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Chocolate
In Ireland, we have the third highest per capita consumption of chocolate in the world. Each of us consumes approximately 10kg of chocolate per annum and spends over 100 euro per year. But we sometimes forget that a chocolate bar bought in our local newsagents is the final product in a long chain of events from cocoa tree to chocolate bar.
History of Chocolate
Throughout history, Chocolate has meant many things to many people. For the Aztecs, it was used as money. Spanish Monks drank it to promote good health. For the French, it was a sign of wealth and good taste. Chocolate is also the national dish in Switzerland.
We do not know where and when chocolate was first invented. However, we do know that Cacao beans (used to make chocolate) grew wild on the Yucatan peninsula in Mexico, and the Indians there used cacao to make a spicy drink flavoured with chilli and pepper. They called the drink "chocolatl", which means "warm drink". The Aztecs valued cacao so much that they used the beans as currency and the Mayan people who lived in the area that is now Mexico, worshipped cocoa as a food of the Gods.
Following the arrival of Christopher Colombus in the new world, the Spanish made their own improvements on the New World drink - they replaced the chilli with sugar and vanilla. In 1615, Princess Anna of Austria served the drink at her royal wedding. Soon after, chocolate became all the rage among the fashion conscious French.
By the mid-1700s, chocolate houses that served the "excellent West India Drink" in pots were common in Paris, London, and Venice. By this time, bakers were also experimenting with cocoa in cakes and rolls.
The chocolate we know is hard, slightly crumbly and melts in your mouth. This is all a result of special processes that were developed in the 1870s. This process was developed by Henri Nestle who wanted to make his chocolate extra rich by adding milk to it - hence the creamy milk chocolate that we eat today!
Where is the chocolate?
Chocolate is best grown in countries on the equator. Like coffee, it requires high temperatures and humidity to grow well.
How chocolate is made
Chocolate is made from the seeds of the cacao (kah KOW) tree. Chocolate-making companies buy these seeds and then crush, mix, roll, and mould them in machines to make chocolate bars and sweets.
Chocolate and Child Labour
There are almost half a million children between the ages of 5-17 working on cocoa farms in the world today.
In many cocoa producing countries children have never tasted the chocolate that their labour produces.
Examples of the jobs children do on plantations include pesticide spraying, fertilizing, harvesting, pod collection, pod breaking, fermenting, transport and drying.
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