Chocolate

Chocolate, when you hear this word, your mouth is watering. Made from cocoa plant, chocolate is a product that is widespread all over the world and made almost every one can enjoy the taste and the flavor of a bar of chocolate. The early forms of chocolate are found in Mesoamerica in countries like Mexico , Ecuador and Panama, but in Mexico we have the proofs that here was firstly processed and drank. The Olmecs (tribes in Mexico,Mesoamerica) had figured out how you can process chocolate, because if you eat raw, it is a bitter food. After fermenting, drying , roasting and grinding, they saw that the there was a change in the aroma and in taste of the cocoa beans. This was a major step in the food processing because these are very important in producing chocolate even today. Furthermore we have facts that cocoa has been also used as currency, a tasty currency as you might think. Aztec tribes were the one who used chocolate as a currency. Moreover , the Mayans thought that chocolate was a divine drink and even wrote about it in books , carved it in stone templates and grew cocoa plants in their gardens. Only kings, warriors and the elite could have a taste of it. So imagine how sacred this plant is. But, luckily times have changed. Now everyone can have chocolate in the nearest shop and in the nearest supermarket. You might like it as a drink while you are at a café with your friends or have in the form of chocolate bar, chocolate candies, chocolate ice cream and so on. This tasty goodness is classified as : white, dark and milky. As you might now, white chocolate is not in fact a chocolate, because it does not include cocoa powder.The ingredients of white chocolate are cocoa butter, milk and sugar. On the other hand dark chocolate is a kind of chocolate that doesn’t have high amount of sugar and milk in it. European Standards state that a chocolate is a dark chocolate if it rates in percentage between 70% and 99%. Milk chocolate is a form of chocolate produced with milk in form of milk powder, liquid milk or condensed milk. European regulations specify that is needed an minimum amount of 25% cocoa solids, while American Regulations specify for at least 10%. After making discussing about the types of chocolates now it is time to discus for the best chocolatiers in the world. 1.Teuscher. Made in Switzerland, Teuscher chocolate is one of the best in the world. Only the finest and only natural ingredients are used without any chemicals or additives. 2. Vosges Haut-Chocolate The American based company in Illinois is part of our crème de la crème list. The owner states that she learned the art of French culinary in Paris. This brand is known for its infusion of rare spices and flowers. 3. Scharffen Berger. It all started when Robert Steinberg, a physicist was diagnosed with cancer and did not have too much time left. After an intership in France in Lyon, he came home and gives to John Scharffenberger,one of his friends. So they began experimenting with different types of cocoa beans and with spices and with a hair dryer for keeping the chocolate viscous. They named it Scharffen Berger because Scharffenberger was already a name used for a brand. 4.Richart Richart was named the best French chocolate maker seven times in a row . It produces the finest and the most refined chocolate in the world by producing the best food look and using spices for its flavor and taste.It rates from 10 $ to 850 $. 5.Valrhona. One of the best bonbon makers and chocolate maker, Valrhona is a company with a tradition since 1922 in chocolate making by producing only the best.The cocoa beans are directly purchased from plantations in South America, Africa, Caribbean and Pacific regions for producing the finest chocolate and by experimenting with the cocoa beans. Its prices vary from 8$-200$. Mention: We did not include Hershey, Nestle, Mars and other companies because we did include only the best chocolate and the most expensive ones.

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