Chocolate or cocoa is a food made from roasted and ground cocoa seed kernels that is available as a liquid, solid, or paste, either on its own or as a flavoring agent in other foods. Cocoa has been consumed in some form for at least 5,300 years starting with the Mayo-Chinchipe culture in what is present-day Ecuador. Later, Mesoamerican civilizations also consumed chocolate beverages, and it was introduced to Europe in the 16th century.
The seeds of the cacao tree (Theobroma cacao) have an intense bitter taste and must be fermented to develop the flavor. After fermentation, the seeds are dried, cleaned, and roasted. The shell is removed to produce nibs, which are then ground to cocoa mass, unadulterated chocolate in rough form. Once the cocoa mass is liquefied by heating, it is called chocolate liquor. The liquor may also be cooled and processed into its two components: cocoa solids and cocoa butter. Baking chocolate, also called bitter chocolate, contains cocoa solids and cocoa butter in varying proportions without any added sugar. Powdered baking cocoa, which contains more fiber than cocoa butter, can be processed with alkali to produce Dutch cocoa. Much of the chocolate consumed today is in the form of sweet chocolate, a combination of cocoa solids, cocoa butter, and added vegetable oils and sugar. Milk chocolate is sweet chocolate that additionally contains milk powder or condensed milk. White chocolate contains cocoa butter, sugar, and milk, but no cocoa solids.
Chocolate is one of the most popular food types and flavors in the world, and many foodstuffs involving chocolate exist, particularly desserts, including cakes, pudding, mousse, chocolate brownies, and chocolate chip cookies. Many candies are filled with or coated with sweetened chocolate. Chocolate bars, either made of solid chocolate or other ingredients coated in chocolate, are eaten as snacks. Gifts of chocolate molded into different shapes (such as eggs, hearts, and coins) are traditional on certain Western holidays, including Christmas, Easter, Valentine's Day, and Hanukkah. Chocolate is also used in cold and hot beverages, such as chocolate milk and hot chocolate, and in some alcoholic drinks, such as creme de cacao.
Although cocoa originated in the Americas, West African countries, particularly Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana, are the leading producers of cocoa in the 21st century, accounting for some 60% of the world cocoa supply.
A 2020 report estimated that more than 1.5 million children are involved in the farming of cocoa in Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana.[1]Child slavery and trafficking associated with the cocoa trade remain major concerns. A 2018 report argued that international attempts to improve conditions for children were doomed to failure because of persistent poverty, the absence of schools, increasing world cocoa demand, more intensive farming of cocoa, and continued exploitation of child labor.
Cocoa is a variant of cacao, likely due to confusion with the word coco.[2] It is ultimately derived from kakaw(a), but whether that word originates in Nahuatl or a Mixe-Zoquean language is the subject of substantial linguistic debate.[2][3] Chocolate is a Spanish loanword, first recorded in English in 1604,[4] and first recorded in Spanish in 1579.[5] The word for chocolate drink in early Nahuatl texts is cacahuatl meaning "cacao water", which chocolate does not immediately derive from.[6]
Despite theories that chocolate is derived from xocoatl meaning "bitter drink" or chocolatl meaning "hot water"[7][8] and uncertainty around the Nahuatl origin, there is a consensus that it likely derives from chicolatl.[9] Whether chicolatl means "cacao beater", however, is contested, due to difficulty knowing what chico means.[10]
The term "chocolatier", for a chocolate confection maker, is recorded from 1859.[11]
Image from a Maya ceramic depicting a container of frothed chocolate
The cocoa bean originated in the upper Amazon region. Evidence of its domestication dates back to 3300 BC in southeast Ecuador by the Mayo-Chinchipe culture, and it was later introduced to Mesoamerica.[12] The earliest archeological evidence of use in Mesoamerica appears on the Pacific coast of Chiapas, Mexico at a Mokaya archaeological site, which contains evidence of cocoa beverages dating as early as 1900 BC.[13] Evidence that chocolate was consumed as far North as Utah around 800 CE is controversial.[14] Cocoa beverages were not always made with seeds; evidence from 1100 BC Honduras shows alcoholic drinks made by fermenting the sweet pulp around the seeds.[15]
Documents in Maya hieroglyphs stated that chocolate was used for ceremonial purposes in addition to everyday life.[16] The Maya grew cacao trees in their backyards[17] and used the cocoa seeds the trees produced to make a frothy, bitter drink.[18]
By the 15th century, the Aztecs had gained control of a large part of Mesoamerica and had adopted cocoa into their culture. They associated chocolate with Quetzalcoatl, who, according to one legend, was cast away by the other gods for sharing chocolate with humans,[19] and identified its extrication from the pod with the removal of the human heart in sacrifice.[20] In contrast to the Maya, who liked their chocolate warm, the Aztecs drank it cold, seasoning it with a broad variety of additives, including the petals of the Cymbopetalum penduliflorum tree, chili pepper, allspice, vanilla, and honey.
Mexica. Man Carrying a Cacao Pod, 1440–1521. Volcanic stone, traces of red pigment. Brooklyn Museum.
