cocoa and chocolate

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Food products made from the cacao (or cocoa) bean, fruit of a tropical tree Theobroma cacao, now cultivated mainly in Africa. Chocolate as a drink was introduced to Europe from the New World by the Spanish in the 16th century; eating-chocolate was first produced in the late 18th century. Cocoa and chocolate are widely used in confectionery and drinks. More than 30 different pesticides are commonly used on cocoa crops, and traces of some have been detected in chocolate.

Preparation
This takes place in the importing country and consists chiefly of roasting, winnowing, and grinding the nib (the edible portion of the bean). If cocoa for drinking is required, a proportion of the cocoa butter is removed by hydraulic pressure and the remaining cocoa is reduced by further grinding and sieving to a fine powder. In chocolate all the original cocoa butter remains. Sugar and usually milk are added; in the UK cheaper vegetable fats are widely substituted.

History
The cacao tree is indigenous to the forests of the Amazon and Orinoco, and the use of the beans, sacred to the Indians of Mexico, was introduced into Europe after the conquest of Mexico by Cortés. In Mexico cacao was mixed with hot spices, whisked to a froth and drunk cold by the ruling class, during ritual events. A ‘cocoa-house’ was opened in London in 1657; others followed and became fashionable meeting places. In 1828 a press was invented that removed two-thirds of the cocoa butter from the beans, leaving a cake-like mass which, when mixed with sugar and spices, made a palatable drink. Joseph Fry (1728–1787) combined the cocoa mass with sugar and cocoa butter to obtain a solid chocolate bar, which was turned into milk chocolate by a Swiss, Daniel Pieter, who added condensed milk developed by Henri Nestlé (1814–1890). Cocoa powder was a later development. Côte d'Ivoire is the world's top cocoa exporter (32% of the world total in 1986).

Blue represents the black population and links with Africa. Red stands for those of mixed race. The original blue and red flag was based on the French tricolour. Effective date: 25 February 1986. >>