Are you a chocoholic? Well, whether you are or not, be prepared because this week’s topic is about one of the most ancient food in the world, chocolate!
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| Cocoa Beans |
Chocolate is actually a product made of the seed of Theobroma cacao tree, which was originated in South America. The Mesoamerican people, including the Mayans and the Aztecs, were the first to grow and cultivate cacao (or cocoa). Later, cocoa was introduced to the world by Christopher Columbus.
In the past, cocoa was only served as a drink, either hot or cold, with addition of vanilla, spices, honey, and sugar to improve the bitter flavor. Then, Coenraad Van Houten, a Dutch chemist, invented a way to make chocolate both drinkable and edible. After the brilliant invention, many combination of chocolate have been created. The most common of them are white chocolate, milk chocolate, and dark chocolate.
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| Swiss White Chocolate |
White chocolate is the combination of cocoa butter (vegetable fat extracted from cacao bean), sugar, and milk. As the name suggests, the color of the chocolate is white. In term of flavor, this kind of chocolate is sweet because it contains over 50 percent of sweeteners. Some famous brands for white chocolate are Green & Black, Pierre Marcolini, Amedei, El Rey, and many more.
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| Swiss Milk Chocolate |
Milk chocolate is made of cocoa solids and milk. The color is light brown, and the sweet flavor comes from the milk because it contains small amount or even zero percent of sugar. Ferrero Rocher, Hershey’s, Ducd’O, and M&M’s are among the most popular milk chocolate brands.
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| Swiss Dark Chocolate |
Dark chocolate is a product of cocoa solids, fat, and sugar. The color of this kind of chocolate is dark brown, and it contains none or less milk than milk chocolate. Therefore, the flavor of this chocolate is bittersweet which is more or less similar to the original flavor of cocoa. Godiva, NOKA, Neuhaus, and Swiss Thins (Lindt) are some well-known brands for dark chocolate.