The Aztecs were unable to grow cocoa themselves, as their home in the Mexican highlands was unsuitable for it, so chocolate was a luxury imported into the empire.[19] Those who lived in areas ruled by the Aztecs were required to offer cocoa seeds in payment of the tax they deemed "tribute".[19] Cocoa beans were often used as currency.[21] For example, the Aztecs used a system in which one turkey cost 100 cocoa beans[22] and one fresh avocado was worth three beans.[23]
The Maya and Aztecs associated cocoa with human sacrifice, and chocolate drinks specifically with sacrificial human blood.[24][25]
The Spanish royal chronicler Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo y Valdés described a chocolate drink he had seen in Nicaragua in 1528, mixed with achiote: "because those people are fond of drinking human blood, to make this beverage seem like blood, they add a little achiote, so that it then turns red. ... and part of that foam is left on the lips and around the mouth, and when it is red for having achiote, it seems a horrific thing, because it seems like blood itself."[25]
Until the 16th century, no European had ever heard of the popular drink from the Central American peoples.[19]Christopher Columbus and his son Ferdinand encountered the cocoa bean on Columbus's fourth mission to the Americas on 15 August 1502, when he and his crew stole a large native canoe that proved to contain cocoa beans among other goods for trade.[26] Spanish conquistadorHernán Cortés may have been the first European to encounter it, as the frothy drink was part of the after-dinner routine of Montezuma.[citation needed][27]José de Acosta, a Spanish Jesuit missionary who lived in Peru and then Mexico in the later 16th century, wrote of its growing influence on the Spaniards:
Although bananas are more profitable, cocoa is more highly esteemed in Mexico... Cocoa is a smaller fruit than almonds and thicker, which toasted do not taste bad. It is so prized among the Indians and even among Spaniards... because since it is a dried fruit it can be stored for a long time without deterioration, and they brings ships loaded with them from the province of Guatemala... It also serves as currency, because with five cocoas you can buy one thing, with thirty another, and with a hundred something else, without there being contradiction; and they give these cocoas as alms to the poor who beg for them. The principal product of this cocoa is a concoction which they make that they call "chocolate", which is a crazy thing treasured in that land, and those who are not accustomed are disgusted by it, because it has a foam on top and a bubbling like that of feces, which certainly takes a lot to put up with. Anyway, it is the prized beverage which the Indians offer to nobles who come to or pass through their lands; and the Spaniards, especially Spanish women born in those lands die for black chocolate. This aforementioned chocolate is said to be made in various forms and temperaments, hot, cold, and lukewarm. They are wont to use spices and much chili; they also make it into a paste, and it is said that it is a medicine to treat coughs, the stomach, and colds. Whatever may be the case, in fact those who have not been reared on this opinion are not appetized by it.[28]
Silver chocolate pot with hinged finial to insert a moulinet or swizzle stick, London 1714–15 (Victoria and Albert Museum)
While Columbus had taken cocoa beans with him back to Spain,[26] chocolate made no impact until Spanish friars introduced it to the Spanish court.[19]Agustín Farfán, a former court physician and Friar in New Spain, in Tratado Breve de Medicina first introduced cocoa to Europe with a medical use (digestion). Through the 17th and 18th centuries, doctors affirmed the healthy effects of chocolate, consequently boosting the import of chocolate and introducing its consumption in the Europe.[29]
After the Spanish conquest of the Aztecs, chocolate was imported to Europe. There, it quickly became a court favorite. It was still served as a beverage, but the Spanish added sugar, as well as honey (the original sweetener used by the Aztecs for chocolate), to counteract the natural bitterness.[22]Vanilla, another indigenous American introduction, was also a popular additive, with pepper and other spices sometimes used to give the illusion of a more potent vanilla flavor. Unfortunately, these spices tended to unsettle the European constitution; the Encyclopédie states, "The pleasant scent and sublime taste it imparts to chocolate have made it highly recommended; but a long experience having shown that it could potentially upset one's stomach", which is why chocolate without vanilla was sometimes referred to as "healthy chocolate".[30] By 1602, chocolate had made its way from Spain to Austria.[31] By 1662, Pope Alexander VII had declared that religious fasts were not broken by consuming chocolate drinks. Within about a hundred years, chocolate established a foothold throughout Europe.[19]
The new craze for chocolate brought with it a thriving slave market, as between the early 1600s and late 1800s, the laborious and slow processing of the cocoa bean was manual.[19] Cocoa plantations spread, as the English, Dutch, and French colonized and planted. With the depletion of Mesoamerican workers, largely to disease, cocoa production was often the work of poor wage laborers and African slaves. Wind-powered and horse-drawn mills were used to speed production, augmenting human labor. Heating the working areas of the table-mill, an innovation that emerged in France in 1732, also assisted in extraction.[32]
In 1729, the first water-powered machinery to grind cocoa beans was developed by Charles Churchman and his son Walter in Bristol, England.[33] In 1761, Joseph Fry and his partner John Vaughan bought Churchman's premises, founding Fry's.[33] The same year, Fry and Vaughan also acquired their own patent for a water-powered machine that could grind the cocoa beans to a fine powder and thus produce a superior cocoa drink.[34] In 1795, chocolate production entered the Industrial era when Fry's, under the founder's son Joseph Storrs Fry, used a Watt steam engine to ground cocoa beans.[33]The Baker Chocolate Company, which makes Baker's Chocolate, is the oldest producer of chocolate in the United States. Founded by Dr. James Baker and John Hannon in Boston in 1765, the business is still in operation.[35][36]
Despite the drink remaining the traditional form of consumption for a long time, solid chocolate was increasingly consumed since the 18th century.[38][39] Tablets, facilitating the consumption of chocolate under its solid form, have been produced since the early 19th century. Cailler (1819)[40] and Menier (1836)[41] are early examples. In 1830, chocolate is paired with hazelnuts, an innovation due to Kohler.[42]
Meanwhile, new processes that sped the production of chocolate emerged early in the Industrial Revolution. In 1815, Dutch chemist Coenraad van Houten introduced alkaline salts to chocolate, which reduced its bitterness.[19] A few years thereafter, in 1828, he created a press to remove about half the natural fat (cocoa butter) from chocolate liquor, which made chocolate both cheaper to produce and more consistent in quality. This innovation introduced the modern era of chocolate, allowing the mass-production of both pure cocoa butter and cocoa powder.[26]
Known as "Dutch cocoa", this machine-pressed chocolate was instrumental in the transformation of chocolate to its solid form when, in 1847, English chocolatier Joseph Fry discovered a way to make chocolate more easily moldable when he mixed the ingredients of cocoa powder and sugar with melted cocoa butter.[22][33] Subsequently, in 1866 his chocolate factory, Fry's, launched the first mass-produced chocolate bar, Fry's Chocolate Cream, and they became very popular.[37] Milk had sometimes been used as an addition to chocolate beverages since the mid-17th century, but in 1875 Swiss chocolatier Daniel Peter invented milk chocolate by mixing a powdered milk developed by Henri Nestlé with the liquor.[19][26] In 1879, the texture and taste of chocolate was further improved when Rudolphe Lindt invented the conching machine.[43]
Besides Nestlé, several notable chocolate companies had their start in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Rowntree's of York set up and began producing chocolate in 1862, after buying out the Tuke family business. Cadbury of Birmingham was manufacturing boxed chocolates in England by 1868.[19] Manufacturing their first Easter egg in 1875, Cadbury created the modern chocolate Easter egg after developing a pure cocoa butter that could easily be molded into smooth shapes.[44] In 1893, Milton S. Hershey purchased chocolate processing equipment at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, and soon began the career of Hershey's chocolates with chocolate-coated caramels.
