Chocolate has got to be one of the world’s most favourite foods across the board with very rare exceptions. Chocolate can be enjoyed anytime and if there is a requisite for excuses, there is abundance of those.
There is no age barfor loving chocolate, and it often brings out the best and the worst in people.Being so irresistible, it’s used as a tool of manipulation, bribery, blackmail,seduction, love and friendship with positive results every time. It is bothgood and bad for health. It’s bad for our teeth and causes osteoporosis in theaged not forgetting obesity, all caused due to the sweetening and fattening ofit by the Europeans. Dark chocolate is great for health, and it benefits rangefrom being good for circulation to being anti-cancer, and from being a brainstimulator to being popular as an aphrodisiac. It is best on its own, but givesa new dimension to desserts and even main course dishes.
Chocolate is made fromcocoa, originating in Mexico and Central America, and has been in use for aboutthree millennia by the Aztecs, who made a beverage called Xocolātl. It was essentially abeverage consumed by the Mesoamericans, and then like everything else in thisworld, the Spanish conquistadores liked it and took it far and wide. From thefifteen hundreds, when it was taken to Spain, it spread to France, England andalmost 200 years later to the USA, home to the largest commercial producer ofchocolate Globally, Hershey’s. In India it was probably the British thatbrought chocolate here, the evidence being in the fact that Cadbury is theaccepted term for any chocolate. Although Cocoa originated in Central America,the two thirds of the world’s production come from West Africa, Côte d'Ivoire producing almost half. Swisschocolates are the most famous with very high quality standards.
Chocolate can be paired with almost allfoods but goes best with some fruits and game meat. Grate a little chocolate orjust pour some rich chocolate sauce on top of any dessert and you get thatextra layer of decadence. The British were the first to add chocolate intocakes and rolls and what an idea that was. Can you imagine a life withoutchocolate cake or chocolate chip cookies, or even doughnuts without a chocolatestuffing? The French created the ever brilliant chocolate croissant and theéclair, and whoever thought about the chocolate fondant needs to be sanctified.From simply dipping strawberries in melted chocolate to creating chocolatesstuffed with every fancy brand of booze available to pouring it over slowroasted duck and adding it to chicken and spices to make Molé, it’s all been done. The origin of the combination of chocolate andnuts is unknown but it’s a match made in heaven and it’s an affair that’s beenon for thousands of years. They saychocolate actually lengthens your life expectancy, and though the theory is notproven why do I want to take a chance?
