An Essay: Cacao and Chocolate ...

As we all know chocolate is made from the fruit cacao, cocoa beans. Cacao is used in many different ways. Mostly as food (chocolate bars, candies, ice cream, cookies, cakes, pies, chocolate cream), but nowadays people have started to use it in the beauty industry as well as there are scientific experiments for using cacao as a medicine. All kinds of drinks and desserts made from cacao are irresistible, especially for children. Chocolate brings a smile on peoples' faces, it is like a drug which people are addicted to. But how many of us have thought about the history of cacao, or where the chocolate comes from and which countries are consuming cacao the most? These questions are not coming into people’s minds so often, but they are good to know to have a better knowledge of the world we are living in.

Originally cacao is from tropical rain forests of the northern area of the Amazone. Cacao has been cultivated more than 3000 years and it has got its name from the Mayan word for the plant „cacau”. The people who first started to use cacao were the inhabitants of Venezuela in South America. Cacao was highly valuated by these people and they spread it to north by trading with their neighbours. Cacao was used in a number of ways, as a bitter spice in food and as a base for pasta or bread, but the most well known way of using cacao was as a drink. The beans were toasted, ground up and mixed with hot water and often a bit of corn, vanilla or chilies. Chocolate soup was also popular. Cacao was first domesticated in Central America about 1000 BC and grew for religious services.

There are amount of different versions how cacao arrived to Europe. A great deal of countries are claiming to be the first in Europe to grow cacao, but naturally the Spaniards were the first. The Spaniards began adding European flavourings to chocolate, such as vanilla, cinnamon, black pepper and of course cane sugar. Chocolate was widely used in Catholic countries after 1569 and in the middle of the 1600s. The first Chocolate Houses were opened in Europe (this is before Coffee Houses started up). Chocolate Houses became social meeting places for elite class, places were to meet and talk about politics. They were extremely expensive and trendy places. (Coffee was much cheaper and therefor for all people, for masses). At this time cacao was the most consumed in Europe by Spain (Venezuela had 50% of world production).

In 1828 the Dutch developed a press for getting the fat out of the ground beans and the powder, which is familiar today was produced. After that the powder was mixed with milk, instead of water. By the pressing method was also invented the product called Cocoa Butter. Twenty years later the Joseph Fry Factory discovered how to mix melted butter back to the powder to create a mass which was put into the forms: the first chocolate bar was invented.

The New World, Mexico, Costa Rica and primarily Venezuela were the main suppliers of cacao until the start of the 20th century. From there it moved first to the Carabbean and then to Africa. In the latest 19th many companies started to grow cacao on large plantations. Many of these companies were based on religious ideals to substitute alcohol with chocolate. Chocolate was a great alternative to alcohol and during the the First World War chocolate was added to each soldiers' daily food in the US Army. After the Second World War many Belgian and French companies specialized to make high grade chocolate. In 1994 the Chocolate war launched out and standards of chocolate rose. Pure chocolate bars were made of more than 70% of cacao.

Nowadays the six largest cocoa producing countries are the Ivory Coast, Ghana, Indonesia, Nigeria, Brazil and Cameroon. America is the biggest chocolate consuming country in the world, with consumers spending $13 billion annually on chocolate. M&M/Mars is the largest chocolate and candy company with annual sales of more than $20 billion. The other major chocolate companies are Cadbury, Nestle and Hershey. More than 90 per cent of the world’s cocoa is grown in small family farms and a mass of them are in trouble with poverty and even forced to use child labour. In the cacao market there are also problems with Fair Trading. It’s not lack of interest by consumers that keeps Fair Trade chocolate off the market. It is the resistance of big businesses to exchange a part of their profits to guarantee better working conditions and wages for cocoa farmers.

Chocolate is a pleasure and a trouble at the same time. Generally there is nothing wrong with chocolate, but the problem of it lies in its deliciousness. Chocolate is addictive, in fact. There was a reason for inventing the word chocoholic. In general moderate consumption might be useful, chocolate leads to immoderate use. Chocolate’s tempting taste has lead numerous of people to replace balanced eating with chocolate and ignore other food. Therefore, there is a considerable number of people overweight which has caused health disorders. Chocolate and products of it are irresistible, but people should be careful with over consuming. It may have an opposite effect to the real value of chocolate, to its pleasure.