Several types of chocolate can be distinguished. Pure, unsweetened chocolate, often called "baking chocolate", contains primarily cocoa solids and cocoa butter in varying proportions. Much of the chocolate consumed today is in the form of sweet chocolate, which combines chocolate with sugar.
Eating chocolate
The traditional types of chocolate are dark, milk and white. All of them contain cocoa butter, which is the ingredient defining the physical properties of chocolate (consistency and melting temperature). Plain (or dark) chocolate, as it name suggests, is a form of chocolate that is similar to pure cocoa liquor, although is usually made with a slightly higher proportion of cocoa butter.[45] It is simply defined by its cocoa percentage. In milk chocolate, the non-fat cocoa solids are partly or mostly replaced by milk solids.[46] In white chocolate, they are all replaced by milk solids, hence its ivory color.[47]
Other forms of eating chocolate exist, these include raw chocolate (made with unroasted beans) and ruby chocolate. An additional popular form of eating chocolate, gianduja, is made by incorporating nut paste (typically hazelnut) to the chocolate paste.[48]
In 2007, the Chocolate Manufacturers Association in the United States, whose members include Hershey, Nestlé, and Archer Daniels Midland, lobbied the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to change the legal definition of chocolate to let them substitute partially hydrogenated vegetable oils for cocoa butter, in addition to using artificial sweeteners and milk substitutes.[50] Currently, the FDA does not allow a product to be referred to as "chocolate" if the product contains any of these ingredients.[51][52]
In the EU a product can be sold as chocolate if it contains up to 5% vegetable oil, and must be labeled as "family milk chocolate" rather than "milk chocolate" if it contains 20% milk.[53]
According to Canadian Food and Drug Regulations, a "chocolate product" is a food product that is sourced from at least one "cocoa product" and contains at least one of the following: "chocolate, bittersweet chocolate, semi-sweet chocolate, dark chocolate, sweet chocolate, milk chocolate, or white chocolate". A "cocoa product" is defined as a food product that is sourced from cocoa beans and contains "cocoa nibs, cocoa liquor, cocoa mass, unsweetened chocolate, bitter chocolate, chocolate liquor, cocoa, low-fat cocoa, cocoa powder, or low-fat cocoa powder".[54]
Cacao
Chocolate is created from the cocoa bean. A cacao tree with fruit pods in various stages of ripening.
Chocolate is made from cocoa beans, the dried and fermented seeds of the cacao tree (Theobroma cacao), a small, 4–8 m tall (15–26 ft tall) evergreen tree native to the deep tropical region of the Americas.
Recent genetic studies suggest the most common genotype of the plant originated in the Amazon basin and was gradually transported by humans throughout South and Central America. Early forms of another genotype have also been found in what is now Venezuela. The scientific name, Theobroma, means "food of the gods".[55] The fruit, called a cocoa pod, is ovoid, 15–30 cm (6–12 in) long and 8–10 cm (3–4 in) wide, ripening yellow to orange, and weighing about 500 g (1.1 lb) when ripe.
Cacao trees are small, understory trees that need rich, well-drained soils. They naturally grow within 20° of either side of the equator because they need about 2000 mm of rainfall a year, and temperatures in the range of 21 to 32 °C (70 to 90 °F). Cacao trees cannot tolerate a temperature lower than 15 °C (59 °F).[56]
Genome
The sequencing in 2010 of the genome of the cacao tree may allow yields to be improved.[57] Due to concerns about global warming effects on lowland climate in the narrow band of latitudes where cocoa is grown (20 degrees north and south of the equator), the commercial company Mars, Incorporated and the University of California, Berkeley, are conducting genomic research in 2017–18 to improve the survivability of cacao plants in hot climates.[58]
Cocoa pods are harvested by cutting them from the tree using a machete, or by knocking them off the tree using a stick. It is important to harvest the pods when they are fully ripe, because if the pod is unripe, the beans will have a low cocoa butter content, or low sugar content, reducing the ultimate flavor.
