HOW CHOCOLATE WON OUR HEARTS By Sarah J. McNeal

LOVE

Traditionally, Valentine’s Day is celebrated by giving a loved one a heart shaped box of chocolates. Even as children, my sister and I received a little heart shaped box with chocolates inside from our parents every Valentine’s Day. Chocolate is one of the most popular and beloved treats in the world. It shows up for every special occasion and event. There are festivals in which every dish has chocolate in it.  Good grief, human beings without their chocolate might parish from the Earth. How did chocolate come into be such a widely consumed food in the first place?

Mayan and the Cocao Bean

It turns out chocolate was here before the birth of Jesus. Chocolate has been around for 4000 years. We owe it all to the ancient Mayans. It all began in southern Mexico. Fermented beverages made from chocolate date back to 450 BC. The Aztecs believed that cacao seeds were the gift of Quetzalcoati, the god of wisdom. The seeds held so much value that they were actually used as currency. Chocolate was used for everything from medicine to an aphrodisiac. The Aztec ruler, Montezuma called it the “divine drink”, so, of course only the important people could drink it. So, how did chocolate end up all around the 
world?

The Santa Maria

Columbus took cacao beans back to Spain after he began his explorations of the “New World.” He made more than one trip although we mostly give him credit for that first one. Anyway, no one cared about chocolate until the Spanish friars introduced chocolate to the Spanish court. At first, it was only served as a bitter drink used for medicine, but soon it was discovered that adding sugar or honey to it made it more palatable and then it was game on. By the 18^th century chocolate spread across Europe and then to the American Colonies. 


In 1760 the Chocolaterie Lombart chocolate company was formed. The Industrial Revolution in 1815  prompted Dutch chemist, Coenraad van Houten to introduce alkaline salts to chocolate which reduced the bitterness and in 1828 he created a press to remove half the fat (cacao butter) from chocolate liquor which made chocolate both cheaper to produce and more consistent in quality. This Dutch Chocolate brought to the world the first solid chocolate.

Over the years improvements were made by adding back some of the cacao butter which gave it the ability to be molded into shapes. Daniel Peter invented milk chocolate by adding powdered milk developed by Henri Nestle. Rodolphe Lindt invented the conching machine. A conching machine is a surface scraping mixer that evenly distributes cocoa butter within chocolate and might act as a sort of “polisher” of the particles. It promotes flavor through frictional heat, release of volatiles, acids, and oxidation. Lower quality chocolate is conched for as little as six hours. 


Lindt and Sprungli started a Swiss based company with global reach to manufacture solid chocolate. Cadbury began manufacturing boxed chocolates in England by 1868. In 1893 Milton S. Hershey purchased chocolate processing equipment at the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago and began to manufacture Hershey’s chocolates and chocolate covered caramels. Hello to Hershey Kisses and Snickers!

While men led the movement to mass produce chocolate for everyday people, women were targeted by ads and “were charged with providing wholesome cocoa for respectable consumption within the family”…sorta like providing our families with vitamins. Women were also targeted when chocolate became a courting ritual—like finally, men got something right. Over the years it has become a Valentine ritual for people to give their beloveds a box of chocolates to show their devotion and love. THANK YOU chocolate people!

My Upcoming release For February 12 Available On Preorder
  

QUEST FOR THE LIGHT OF VALMORA

Legends of Winatuke, Book 3

By Sarah J. McNeal

Fire Star Press

Buy Link:

Pre-order

A quest for a magical light...A Gypsy’s love…And a warrior’s sacrifice

Excerpt:

Without further comment, he scooped her up in his arms and waltzed with her to the place directly in front of the musicians. Falcon caught Peregrine's eyes and saw in them indifference. Anger swelled inside him. Peregrine could be such an ass. Didn't he care that Falcon danced with Izabelle much too close? What did Izabelle see in his apathetic brother who displayed nothing of the concern or interest he should in this astonishing woman?

Well, things are about to change.

Falcon dipped Izabelle low with only his arm to keep her from falling. He leaned over her body draped across his arm and inhaled her sweet essence floating on the night air. Her breath hitched and her eyes glittered in the dim light as she peered at him, those eyes wide and bright with surprise.

He lowered his mouth and touched his lips to hers.

Sarah J. McNeal

Diverse stories filled with heart

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