101 Amazing Facts about Chocolate Read online

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  101 AMAZING FACTS ABOUT CHOCOLATE

  Jack Goldstein

  Publisher Information

  Published in 2014 by

  Andrews UK Limited

  www.andrewsuk.com

  The right of Jack Goldstein to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1998

  Copyright © 2014 Jack Goldstein

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser. Any person who does so may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

  All facts contained within this book have been researched from reputable sources. If any information is found to be false, please contact the publishers, who will be happy to make corrections for future editions.

  Introduction

  Did you know that the Latin name for the tree from which we get the seed that we turn into chocolate translates as ‘Food of the Gods’? Or that eating chocolate can in fact help prevent tooth decay? Separated into sections such as chocolate through history, chocolate around the world, the production process and more, this interesting read contains over one hundred facts. Whether you are a complete chocoholic or you just want to learn more about a hugely fascinating subject then this is the book for you.

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  Visit Goldstein Books at www.jackgoldsteinbooks.com

  The Production Process

  Chocolate is the name of a particular preparation of cacao seeds.

  The seeds themselves are quite bitter. The first part of the chocolate production process involved the fermentation of these bitter seeds.

  After this, the seeds (sometimes also called beans) are dried, cleaned and roasted.

  The shell is then removed, producing what are called cacao nibs.

  The nibs are then ground down; the paste is known as cocoa mass - effectively this is now chocolate in its ‘purest’ form.

  The cocoa mass is usually then liquefied, and becomes known as chocolate liquor.

  The liquor is then further processed into cocoa solids (the non-fatty portion) and cocoa butter (essentially the rest).

  Next, chocolate liquor is actually blended with the separated cocoa butter in various proportions to make different types of chocolate.

  At this stage, the chocolate has a rather uneven and gritty texture; it is therefore put through a process called conching - this is basically grinding the chocolate to an extremely fine level, so that there are particles smaller than the tongue can detect.

  The chocolate is finally tempered, to prevent crystals from forming. The more carefully temperatures are controlled over this period, the better quality chocolate is made as a result.

  Cacao Pods

  Chocolate in Words

  Perhaps the most famous book related to chocolate is Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, which has remained popular ever since it was written in 1964.

  Peanuts cartoonist Charles Schulz said ‘All you need is love. But a little chocolate now and then doesn’t hurt.’

  Joan Bauer summed up chocolate’s usefulness as a gift when she said ‘When we don’t have the words chocolate can speak volumes.’

  A Portuguese poet by the name of Fernando Pessoa wrote ‘There is no metaphysics on earth like chocolate’.

  A graphic novel by David Yurkovich called Death By Chocolate features a hero who is actually made from chocolate. Weird!

  The artist John Q Tullius amusingly once said ‘Nine out of ten people like chocolate. The tenth person always lies.’

  Forrest Gump’s mother famously told him that Life was like a box of chocolates; ‘You never know what you’re gonna get.’ Many people however spotted the flaw in this quote - most boxes tend to come with an index card!

  In Star Trek: The Next Generation, ship’s councillor Deanna Troi once said to Riker ‘I never met a chocolate I didn’t like.’

  Illustrator Jane Seabrook told one interviewer ‘If there’s no chocolate in Heaven, I’m not going.’

  And humour columnist Dave Barry surely summed things up when he stated ‘Your hand and your mouth agreed many years ago that, as far as chocolate is concerned, there is no need to involve your brain.’

  Cacao

  The Latin name for the cacao tree is Theobroma Cacao, which translates as ‘Food of the Gods’.

  Although cacao trees can live to around two hundred years old, they only produce useable cocoa beans for around twenty-five years of their life.

  Three quarters of the world’s cacao trees grow within just eight degrees of the equator.

  In fact, almost all of the trees on the planet are within twenty degrees of it!

  A single tree can produce around 2500 beans.

  In one year, a single tree makes enough chocolate for half a kilogram of cocoa.

  It takes a newly-planted tree between two and five years to produce its very first useable cacao pods.

  Cacao beans naturally contain around three hundred different flavours and four hundred aromas.

  About four million tons of cacao beans are produced every year.

  An amazing fifty million people around the world depend on cacao for their livelihood.

  Interesting Facts

  M&Ms were created during the Second World War as a way of soldiers enjoying the treat without it melting.

  In the days of black and white film, chocolate syrup was often used to look like blood. One particularly famous instance of this is in the shower scene in Hitchcock’s Psycho!

  In 2009, an American man called Vincent Smith II tragically died after falling into a huge vat of cocoa.