Microbial fermentation
The beans (which are sterile within their pods) and their surrounding pulp are removed from the pods and placed in piles or bins to ferment. Micro-organisms, present naturally in the environment, ferment the pectin-containing material. Yeasts produce ethanol, lactic acid bacteria produce lactic acid, and acetic acid bacteria produce acetic acid. In some cocoa-producing regions an association between filamentous fungi and bacteria (called "cocobiota") acts to produce metabolites beneficial to human health when consumed.[59] The fermentation process, which takes up to seven days, also produces several flavor precursors, that eventually provide the chocolate taste.[60]
After fermentation, the beans must be dried to prevent mold growth. Climate and weather permitting, this is done by spreading the beans out in the sun from five to seven days.[61] In some growing regions (for example, Tobago), the dried beans are then polished for sale by "dancing the cocoa": spreading the beans onto a floor, adding oil or water, and shuffling the beans against each other using bare feet.[62]
Moist incubation
In this alternative process, the beans are dried without fermentation. The nibs are then removed and hydrated in an acidic solution. They are heated for 72 hours and dried again. Gas chromatography/mass spectrometry showed that the incubated chocolate had higher levels of Strecker aldehydes, and lower levels of pyrazines.[63][64]
Grinding and blending
A chocolate mill (right) grinds and heats cocoa kernels into chocolate liquor. A melanger (left) mixes milk, sugar, and other ingredients into the liquor.
The dried beans are then transported to a chocolate manufacturing facility. The beans are cleaned (removing twigs, stones, and other debris), roasted, and graded. Next, the shell of each bean is removed to extract the nib. The nibs are ground and liquefied, resulting in pure chocolate liquor.[65] The liquor can be further processed into cocoa solids and cocoa butter.[66]
Producers of high-quality, small-batch chocolate argue that mass production produces bad-quality chocolate.[67] Some mass-produced chocolate contains much less cocoa (as low as 7% in many cases), and fats other than cocoa butter. Vegetable oils and artificial vanilla flavor are often used in cheaper chocolate to mask poorly fermented and/or roasted beans.[67]
The penultimate process is called conching. A conche is a container filled with metal beads, which act as grinders. The refined and blended chocolate mass is kept in a liquid state by frictional heat. Chocolate before conching has an uneven and gritty texture. The conching process produces cocoa and sugar particles smaller than the tongue can detect (typically around 20 μm) and reduces rough edges, hence the smooth feel in the mouth. The length of the conching process determines the final smoothness and quality of the chocolate. High-quality chocolate is conched for about 72 hours, and lesser grades about four to six hours. After the process is complete, the chocolate mass is stored in tanks heated to about 45 to 50 °C (113 to 122 °F) until final processing.[68]
After conching, chocolate is tempered. This process aims to create a crystallize a small amount of fat in a particularly stable formation. Around this small amount of crystals, the rest of the fats crystallize, creating a glossy chocolate, with a crisp break.[69][70]
Shaping
Chocolate is molded in different shapes for different uses:[71]
Chocolate cubes, pistoles and calletsChocolate bars (tablets) are rectangular blocks of chocolate meant to be broken down to cubes (or other predefined shapes), which can then be used for consumption, cooking and baking. The term is also used for combination bars, which are a type of candy bars
Chocolate chips are small pieces of chocolate, usually drop-like, which are meant for decoration and baking
Pistoles, callets and fèves are small, coin-like or bean-like pieces of chocolate meant for baking and patisserie applications (also see Pistole (coin) and Fève (trinket))
Chocolate blocks are large, cuboid chunks of chocolate meant for professional use and further processing
Other, more specialized shapes for chocolate include sticks, curls and hollow semi-spheres
Storage
Chocolate is very sensitive to temperature and humidity. Ideal storage temperatures are between 15 and 17 °C (59 and 63 °F), with a relative humidity of less than 50%. If refrigerated or frozen without containment, chocolate can absorb enough moisture to cause a whitish discoloration, the result of fat or sugar crystals rising to the surface. Various types of "blooming" effects can occur if chocolate is stored or served improperly.[72]
Chocolate bloom is caused by storage temperature fluctuating or exceeding 24 °C (75 °F), while sugar bloom is caused by temperature below 15 °C (59 °F) or excess humidity. To distinguish between different types of bloom, one can rub the surface of the chocolate lightly, and if the bloom disappears, it is fat bloom. Moving chocolate between temperature extremes, can result in an oily texture. Although visually unappealing, chocolate suffering from bloom is safe for consumption and taste is unaffected.[73][74][75] Bloom can be reversed by retempering the chocolate or using it for any use that requires melting the chocolate.[76]
Chocolate is generally stored away from other foods, as it can absorb different aromas. Ideally, chocolates are packed or wrapped, and placed in proper storage with the correct humidity and temperature. Additionally, chocolate is frequently stored in a dark place or protected from light by wrapping paper. The glossy shine, snap, aroma, texture, and taste of the chocolate can show the quality and whether it was stored well.[77]
It is unlikely that chocolate consumption in small amounts causes lead poisoning. Some studies have shown that lead may bind to cocoa shells, and contamination may occur during the manufacturing process.[84] One study showed the mean lead level in milk chocolate candy bars was 0.027 μg lead per gram of candy;[84] another study found that some chocolate purchased at U.S. supermarkets contained up to 0.965 μg per gram, close to the international (voluntary) standard limit for lead in cocoa powder or beans, which is 1 μg of lead per gram.[85] In 2006, the U.S. FDA lowered by one-fifth the amount of lead permissible in candy, but compliance is only voluntary.[86] Studies concluded that "children, who are big consumers of chocolates, may be at risk of exceeding the daily limit of lead; whereas one 10 g cube of dark chocolate may contain as much as 20% of the daily lead oral limit. "Moreover chocolate may not be the only source of lead in their nutrition"[87] and "chocolate might be a significant source of cadmium and lead ingestion, particularly for children."[88] According to a 2005 study, the average lead concentration of cocoa beans is ≤ 0.5 ng/g, which is one of the lowest reported values for a natural food.[84] However, during cultivation and production, chocolate may absorb lead from the environment (such as in atmospheric emissions of now unused leaded gasoline).[84][89]
