocolate and producing chocolate bars with various flavors.

Where did chocolate bars come from, when generations of people were drinking the chocolate in liquid form? Only after many centuries did the cocoa beans reach Europe. Obviously the beans were experimented with and was discovered that by adding sugar and various flavors of spices, fruit and nuts it became a delicious sweet substance.

It took a couple of nations to each add their expertise to the process of making chocolate bars. Each invention was obviously born from the desire to make more of the cocoa bean than just a drink.

The Theobroma Cacao tree is a fascinating tree. It produces the cacao pods from which cocoa is made. The fruits of this tree have been in constant use for many thousands of years. Ancient history shows that the cacao seeds were highly prized by people who had access to them. The seeds were not only used to make a highly sought after drink, but were also used for currency.

The cacao tree is totally regionally bound. The trees only grow in the equatorial belt in the tropics. They require a warm, humid climate with a high rainfall all year round and need to grow in the shade of other trees. They are native to America, but are found in most tropical countries around the world. Western African countries, for instance, contribute half the annual world supply of cocoa.

In natural areas the trees will grow up to 15 meters tall, but are trimmed when cultivated in order to make harvesting easier. They only fully mature at 10 years, but do begin to bear fruit from 4-5 years. They lose their leaves 2-4 times a year and new ones spasmodically appear.

The leaves of the cacao tree are fascinating – the young ones come out a reddish color in order to minimize sun damage. They have the ability to turn 90 degrees from vertical to horizontal in order to protect the young leaves and get better access to the sunlight. They are said to be poisonous to humans.

In former years large areas of the rainforests were cleared in order to plant large plantations of cacao trees. As time went on these plantations began to produce less and less fruit pods and the trees were becoming diseased. The most cocoa is now being produced on small holding farms where independent farmers plant no more than 1,000 trees. By working with nature and not against it their crop production has greatly improved.

The deduction is that the trees do not thrive in a cleared area. They no longer have the shade of other trees to shield them and the biggest problem of all is that the midges that pollinate the flowers do not venture out of the rainforest areas. They breed in the fermented leaves on the floor of the forest and have no reason to leave the rainforests.

Although the cacao tree flowers constantly – flowers sprouting from the trunks and branches of the trees – very few of them actually become fruit pods. If they are not pollinated within 24 hours they die. These flowers have about 400 aromas to attract the midges. The cacao tree constantly bears flowers and fruit at the same time, as they are not season bound.

The fruit is a seed-bearing pod – each one produces about 30-40 seeds embedded in a soft mucous. They average 5-12 inches long and 3-5 inches wide. The fruit pods take a few months to develop and require about a month to ripen. This whole process could take about eight months.

The cacao tree is prone to various diseases, which is why many farmers make use of pesticides in order to ensure a good crop of cacao seeds. Various types of insects, viruses and fungi cause the trees to become diseased. Rodents and woodpeckers also do much damage to cacao trees.