“Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get.”
With that in mind, you should run like Forrest and head over to the nearest bakery because guess what, it’s National Chocolate Day!
National Chocolate Day is dedicated to everything chocolatey. It is a national holiday in the United States, observed every October 28 and it is also an international food holiday celebrated on September 4 annually. No matter which day you celebrate, we can all agree that chocolate is worth celebrating every day.
History of chocolate
Whenever we think of chocolate, we would picture a bar, a box or a cake and the verb that comes to mind would be “eat”, and the most associated adjective is of course, “sweet”. However, the long history of chocolate is relatively far from those mentioned above as chocolate was strictly beverage without any sugar in it. The word chocolate comes from the Aztec word “xocoatl”, which means a bitter drink brewed from cacao beans.
The origin of chocolate can be traced back to 450 B.C. in Mesoamerica, whereby fermented beverages were made using chocolate. Originally prepared as a drink, chocolate was served as a bitter liquid and often mixed with spices or corn puree. The addition of sugar to chocolate only started after its arrival to Europe in the 16th century, and it eventually became popular among the aristocrats and eventually, the commoners.
In 1828, a Dutch chemist discovered a way to make powdered chocolate, and his product became known as “Dutch cocoa”, which eventually led to the creation of solid chocolate. Two decades later, the first modern chocolate bar was created by Joseph Fry when he discovered that he could mould a chocolate paste by adding melted cacao butter back into Dutch cocoa.
Today, chocolate has expanded into a wide selection of premium and affordable treats and can be enjoyed by many regardless of social status.
How is chocolate made?
Making chocolate begins with the cultivation of cacao tree. Each tree bears fruits or pods, and each pod contains 30 – 50 seeds, and these seeds are what we call as cacao beans. The difference between cacao and cocoa is that cacao refers to the tree, pod and bean while cocoa is the fermented, dried and roasted beans.
Cacao pods can be harvested when they are ripe or turn a vibrant yellow/orange colour. The pods are opened to remove their seeds surrounded by a white pulp. Then, the seeds or beans are cleaned by hand, leaving the pulp to retain the flavour. Once cleaned, they are fermented by heaping them in piles on the ground. After two to nine days of fermentation, the beans start to change into chocolate colour and flavour.
Then, the beans are dried under the sun by placing them on wooden boards or bamboo mats, continuously turning them over for consistent drying. Once dried, they are cleaned and roasted at low temperatures, separating the shells from the meat of the bean, called nibs. The nibs are further processed, yielding two final products: cocoa powder and cocoa butter.
Making chocolate involves combining cocoa mass with cocoa butter and sweetener. The process depends on the type of chocolate being made. Dark chocolate requires cocoa mass, cocoa butter and sugar while white chocolate is produced using cocoa butter, sugar and milk powder.
The next step will be conching, a process that rolls, kneads, heats and aerates the chocolate. Then, the chocolate will undergo the final process, which is tempering and moulding. The method of tempering brings the chocolate to a specific temperature and its most stable form, giving it its shiny and smooth surface. Once done, it is ready to be distributed to a chocolatier in the form of blocks or drops (pistoles)
How to celebrate Chocolate Day?
Now that we have covered Chocolate 101, it is time for you to celebrate this day with everything chocolatey. Bring along your friends and head over to any local chocolatier to witness first-hand the process of making different types of chocolates. A simpler alternative is to be like Forrest and treat yourself to a box of premium chocolates.
Are you feeling like baking? Make yourself busy at home by making this simple and delicious chocolate truffle, courtesy of Tasty, world’s largest food network.
Ingredients:
This recipe is for 14 -16 servings.
- 3 cups of semisweet chocolate chips
- 1 ½ cups of heavy cream
- 1 cup of cocoa powder as a topping
Directions:
- In a medium-sized pan, combine the chocolate chips and heavy cream over low heat and mix until you get a smooth consistency.
- Then, pour the mixture into a bread pan.
- Refrigerate for an hour or until the mixture solidifies.
- Form balls from the mixture using an ice cream scoop.
- Then, roll in cocoa powder for topping and enjoy!