Cadmium
The European Food Safety Authority recommended a tolerable weekly intake for cadmium of 2.5 micrograms per kg of body weight for Europeans, indicating that consuming chocolate products caused exposure of about 4% among all foods eaten.[90][91][92]1986 California Proposition 65 requires a warning label on chocolate products having more than 4.1 mg of cadmium per daily serving of a single product.[93][94][95]
Caffeine
One tablespoonful (5 grams) of dry unsweetened cocoa powder has 12.1 mg of caffeine[96] and a 25-g single serving of dark chocolate has 22.4 mg of caffeine.[97] Although a single 7 oz. (200 ml) serving of coffee may contain 80–175 mg,[98] studies have shown psychoactive effects in caffeine doses as low as 9 mg, and a dose as low as 12.5 mg was shown to have effects on cognitive performance.[99]
Theobromine and oxalate
Chocolate may be a factor for heartburn in some people because one of its constituents, theobromine, may affect the esophageal sphincter muscle in a way that permits stomach acids to enter the esophagus.[100]Theobromine poisoning is an overdosage reaction to the bitter alkaloid, which happens more frequently in domestic animals than humans. However, daily intake of 50–100 g cocoa (0.8–1.5 g theobromine) by humans has been associated with sweating, trembling, and severe headache.[101]
A typical 20-kilogram (44 lb) dog will normally experience great intestinal distress after eating less than 240 grams (8.5 oz) of dark chocolate, but will not necessarily experience bradycardia or tachycardia unless it eats at least a half a kilogram (1.1 lb) of milk chocolate. Dark chocolate has 2 to 5 times more theobromine and thus is more dangerous to dogs. According to the Merck Veterinary Manual, approximately 1.3 grams of baker's chocolate per kilogram of a dog's body weight (0.02 oz/lb) is sufficient to cause symptoms of toxicity. For example, a typical 25-gram (0.88 oz) baker's chocolate bar would be enough to bring about symptoms in a 20-kilogram (44 lb) dog. In the 20th century, there were reports that mulch made from cocoa bean shells is dangerous to dogs and livestock.[106][107]
Research
Commonly consumed chocolate is high in fat and sugar, which are associated with an increased risk for obesity when chocolate is consumed in excess.[108]
Overall evidence is insufficient to determine the relationship between chocolate consumption and acne.[109][110] Various studies point not to chocolate, but to the high glycemic nature of certain foods, like sugar, corn syrup, and other simple carbohydrates, as potential causes of acne,[109][110][111][112] along with other possible dietary factors.[109][113]
Food, including chocolate, is not typically viewed as addictive.[114] Some people, however, may want or crave chocolate,[114] leading to a self-described term, chocoholic.[114][115]
By some popular myths, chocolate is considered to be a mood enhancer, such as by increasing sex drive or stimulating cognition, but there is little scientific evidence that such effects are consistent among all chocolate consumers.[116][117] If mood improvement from eating chocolate occurs, there is not enough research to indicate whether it results from the favorable flavor or from the stimulant effects of its constituents, such as caffeine, theobromine, or their parent molecule, methylxanthine.[117] A 2019 review reported that chocolate consumption does not improve depressive mood.[118]
Reviews support a short-term effect of lowering blood pressure by consuming cocoa products, but there is no evidence of long-term cardiovascular health benefit.[119][120] Chocolate and cocoa are under preliminary research to determine if consumption affects the risk of certain cardiovascular diseases[121] or enhances cognitive abilities.[122] While daily consumption of cocoa flavanols (minimum dose of 200 mg) appears to benefit platelet and vascular function,[123] there is no good evidence to indicate an effect on heart attacks or strokes.[123][124] Research has also shown that consuming dark chocolate does not substantially affect blood pressure.[125]
Labeling
Some manufacturers provide the percentage of chocolate in a finished chocolate confection as a label quoting percentage of "cocoa" or "cacao". This refers to the combined percentage of both cocoa solids and cocoa butter in the bar, not just the percentage of cocoa solids.[126] The Belgian AMBAO certification mark indicates that no non-cocoa vegetable fats have been used in making the chocolate.[127][128] A long-standing dispute between Britain on the one hand and Belgium and France over British use of vegetable fats in chocolate ended in 2000 with the adoption of new standards which permitted the use of up to five percent vegetable fats in clearly labelled products.[129] This British style of chocolate has sometimes been pejoratively referred to as "vegelate".[129]
In the United States, some large chocolate manufacturers lobbied the federal government to permit confections containing cheaper hydrogenated vegetable oil in place of cocoa butter to be sold as "chocolate". In June 2007, in response to consumer concern about the proposal, the FDA reiterated "Cacao fat, as one of the signature characteristics of the product, will remain a principal component of standardized chocolate."[132]
Chocolate, prevalent throughout the world, is a steadily growing, US$50 billion-a-year worldwide business as of 2009.[133] As of 2006, Europe accounted for 45% of the world's chocolate revenue,[134] and the US spent $20 billion in 2013.[135]Big Chocolate is the grouping of major international chocolate companies in Europe and the U.S. U.S. companies Mars and Hershey's alone generated $13 billion a year in chocolate sales and account for two-thirds of U.S. production in 2004.[136] Despite the expanding reach of the chocolate industry internationally, cocoa farmers and labourers in the Ivory Coast are often unaware of the uses of the beans; the high cost of chocolate products in the Ivory Coast makes them inaccessible to the majority of the population, who do not know what chocolate tastes like.[137]
