The Straight Goods on Chocolate: Part Three

As we mentioned in the first blog of this series, the use of chocolate as a drink dates back three thousand years to around 1100 B.C. In November of 2007, archaeologists reported finding evidence of the oldest known cultivation and use of cacao at a site in Honduras. But it was not until the 16th century that Europeans heard of the popular drink from Central and South America. It was not until the Spanish conquest of the Aztecs that chocolate was imported into Europe.

In Spain, chocolate became a court favorite -- 100 years later it had spread to the rest of Europe as well. To keep with demand, Mesoamerican people were sometimes enslaved to produce cacao. It was not long before the Spanish had established plantations, using an African workforce to run them.

The very first chocolate house opened in London in 1657. In 1689, noted physician and collector Hans Sloane developed a milk chocolate drink in Jamaica, a drink that was originally used by apothecaries but was eventually sold to the Cadbury brothers in 1897.

Chocolate in its solid form was invented in 1847. Joseph Fry and Son discovered a way to mix some of the cocoa butter back into the dutched chocolate, and then added sugar, thereby creating a paste that could be moulded into various shapes. The result was the first modern chocolate bar.

An invention by a Dutch family, the van Houtens, made the first modern, mass produced chocolate bar possible. In the 19th century, mechanical mills were created that squeezed out cocoa butter, which made hard durable chocolate possible.

Dark chocolate is made by adding fat and sugar to the cacao mixture. The U.S. Government calls this "sweet chocolate" and requires a 15 per cent concentration of chocolate liquor. Europeans require a minimum 35 per cent cocoa solids. White chocolate is produced by a mixture of sugar, cocoa butter and milk solids. Although its texture is similar to milk and dark chocolate, it does not contain any cocoa solids. Interestingly, Wikipedia reports that because white chocolate contains no cocoa solids, white chocolate does not contain any theobromine, the substance that makes chocolate toxic to dogs and cats.