History

A mug of hot chocolate. Chocolate was first drunk rather than eaten.
Main article: History of chocolate
The word "chocolate" comes from the Aztecs of Mexico, and is derived from the Nahuatl word xocolatl (pronounced [ʃoˈkolaːtɬ])[2], which is a combination of the words, xocolli, meaning "bitter", and atl, which is "water". The Aztecs associated chocolate with Xochiquetzal, the goddess of fertility. Chocolate is also associated with the Mayan god of fertility. Mexican philologist Ignacio Davila Garibi, proposed that "Spaniards had coined the word by taking the Maya word chocol and then replacing the Maya term for water, haa, with the Aztec one, atl."[3] However, it is more likely that the Aztecs themselves coined the term,[4] having long adopted into Nahuatl the Mayan word for the "cacao" bean; the Spanish had little contact with the Mayans before Cortés's early reports to the Spanish King of the beverage known as xocolatl.[5] William Bright (personal communication cited in a 1977 article by Lyle Campbell [6]) noted that the word xocoatl does not occur in early Spanish or Nahuatl colonial sources.
Chocolate has been used as a drink for nearly all of its history. The earliest record of using chocolate pre-dates the Maya. In November, 2007, archeologists reported finding evidence of the oldest known cultivation and use of cacao at a site in Puerto Escondido, Honduras, dating from about 1100 to 1400 BC. [7] The residues found and the kind of vessel they were found in, indicate that the initial use of cacao was not simply as a beverage, but the white pulp around the cacao beans was likely used as a source of sugar for an alcoholic drink. The chocolate residue found in an early classic ancient Maya pot in Río Azul, northern Guatemala, suggests that Mayans were drinking chocolate around 400 A.D.. In the New World, chocolate was consumed in a bitter, spicy drink called xocoatl, and was often flavored with vanilla, chile pepper, and achiote (known today as annatto). Xocoatl was believed to fight fatigue, a belief that is probably attributable to the theobromine content. Other chocolate drinks combined it with such edibles as maize starch paste (which acts as an emulsifier and thickener), various fruits, and honey.[citation needed] In 1689 noted physician and collector Hans Sloane, developed a milk chocolate drink in Jamaica which was initially used by apothecaries, but later sold by the Cadbury brothers.[8]
Chocolate was also an important luxury good throughout pre-Columbian Mesoamerica, and cacao beans were often used as currency.[9] For example, the Aztecs used a system in which one turkey cost one hundred cacao beans and one fresh avocado was worth three beans.[10]

Production

Chocolate is created from the cocoa bean. A cacao tree with fruit pods in various stages of ripening
Roughly two-thirds of the entire world's cocoa is produced in Western Africa, with 43% sourced from Côte d'Ivoire.[11] Like many food industry producers, individual cocoa farmers are at the mercy of volatile world markets. The price can vary from £500 ($945) to £3,000 ($5,672) per ton, in the space of just a few years. While investors trading in cacao can dump shares at will, individual cocoa farmers cannot increase production or abandon trees very quickly. When cocoa prices drop, farmers in West Africa sometimes cut costs by using slave labor.[12] It has been alleged that an estimated 90% of cocoa farms in Côte d'Ivoire have used some form of slave labor in order to remain viable.[13] According to the World Cocoa Foundation, some 50 million people around the world depend on cocoa as a source of livelihood. [1] The industry is dominated by three chocolate makers, Barry Callebaut, Cargill and Archer Daniels Midland Company (ADM) and in the UK, 99.999% of chocolatiers, whether they be large companies such as Cadbury Schweppes or small independents, purchase their chocolate from them, to melt, mould and package to their own design. [14]
Despite some disagreement in the EU about the definition, chocolate is any product made primarily of cocoa solids and cocoa fat. The different flavours of chocolate can be obtained by varying the time and temperature when roasting the beans, by adjusting the relative quantities of the cocoa solids and cocoa fat, and by adding non-chocolate ingredients.
Production costs can be decreased by reducing cocoa solid content or by substituting cocoa butter with a non-cocoa fat. Cocoa growers oppose allowing the resulting food to be called "chocolate", because that would lower demand for their crops.[1]
There are two main jobs associated with creating chocolate candy, chocolate makers and chocolatiers. Chocolate makers use harvested cacao beans and other ingredients to produce couverture chocolate. Chocolatiers use the finished couverture to make chocolate candies (bars, truffles, baked goods, etc.).[15]