Roughly two-thirds of the entire world's cocoa is produced in West Africa, with 43% sourced from Côte d'Ivoire,[138] where, as of 2007[update], child labor is a common practice to obtain the product.[139][140] According to the World Cocoa Foundation, in 2007 some 50 million people around the world depended on cocoa as a source of livelihood.[141] As of 2007[update] in the UK, most chocolatiers purchase their chocolate from them, to melt, mold and package to their own design.[142] According to the WCF's 2012 report, the Ivory Coast is the largest producer of cocoa in the world.[143]
The two main jobs associated with creating chocolate candy are chocolate makers and chocolatiers. Chocolate makers use harvested cocoa beans and other ingredients to produce couverture chocolate (covering). Chocolatiers use the finished couverture to make chocolate candies (bars, truffles, etc.).[144]
Production costs can be decreased by reducing cocoa solids content or by substituting cocoa butter with another fat. Cocoa growers object to allowing the resulting food to be called "chocolate", due to the risk of lower demand for their crops.[141]
Guylian is best known for its chocolate sea shells; Cadbury for its Dairy Milk and Creme Egg. The Hershey Company, the largest chocolate manufacturer in North America, produces the Hershey Bar and Hershey's Kisses.[145] Mars Incorporated, a large privately owned U.S. corporation, produces Mars Bar, Milky Way, M&M's, Twix, and Snickers. Lindt is known for its truffle balls and gold foil-wrapped Easter bunnies.
Food conglomerates Nestlé SA and Kraft Foods both have chocolate brands. Nestlé acquired Rowntree's in 1988 and now markets chocolates under their brand, including Smarties (a chocolate candy) and Kit Kat (a chocolate bar); Kraft Foods through its 1990 acquisition of Jacobs Suchard, now owns Milka and Suchard. In February 2010, Kraft also acquired British-based Cadbury;[146] Fry's, Trebor Basset and the fair trade brand Green & Black's also belongs to the group.
The widespread use of children in cocoa production is controversial, not only for the concerns about child labor and exploitation, but also because up to 12,000 of the 200,000 children working in the Ivory Coast, the world's biggest producer of cocoa,[147] may be victims of trafficking or slavery.[148] Most attention on this subject has focused on West Africa, which collectively supplies 69 percent of the world's cocoa,[149] and the Ivory Coast in particular, which supplies 35 percent of the world's cocoa.[149] Thirty percent of children under age 15 in sub-Saharan Africa are child laborers, mostly in agricultural activities including cocoa farming.[150] Major chocolate producers, such as Nestlé, buy cocoa at commodities exchanges where Ivorian cocoa is mixed with other cocoa.[151]
As of 2017, approximately 2.1 million children in Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire were involved in farming cocoa, carrying heavy loads, clearing forests, and being exposed to pesticides.[152] According to Sona Ebai, the former secretary-general of the Alliance of Cocoa Producing Countries: "I think child labor cannot be just the responsibility of industry to solve. I think it's the proverbial all-hands-on-deck: government, civil society, the private sector. And there, you need leadership."[148] Reported in 2018, a 3-year pilot program – conducted by Nestlé with 26,000 farmers mostly located in Côte d'Ivoire – observed a 51% decrease in the number of children doing hazardous jobs in cocoa farming.[153] The US Department of Labor formed the Child Labor Cocoa Coordinating Group as a public-private partnership with the governments of Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire to address child labor practices in the cocoa industry.[154] The International Cocoa Initiative involving major cocoa manufacturers established the Child Labor Monitoring and Remediation System intended to monitor thousands of farms in Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire for child labor conditions,[153][152] but the program reached less than 20% of the child laborers.[155] Despite these efforts, goals to reduce child labor in West Africa by 70% before 2020 are frustrated by persistent poverty, absence of schools, expansion of cocoa farmland, and increased demand for cocoa.[153][156]
In April 2018, the Cocoa Barometer report stated: "Not a single company or government is anywhere near reaching the sector-wide objective of the elimination of child labor, and not even near their commitments of a 70% reduction of child labor by 2020". They cited persistent poverty, the absence of schools, increasing world cocoa demand, more intensive farming of cocoa, and continued exploitation of child labor.[153][156]
In the 2000s, some chocolate producers began to engage in fair trade initiatives, to address concerns about the marginalization of cocoa laborers in developing countries. Traditionally, Africa and other developing countries received low prices for their exported commodities such as cocoa, which caused poverty to abound. Fairtrade seeks to establish a system of direct trade from developing countries to counteract this system.[157] One solution for fair labor practices is for farmers to become part of an Agricultural cooperative. Cooperatives pay farmers a fair price for their cocoa so farmers have enough money for food, clothes, and school fees.[158] One of the main tenets of fair trade is that farmers receive a fair price, but this does not mean that the larger amount of money paid for fair trade cocoa goes directly to the farmers. The effectiveness of fair trade has been questioned. In a 2014 article, The Economist stated that workers on fair trade farms have a lower standard of living than on similar farms outside the fair trade system.[159]
Chocolate is sold in chocolate bars, which come in dark chocolate, milk chocolate and white chocolate varieties. Some bars that are mostly chocolate have other ingredients blended into the chocolate, such as nuts, raisins, or crisped rice. Chocolate is used as an ingredient in a huge variety of bars, which typically contain various confectionary ingredients (e.g., nougat, wafers, caramel, nuts, etc.) which are coated in chocolate.