  Cacao beans have been used as currency in a number of civilisations; fake beans made out of painted clay even became a serious problem for the Mayan civilisation!

  Chocolate was included in soldier’s rations during the Second World War - although it was processed not to taste too nice, otherwise the servicemen would eat it too quickly!

  Every mission to space by American astronauts and Russian cosmonauts has included a supply of chocolate bars on the spacecraft!

  Apparently, the smell of chocolate increases theta brain waves, which assist in relaxation - this is one of the reasons it is thought that people feel better immediately after eating chocolate.

  Chocolate can actually be good for your teeth! In some circumstances it can prevent tooth decay by acting as an anti-bacterial agent.

  There is a high correlation between the amount of chocolate a nation consumes per capita and the number of Nobel Prize winners it produces.

  One study showed that cyclists who drank chocolate milkshake after exercise recovered better and faster than those who drank a sports drink.

  Statistics

  In 2010, the global chocolate market was worth an astonishing $83 billion.

  The largest box of chocolates ever made had 90,090 Frango mint chocolates and weighed in at one and a half tons.

  The largest bar on the other hand was made in England and weighed in at an astonishing six tons. It was created by Thorntons to celebrate the company’s centenary! It didn’t go to waste, as
it was broken up into smaller chunks and then sold in the firm’s stores to raise money for charity.

  Hershey’s produces more than eighty million Chocolate Kisses every single day.

  In fact, the company produces more than one billion pounds of chocolate every year.

  Every day, US manufacturers use 1.5 million kilograms of whole milk every day in their chocolate.

  Around 400 cacao beans make one pound of chocolate.

  In the week leading up to Easter, half a billion dollars is spent on candy in the US alone. Three quarters of that is on chocolate.

  Almost half of the world’s almonds are put into chocolate products.

  Belgium is one of the world’s leading high quality chocolate producers; more than 170,000 tons of it is made every year in the country, which has more than 2,000 dedicated chocolate shops. Amazingly, one in every two hundred people in the country is involved in the chocolate industry.

  Chocolate Around the World

  Cote d’Ivoire (also known as The Ivory Coast) is the world’s largest producer of cacao, growing 40% of the world’s supply.

  When there is a shortage - or a surplus - of cacao production in the country, it has a serious impact on the price of chocolate worldwide!

  Shockingly, the majority of workers on chocolate farms are children, some of whom have even been sold into slavery. Many are treated poorly, and generally don’t ever get to taste the food they assist in producing. However, chocolate manufactureres today are increasingly concerned with the well-being of all workers in the production chain, and have taken steps to ensure a fairer distribution of wealth.

  In a survey, more than half of Americans listed chocolate as their favourite flavour.

  In the United States, milk chocolate only has to contain around ten per cent actual chocolate.

  The Swiss eat the most chocolate per capita, consuming ten kilograms each per year. Inhabitants of the United States by comparison eat around half that amount.

  You won’t find chocolate in a blue wrapper in China, as the colour is commonly associated with death!

  In some regions of Mexico, chocolate is actually used as a medicine, both as a cure (it can reduce some effects of bronchitis) and a preventative (warding off scorpion stings).

  Some parts of Latin America used cacao beans as currency well into the 19th century.

  Montezuma of the Aztec Empire consumed around fifty cups of chocolate every single day.

  Did You Know?

  Edward Cadbury, who was a Quaker, produced drinking chocolate as an alternative to alcohol.

  Every hour, Cadburys make around 60,000 Creme Eggs!

  A few years back, some chocolate manufacturers in the USA tried to get approval to remove the cocoa butter from chocolate, replace it with vegetable oil, but still keep the same name. Thankfully, the government did not allow them to do this!

  The word chocolate is actually derived from the Mayan word xocolatl, which means ‘bitter water’.

  If you enjoy wine as an accompaniment to chocolate, you’re better off going with a red wine, as white wine and champagne are generally too acidic to complement the flavour.

  Hershey’s are America’s largest and oldest chocolate manufacturer.

  The percentage of cacao solids in white chocolate? Zero.

  In some Asian countries it is traditional for women to give their loved ones chocolates on February 14th - Valentine’s Day. The men are then expected to return the favour one month later on ‘White Day’.

  A single chocolate chip contains the amount of energy it takes a human to walk 150 feet.

  You should never feed chocolate to an animal. It contains Theobromine which can cause poisoning, especially in dogs.

  History

  Cacao originated in Central American around five thousand years ago.

  The first people to harvest chocolate were the Mokaya, who lived in Mexico around three thousand years ago.

