Origin of chocolate
Food from the gods is called the cocoa tree (botanically called Theobroma Cacao) in language of Central America’s natives. The tree is indigenous to the rain forests of the Americas and originally domesticated in Central America. It is a special sort of tree that can only grow in the band around 20 degrees north and south of the equator. The Mayans were the first to cultivate the tree starting in 300AD then the Aztecs in 1100AD. The product that was consumed during these times was named Xocolatl, which was a beverage of chilies, cinnamon, cornmeal, anise seed, vanilla and other spices.
Royal chocolate
It was allowed to consummate only by royalty on unique occasions, in golden cups which were used only once. The sure didn’t heard of fair trade chocolate…
The unique and special cocoa tree grows in the shade of the rain forest shade. Increasing loss of rainforest surfaces also means loss of growing space for cacao. So if you are not already contributing your best to save the rainforest for global warming and our wildlife. Now it’s time to do it or no chocolate for you anymore. The most unique feature of this tree is that the blossoms grow on the trunk and lower branches on the contrary to the fruits we are familiar with, growing on the upper and newer growth. Full grown tree can have up to 10,000 blossoms but only 10-50 of them mature in the fruit. The tree self regulates how many pods it can maintain without wearing its own internal systems or breaking its branches. Ripen pods are than manually pick and spilt open the pod to disclose white pulpy material surrounding the seeds. These seeds are the actual cocoa bean, which are saved. The pulp that is thrown away is actually the sweetest part of the pod at that time but the beans are terribly bitter. Workers gather the seed and than fermentation procedure begins for 3 to 7 days. Through this time chemical and physical changes are taking place that result in a seed that is on its way to becoming chocolate.