Cacao varieties
The three main varieties of cacao beans used in chocolate are criollo, forastero and trinitario.
Criollo is the rarest and most expensive cocoa on the market and is native to Central America, the Caribbean islands and the northern tier of South American states.[citation needed] There is some dispute about the genetic purity of cocoas sold today as Criollo, because most populations have been exposed to the genetic influence of other varieties. Criollos are particularly difficult to grow, as they are vulnerable to a variety of environmental threats and produce low yields of cocoa per tree. The flavour of Criollo is unique. It is described as delicate yet complex, low in classic chocolate flavour, but rich in "secondary" notes of long duration.[citation needed]
Forastero is a large group of wild and cultivated cacaos, most likely native to the Amazon basin. The African cocoa crop is entirely of the Forastero variety. They are significantly hardier and of higher yield than Criollo. Forastero cocoas are typically strong in classic "chocolate" flavour, but have a short duration and are unsupported by secondary flavours. There are exceptional Forasteros, such as the "Nacional" or the "Arriba" varieties, which can be very complex flavors.[citation needed]
Trinitario is a natural hybrid of Criollo and Forastero. Trinitario originated in Trinidad (hence the name) after an introduction of (Amelonado) Forastero to the local Criollo crop. These cocoas encompass a wide range of flavour profiles according to the genetic heritage of each tree.[citation needed]
Nearly all cacao produced over the past five decades is of the Forastero or lower-grade Trinitario varieties. The share of higher quality Criollos and Trinitarios (so-called flavour cacao) is just under 5%.[cacao trees are small, understory trees that need rich, well-drained soils. They naturally grow within 20 degrees of either side of the equator because they need about 2000 milimeters of rainfall a year, and temperatures in the range of 21 to 32 degrees Celsius, and cannot tolerate a temperature lower than 15 degrees Celsius (59 degrees Fahrenheit Harvesting
Harvesting cacao beans is a delicate process. First, the pods containing cacao beans, are harvested. The beans with their surrounding pulp are removed from the pod and placed in piles or bins to ferment for three to seven days. The fermentation process is what gives the beans their familiar chocolate taste. The beans must then be quickly dried to prevent mold growth; weather permitting, this is done by spreading the beans out in the sun.

Chocolate liquor
The dried beans are transported from the plantation where they were grown to a chocolate manufacturing facility.
The beans are then cleaned (removing twigs, stones, and other debris), roasted, and graded. Next the shells are removed to extract the nib. Finally, the nibs are ground which releases and melts the cocoa butter producing chocolate liquor.

Chocolate made with enough cocoa butter flows gently over a chocolate fountain to serve dessert fondue.
There are three things that can be done with the chocolate liquor at this point:
It can be solidified and sold as unsweetened baking chocolate.
Cocoa butter can be removed from it and the result is cocoa powder. There are several mechanisms for removing cocoa butter from chocolate liquor. These include using hydraulic pressure and the Broma process.
Cocoa butter can be added to it to make eating chocolate.

Blending
Main article: Types of chocolate
Chocolate liquor is blended with the cocoa butter in varying quantities to make different types of chocolate or couvertures. The basic blends of ingredients for the various types of chocolate (in order of highest quantity of cocoa liquor first), are as follows:
Dark chocolate: sugar, cocoa butter, cocoa liquor, and (sometimes) vanilla
Milk chocolate: sugar, cocoa butter, cocoa liquor, milk or milk powder, and vanilla
White chocolate: sugar, cocoa butter, milk or milk powder, and vanilla
Usually, an emulsifying agent such as soya lecithin is added, though a few manufacturers prefer to exclude this ingredient for purity reasons and to remain GMO-free (Soya is a heavily genetically modified crop), sometimes at the cost of a perfectly smooth texture. Some manufacturers are now using PGPR, an artificial emulsifier derived from castor oil that allows them to reduce the amount of cocoa butter while maintaining the same mouthfeel.
The texture is also heavily influenced by processing, specifically conching (see below). The more expensive chocolates tend to be processed longer and thus have a smoother texture and "feel" on the tongue, regardless of whether emulsifying agents are added.
Different manufacturers develop their own "signature" blends based on the above formulas but varying proportions of the different constituents are used.
The finest, plain dark chocolate couvertures contain at least 70% cocoa (solids + butter), whereas milk chocolate usually contains up to 50%. High-quality white chocolate couvertures contain only about 33% cocoa. Some mass-produced chocolate contains much less cocoa (as low as 7% in many cases) and fats other than cocoa butter. Some chocolate makers say that these "chocolate" products should not be classified as couvertures, or even as chocolate, because of the low or virtually non-existent cocoa content.[citation needed]
In 2007, the Chocolate Manufacturers Association in the United States, whose members include Hershey, Nestlé, and Archer Daniels Midland, lobbied the Food and Drug Administration to change the legal definition of chocolate to let them substitute partially hydrogenated vegetable oils for cocoa butter in addition to using artificial sweeteners and milk substitutes. Currently, the FDA does not allow a product to be referred to as "chocolate" if the product contains any of these ingredients.

Conching

Various chocolate making machinery
Main article: Conching
The penultimate process is called conching. A conche is a container filled with metal beads, which act as grinders. The refined and blended chocolate mass is kept liquid by frictional heat. Chocolate prior to conching has an uneven and gritty texture. The conching process produces cocoa and sugar particles smaller than the tongue can detect, hence the smooth feel in the mouth. The length of the conching process determines the final smoothness and quality of the chocolate. High-quality chocolate is conched for about 72 hours, lesser grades about four to six hours. After the process is complete, the chocolate mass is stored in tanks heated to approximately 45–50 °C (113–122 °F) until final processing.

Tempering
The final process is called tempering. Uncontrolled crystallization of cocoa butter typically results in crystals of varying size, some or all large enough to be clearly seen with the naked eye. This causes the surface of the chocolate to appear mottled and matte, and causes the chocolate to crumble rather than snap when broken. The uniform sheen and crisp bite of properly processed chocolate are the result of consistently small cocoa butter crystals produced by the tempering process.
The fats in cocoa butter can crystallize in six different forms (polymorphous crystallization). The primary purpose of tempering is to assure that only the best form is present. The six different crystal forms have different properties.