A gift box of chocolates, which is a common gift for Valentine's Day
Chocolate is associated with festivals such as Easter, when moulded chocolate rabbits and eggs are traditionally given in Christian communities, and Hanukkah, when chocolate coins are given in Jewish communities. Chocolate hearts and chocolate in heart-shaped boxes are popular on Valentine's Day and are often presented along with flowers and a greeting card. In 1868, Cadbury created a decorated box of chocolates in the shape of a heart for Valentine's Day.[37][160] Boxes of filled chocolates quickly became associated with the holiday.[37] Chocolate is an acceptable gift on other holidays and on occasions such as birthdays.
Many confectioners make holiday-specific chocolate candies. Chocolate Easter eggs or rabbits and Santa Claus figures are two examples. Such confections can be solid, hollow, or filled with sweets or fondant.
Books and film
Chocolate has been the center of several successful book and film adaptations.
In 1964, Roald Dahl published a children's novel titled Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. The novel centers on a poor boy named Charlie Bucket who takes a tour through the greatest chocolate factory in the world, owned by the eccentric Willy Wonka.[161] Two film adaptations of the novel were produced: Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971) and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005). A third adaptation, an origin prequel film titled Wonka, was released in 2023.[162]
^Swanton M, de Ávila A, van Doesburg B (2010). "Comments on Kaufman and Justeson: "The History of the Word for Cacao in Ancient Mesoamerica"". Ancient Mesoamerica. 21: 435. doi:10.1017/S0956536111000186.
^Powis TG, Hurst WJ, Rodríguez Md, Ortíz C P, Blake M, Cheetham D, et al. (April 2008). "The Origins of Cacao Use in Mesoamerica". The Journal of Mesoamerican Studies. 30 (2): 38. JSTOR23759545.
^Solís y Ribadeneyra Ad (1685). "Book III Chapter XV". The History of the Conquest of Mexico by the Spaniards, done into English by Thomas Townsend. Translated by Thomas Townsend. London. pp. 336–38.
^Diderot, Denis. "Chocolate".Archived 1 November 2022 at the Wayback Machine in The Encyclopedia of Diderot & d'Alembert Collaborative Translation Project. Translated by Colleen Oberc, Samantha Schaeffer, and Courtney Wilder. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Library, 2015. Trans. of "Chocolat", Encyclopédie ou Dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers, vol. 3. Paris, 1753".
^ abcdMintz S (2015). The Oxford Companion to Sugar and Sweets. Oxford University Press. p. 157.
^Coe, Sophie D. (2015) [1994]. America's First Cuisines. University of Texas Press. pp. 56–57. ISBN978-1-4773-0971-1. Archived from the original on 6 February 2024. Retrieved 27 May 2023. Most sixteenth-, seventeenth-, and eighteenth-century cacao was for drinking, but its consumption in solid form was not unheard of. To make a drink out of processed cacao beans they must be ground, and then, unless they are immediately made into a drink, the mass congeals. [...] A tablet of this nature could be dissolved in hot water to make the breakfast chocolate, but it could also be nibbled. [...] With the addition of sugar this began the production of what are called modern chocolates. Many people take it to mean that solid chocolate was not eaten before Van Houten's time, but as the preceding paragraph has shown, this is not so.
^Davidson, Alan (2014). The Oxford Companion to Food. OUP Oxford. p. 183. ISBN978-0-19-104072-6. Already by the end of the 18th century there had been a perceptible increase in the amount of chocolate being eaten, in slabs and pastilles...
^Barel, Michel (2021). Du cacao au chocolat: L'épopée d'une gourmandise. Éditions Quæ. p. 102. ISBN978-2-7592-3379-3. Archived from the original on 6 February 2024. Retrieved 12 April 2023. Le premier est François-Louis Cailler, l'inventeur de la tablette de chocolat telle que nous la connaissons aujourd'hui. [The first is François-Louis Cailler, the inventor of the chocolate tablet as we know it today.]
^Maraval, Pierre (2019). Madame Piffaut: La vie mystérieuse de la reine des escrocs. Max Milo. ISBN978-2-315-00933-6. Archived from the original on 16 July 2023. Retrieved 27 May 2023. Au xixe siècle, des fabriques de chocolat ouvrirent dans divers pays ; les premières se nommaient Cailler, Suchard, Cadbury, Van Houten. Mais c'est un Français, Antoine Brutus Menier, qui révolutionna le commerce du chocolat en inventant en 1836 la tablette, composée de barres semi-cylindriques enveloppées dans du papier. [In the nineteenth century, chocolate factories opened in various countries; the first were named Cailler, Suchard, Cadbury, Van Houten. But it was a Frenchman, Antoine Brutus Menier, who revolutionized the chocolate trade by inventing the tablet in 1836, made up of semi-cylindrical bars wrapped in paper.]
^Hermé, Pierre (2019). Le Larousse du chocolat. Editions Larousse. p. 44. ISBN978-2-03-598182-0. Archived from the original on 6 February 2024. Retrieved 12 April 2023. Les noisettes furent les premiers fruits à être ajoutés dans le chocolat solide, une innovation suisse due à Kohler en 1830. [Hazelnuts were the first fruits to be added to solid chocolate, a Swiss innovation due to Kohler in 1830.]