  Aztec legend tells of how Quetzalcoatl, a God, was cast out of heaven for bringing cacao to earth and giving it to the humans.

  The Mayans used chocolate in their marriage ceremonies and baptisms.

  Mayan Emperors were buried with worldly goods to ensure they lived a good afterlife. Chocolate was often placed right next to their bodies!

  Cacao beans were in fact one of America’s first ever exports - Columbus brought them back to Spain with him after his epic voyage!

  It was only the advances of the industrial revolution that meant chocolate transitioned from being a luxury item only the very wealthiest could afford to a commodity affordable by the general public.

  It was actually by accident that the process of conching (important in the production of chocolate as we know it today) was discovered, when Rodolphe Lindt’s assistant left a machine running all night by mistake.

  The very first ever bar of chocolate (as we know it today) was made in 1842 by British company Cadburys.

  The first ever chocolate chip cookie was invented by Ruth Wakefield, proprietor of the Toll House Inn in 1937. Since then, the name ‘Toll House’ is used across the world to refer to any chocolate chip cookie.

  Unusual Facts

  Germany is the country that hosts the world’s largest cuckoo clock made of chocolate.

  The founder of Hershey Chocolate, Milton Hershey, cancelled his trip on the maiden voyage of the Titanic at the last minute due to other business commitments.

  If you hunt around, you can actually buy potato chips (crisps for those in the UK) coated in chocolate!

  According to one source, the most expensive chocolate truffle ever created was called The Madeleine, and was created by Connecticut’s Knipschildt Chocolatier. It sold for $2,600 per pound.

  The ninth Emperor of the Aztecs, Montezuma II, was the most powerful and wealthy man in the world at the time of his reign. At the height of his power he held a stash of one billion cacao beans.

  English pirates once captured a Spanish vessel that was carrying just one huge cargo of cacao beans. Thinking it was sheep dung, they set fire to the ship and left it to sink.

  The infamous Marquis de Sade was addicted to chocolate, as was Madame de Pompadour, one of King Louis XV’s mistresses.

  If you lay every Toblerone bar sold in a single year end to end, the chocolate trail would be long enough to wrap around the equator!

  In one survey, one in seven young adults claimed life wouldn’t be worth living without chocolate!

  Lately, a disease has begun to affect many cacao trees in Latin America. It is feared that if this disease makes its way to Africa (where much of the world’s cacao is grown), there will be a massive worldwide shortage of chocolate that could last for many years.

  The Most Amazing Facts

  The Mayans used cacao beans as currency, and records show the values of various goods: a turkey cost twenty beans, whereas a slave cost one hundred!

  In Mayan ritual, a human was often sacrificed to guarantee a good cacao harvest. Before being killed they would drink a cup of chocolate mixed with blood, as it was believed this would convert the victim’s heart into a cacao pod.

  People who are depressed eat around 60% more chocolate per year than those who aren’t.

  By a very happy coincidence, the melting point of chocolate is just below body temperature. This means that as soon as you put a piece on your tongue, it will begin to melt, enhancing the perception of luxury.

  Whilst milk chocolate and white chocolate are generally considered unhealthy eating options, dark chocolate has in fact been shown to be beneficial to our health - in certain quantities! However, this does depend on the amount of sugar that has been added to the product.

  Despite what your parents told you when you were growing up, there has been
no proven link between chocolate and acne - quite the contrary in fact. Apparently, chocolate contains something called flavonoids which absorb ultraviolet light, increasing blood flow to the skin and actually helping prevent spots from appearing!

  Benefits of dark chocolate include improved memory, better reaction time, ability to see in the dark and lowering blood pressure.

  The majority of chocolate today is made from a type of cacao called forastero (which translates as ‘foreigner’). In times of old, the bean used was called criollo, however it is not as easy to grow as the bean used today, yet it tasted much nicer! If you ever get a chance to taste chocolate made from criollo cacao, do not pass up the opportunity!

  The Catholic Church once blamed the consumption of chocolate for behaviour such as witchcraft, extortion and blasphemy!

  In the Second World War, the Germans designed a disguised bomb that was coated in chocolate. When a piece was broken off, a timer would be started and the device would explode seven seconds later!

  And Finally...

  When Richard E. Byrd navigated to the South Pole, he left a cache of supplies nearby. Sixty years after his expedition, the cache was found, and a Hershey’s bar was amongst it. The bar was opened and found to still be edible!

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  Jack Goldstein, 101 Amazing Facts about Chocolate

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