I love chocolate! Fullstop! Chocolate is nothing short of a blessing to the human race. Raise your hand if you are a lover of chocolate as well!
Indigenous Mesoamerican man with implements to prepare and serve chocolate. Philippe Sylvestre Dufour / John Carter Brown Library, Brown University, Author provided
People have been enjoying chocolate for at least 4,000 years, starting with the Mesoamericans, who brewed a drink from the seeds of cacao trees. In the 16th and 17th centuries, both the trees and the beverage spread across the world, and chocolate today is a trillion-dollar global industry.
Chocolate is made by fermenting, drying, roasting, and grinding the seeds of a small, tropical tree of the genus Theobroma. Most chocolate sold today is made from the species Theobroma cacao, but Indigenous peoples in South America, Central America, and Mexico make food, drink, and medicine with many other Theobroma species.
Cacao was domesticated at least 4,000 years ago, first in the Amazon basin and then in Central America. The oldest archaeological evidence of cacao, possibly as old as 3,500 BCE, comes from Ecuador. In Mexico and Central America, vessels with cacao residue date to as early as 1,900 BCE.
Cacao is the name in many languages of Mesoamerica (Mexico and Central America) for both the tree, the seed, and the preparations that come from it; people who use this word give a nod to that ancient, Indigenous past. Cacao is a convenient catch-all term, the way "bread" in English describes a baked food made of flour, water, and yeast.
For thousands of years, Mesoamericans have used cacao for many purposes: as a ritual offering, a medicine, and a key ingredient in both special occasion and everyday food and drink—each of which had different names. One of these special, local cacao concoctions was called "chocolat."
Colonialists and currency
How did chocolate take off like wildfire when its birthplace has been neglected for so long? The initial use of cacao in the 16th century by colonists from Europe and Africa in Latin America was as currency rather than as something to eat or drink.
"Dear Diamond, we all know who is really a girl’s best friend." "Sincerely yours, Chocolate."
Top 15 Chocolate Quotes for Love
1. Nothing is more romantic than chocolate.
2. When no one understands you, chocolate is there.
3. Besides chocolate, you’re my favourite.
4. Chocolate is happiness that you can eat.
5. Chocolate is a gift of love to yourself.
6. Put 'eat chocolate' at the top of your list of things to do today. That way, at least you’ll get one thing done.”
7. Chocolate is the first luxury. It has so many things wrapped up in it: deliciousness in the moment, childhood memories, and that grin-inducing feeling of getting a reward for being good.
8. There are four basic food groups: milk chocolate, dark chocolate, white chocolate, and chocolate truffles.
9. Reminiscent of childhood memories, luxury, sweetness and sensuality, chocolate is more than just a food – it is therapy.
10. There is a simple memory aid that you can use to determine whether it is the correct time to order chocolate dishes; Any month whose name contains the letter A, E, or U is the proper time for chocolate.
11. Love is like swallowing hot chocolate before it has cooled off. It takes you by surprise at first, but keeps you warm for a long time.
12. Chocolate is an antidepressant, which is especially useful as you start to gain weight.
13. Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get.
14. Chocolate is the ‘food for Gods’.
15. “When we don’t have the words chocolate can speak volumes”
Chocolate makes us all gooey! It's a fact that chocolate has a huge physiological and emotional effect on people. Giving chocolate is not just a sign of love; it is also given as a way to express delight, initiate desire, express your apologies, rekindle friendship, or even just to simply uplift the mood as it’s a powerful mood enhancer.
via theconversation/britainlovesbaking