^Guzmán-Alvarez R, G Márquez-Ramos J (2021). Laranjo M (ed.). Fermentation – Processes, Benefits and Risks. Évora, Portugal: University of Évora. p. 128. ISBN978-1-83968-816-4.
^Schwan R, Wheals A (2004). "The Microbiology of Cocoa Fermentation and its Role in Chocolate Quality". Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition. 44 (4): 205–221. doi:10.1080/10408690490464104. PMID15462126. S2CID34523445.
^National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, Health and Medicine Division, Food and Nutrition Board, Committee to Review the Dietary Reference Intakes for Sodium and Potassium (2019). Oria M, Harrison M, Stallings VA (eds.). Dietary Reference Intakes for Sodium and Potassium. The National Academies Collection: Reports funded by National Institutes of Health. Washington, DC: National Academies Press (US). ISBN978-0-309-48834-1. PMID30844154. Archived from the original on 9 May 2024. Retrieved 21 June 2024.
^Miller KB, Hurst WJ, Payne MJ, Stuart DA, Apgar J, Sweigart DS, et al. (2008). "Impact of Alkalization on the Antioxidant and Flavanol Content of Commercial Cocoa Powders". Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. 56 (18): 8527–33, 8527. doi:10.1021/jf801670p. PMID18710243.
^"Caffeine". New South Wales Government. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 8 September 2015.
^Miller KB, Hurst WJ, Flannigan N, Ou B, Lee CY, Smith N, et al. (2009). "Survey of Commercially Available Chocolate- and Cocoa-Containing Products in the United States. 2. Comparison of Flavan-3-ol Content with Nonfat Cocoa Solids, Total Polyphenols, and Percent Cacao". Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. 57 (19): 9169–80. doi:10.1021/jf901821x. PMID19754118.
^Yanus RL, Sela H, Borojovich EJ, Zakon Y, Saphier M, Nikolski A, et al. (2014). "Trace elements in cocoa solids and chocolate: An ICPMS study". Talanta. 119: 1–4. doi:10.1016/j.talanta.2013.10.048. PMID24401377.
^Villa JE, Peixoto RR, Cadore S (2014). "Cadmium and Lead in Chocolates Commercialized in Brazil". Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. 62 (34): 8759–63. doi:10.1021/jf5026604. PMID25123980.
^"32021R1323". EUR-Lex. 10 August 2021. Archived from the original on 15 March 2023. Retrieved 15 March 2023. new maximum levels for baby foods and chocolate/cocoa products were established under Commission Regulation (EU) No 488/2014
^"32014R0488". EUR-Lex. 12 May 2014. Archived from the original on 15 March 2023. Retrieved 15 March 2023. maximum levels of cadmium in foodstuffs Text with EEA relevance
^Abt E, Fong Sam J, Gray P, Robin LP (3 April 2018). "Cadmium and lead in cocoa powder and chocolate products in the US Market". Food Additives & Contaminants: Part B. 11 (2): 92–102. doi:10.1080/19393210.2017.1420700. PMID29310543. S2CID13677509.
^"Theobromine: Toxicity summary". PubChem, U.S. National Library of Medicine. 25 November 2023. Archived from the original on 26 November 2023. Retrieved 26 November 2023.
^Schroder T, Vanhanen L, Savage GP (2011). "Oxalate content in commercially produced cocoa and dark chocolate". Journal of Food Composition and Analysis. 24 (7): 916–922. doi:10.1016/j.jfca.2011.03.008.
^Aremu CY, Agiang MA, Ayatse JO (1995). "Nutrient and antinutrient profiles of raw and fermented cocoa beans". Plant Foods for Human Nutrition (Dordrecht, Netherlands). 48 (3): 217–23. doi:10.1007/bf01088443. PMID8833428. S2CID21376588.
^Drolet R, Arendt TD, Stowe CM (1984). "Cacao bean shell poisoning in a dog". Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association. 185 (8): 902. PMID6501051.
^Blakemore F, Shearer GD (1943). "The poisoning of livestock by cacao products". Veterinary Record. 55 (15): 165.
^Mahmood SN, Bowe WP (April 2014). "Diet and acne update: carbohydrates emerge as the main culprit". Journal of Drugs in Dermatology. 13 (4): 428–35. PMID24719062.
^ abO'Keefe B (1 March 2016). "Inside Big Chocolate's Child Labor Problem". Fortune. Archived from the original on 12 January 2019. Retrieved 7 January 2018. For a decade and a half, the big chocolate makers have promised to end child labor in their industry – and have spent tens of millions of dollars in the effort. But as of the latest estimate, 2.1 million West African children still do the dangerous and physically taxing work of harvesting cocoa. What will it take to fix the problem?
^ ab"Cocoa Market Update"(PDF). World Cocoa Foundation. May 2010. Archived from the original(PDF) on 13 October 2011. Retrieved 11 December 2011.
^"Child Labor in the Production of Cocoa". Bureau of International Labor Affairs, United States Department of Labor, Washington, DC. 2018. Archived from the original on 19 December 2018. Retrieved 7 January 2019.
^Goodman MK (2004). "Reading fairtrade: political ecological imaginary and the moral economy of fairtrade foods". Political Geography. 23 (7): 891–915. doi:10.1016/j.polgeo.2004.05.013.
^Guinness World Records 2017. Guinness World Records. 8 September 2016. p. 90. ISBN978-1-910561-34-8. Archived from the original on 10 January 2023. Retrieved 18 July 2022. Richard Cadbury, eldest son of John Cadbury who founded the now iconic brand, was the first chocolate-maker to commercialize the association between confectionery and romance, producing a heart-shaped box of chocolates for Valentine's Day in 1868