COCOA POWDER
COCOA POWDER
Let us look at the sweet history of cocoa.
Chocolate may be the “FOOD OF GOD,” but for most of its 4,000-year history, it was actually consumed as a bitter beverage rather than as a sweet edible treat. Anthropologists have found evidence that chocolate was produced by pre-Olmec cultures living in present-day Mexico as early as 1900 B.C. The ancient Mesoamericans who first cultivated cocoa plants found in the tropical rainforests of Central America fermented, roasted and ground the cocoa beans into a paste that they mixed with water, vanilla, honey, chili peppers and other spices to brew a frothy chocolate drink.
Chocolate remained an aristocratic nectar until Dutch chemist Coenraad Johannes van Houten in 1828 invented the cocoa press, which revolutionized chocolate-making. The cocoa press could squeeze the fatty cocoa butter from roasted cacao beans, leaving behind a dry cake that could be pulverized into a fine powder that could be mixed with liquids and other ingredients, poured into molds and solidified into edible, easily digestible chocolate. The innovation by van Houten ushered in the modern era of chocolate by enabling it to be used as a confectionary ingredient, and the resulting drop in production costs made chocolate affordable to the masses.
COCOA cultivation is not native to the country. Ghana's COCOA cultivation, however, is noted within the developing world to be one of the most modeled commodities and valuables. COCOA production occurs in the country's forested areas: Ashanti, Brong-Ahafo, Central Region, Eastern Region, Western Region, and Volta, where rainfall is 1,000-1,500 millimeters per year. The crop year begins in October, when purchases of the main crop begin, with a smaller mid-crop cycle beginning in July.
All COCOA, except that which is smuggled out of the country, is sold at fixed prices to the Cocoa Marketing Board . Although most COCOA production is carried out by peasant farmers on plots of less than three hectares, a small number of farmers appear to dominate the trade. Some studies show that about one-fourth of all COCOA farmers receive just over half of total COCOA income.
- DRINKING CHOCOLATE was the first exotic drink to arrive in Europe, yet had been consumed by different populations of the Americas for thousands of years.
- When the Spanish arrived, the Aztecs already held it in high esteem.
- They drank it flavoured with chilli, maize and fruit during religious ceremonies and on festive occasions.
- Its therapeutic properties were also well-known: COCOA was considered to be fortifying and aphrodisiac, while COCOA BUTTER was used to treat burns and injuries.
- The beans were used as a currency to buy food, clothes and slaves. The conquistador HERNAN CORT`ES and his men landed in Mexico in 1519.
- They discovered a strange looking drink with a surprising bitterness; it tasted better when agave syrup (a natural sweetener) or honey was added.
- Cortés realised the benefits he could reap with this remarkable drink and returned to Spain in 1528 with some cocoa beans and the equipment necessary for its preparation.
- Drinking chocolate received a mixed reception at the court of CHARLES- I of Spain and it took a few more decades before it was really accepted.
- This was helped by the fact that, in the meantime, a group of nuns, doing missionary work in Mexico, had the ingenious idea of sweetening it with sugar.
- By the end of the century, CHOCOLATE had become a highly-prized beverage in Spain. It was consumed everywhere, even in the street and at any time of day.
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