Katelyn Farmer Track it Back- Chocolate! I love chocolate!

I will be that old lady laying in her death bed and the last thing I will want to eat before I die is chocolate cake with chocolate frosting, or molten lava cake. nything covered or filled with chocolate I absol!tely love! "very girl has that dream or wish that we can eat as m!ch chocolate as we want witho!t gaining weight, I have not fo!nd a way to do that yet for I am still trying to solve world h!nger. #ne $riority at a time! I starting thinking of all the different ways that chocolate is made and fo!nd some awesome reci$es on how to make homemade chocolate. Then I reali%ed, &'ey wait a second... they say to grind the coco beans or !se cocoa $owder.. b!t where did they get the coco beans() *o I decided to start my search from the so!rce, Coco Beans. From $od to $allet I+m going to give yo! ste$ by ste$ of the delicio!s $rocess ,maybe even throw in a reci$e for homemade chocolate if I find one I like-. Cocoa Beans originated from Cacao trees in .e/ico, Central merica, and 0orthern *o!th merica as early as 1122BC. F!n fact of the day, most .esoamericans, .ayans, and %tecs wo!ld make a drink from the coco beans and they named it, &/ocolatl 3o+kola tl4) which means &bitter water). *o!nds a$$eti%ing right( The .ayans and %tecs wo!ld !se the cocoa beans as an offering to their gods and wo!ld serve the bitter water d!ring sacred ceremonies. The coco beans are e/tremely bitter eating them !nless yo! ferment and roast them. 5oasting the beans is what gives chocolate its flavor we all love. fter yo! dry, clean, roast, and remove the shell the beans t!rn into &cacao nibs). It is basically $!re chocolate witho!t the s!gar or additives. fter that yo! li6!ify the nibs and that ste$ is considered &chocolate li6!or) ,can be $rocessed in two other ways, cocoa solids and cocoa b!tter- then yo! can add in the s!gar and other ingredients and mold the chocolate to what yo! desire bars, $ieces, blocks, etc. 7itho!t adding in the s!gars and milk the chocolate is bitter and really dark b!t it makes ama%ing baking chocolate. "arly settlers back in the 1822+s wo!ld trade the cocoa solids and beans in the Triangle Trade and early "!ro$ean settler 9ohn Cadb!ry, started to sweeten the chocolate and adding milk to the chocolate and solidifying the mi/t!re to create the chocolate bars we have today. 'ence the famo!s Cadb!ry candies and eggs I $ersonally love! 0ow a days chocolate is made !$ entirely different. 7e have come a long ways from, &bitter water) to delicio!s treats like 'ershey+s Chocolate bars. 0ow 'ershey+s is one of the most famo!s and recogni%able chocolate brands ne/t to 0estle. :ets travel all the long way to the factories in 'ershey ;ennsylvanian ,$revio!sly known as &<airy Co!ntry ;ennsylvania)-. The factory !nloads the cocoa beans year ro!nd and are trans$orted to silos for storage !ntil needed. They are then trans$orted to a machine that screens o!t all the !nwanted $articles s!ch as rocks or sticks and cleans the beans of dirt. fter they are cleaned they are sorted by the co!ntry of origin beca!se cocoa beans taste differently de$ending on where they where harvested. The beans are then roasted in big revolving roasters that $ass hot air thro!gho!t the beans, like a conventional oven, the heat changes the beans color to a dark brown and brings o!t the traditional smell of chocolate we are all familiar with. #nce they are roasted they are moved to a chamber they call, &the breaking chamber) meaning the beans are smashed and shattered to break !$ the nib from the shell it self. #nce they sort o!t the nibs they are then milled down to create the chocolate li6!or as mentioned earlier, the nibs are milled down three times to create the right consistency then into a $ress!re chamber to e/tract the cocoa b!tter leaving the cocoa solids. #nce the cocoa b!tter is removed from the mi/t!re they add a s$ecial combination of milk and s!gar and cocoa into a mi/er and blended together and formed into bars, kisses, chi$s, etc. Then wra$$ed and dated and loaded !$ and $assed on to malls, grocery stores, and to yo!! That is how yo! make 'ershey+s Chocolate. #ther brands might make their chocolate mi/t!re com$letely different even

down to the beans they !se and the s!gar they add. nother f!n fact of the day, eaten in moderation chocolate can $otentially lower blood $ress!re. I believe it does that beca!se it makes yo! ha$$y! The theobromine, $henethylamine, and caffeine in the chocolate affect the serotonin levels in yo!r brain. The theobromine in the chocolate is what is to/ic to animals like cats and dogs, that is what makes them sick if they eat it. 7e all have o!r favorite flavors of chocolate milk, white, dark, s$iced, maybe with fr!it. 7e all have o!r o!r $reference and they are all made differently as well. 7hite chocolate is the only chocolate that does not have cocoa solids in it beca!se it wo!ld change the color. 7hite chocolate is made with cocoa b!tter, s!gar, salt, and milk solids. <ark chocolate contains less s!gars and milk solids then all of the other chocolates ,white contains the most-. <ark chocolate is f!ll of antio/idants that are good for yo!r heart and is the best chocolate to eat in moderation to lower blood $ress!re and the get the heart healthy antio/idants. <octor #% stated that, &82= <ark chocolate co!nts as a health food beca!se the high 6!ality, slightly bitter chocolate contains flavonoids ,nat!ral chemicals with antio/idant $ro$erties- that im$rove blood vessel f!nction, "n>oy an o!nce or two a day. ;ass on milk chocolate tho!gh, it+s act!ally not chocolate, >!st milk fat with a chocolate coating,) Isn+t it ama%ing how something so sim$le as a little cocoa bean can t!rn into something we have en>oyed for cent!ries( 7hat once started o!t as a sim$le &bitter water) drink now can be t!rned into a sc!l$ted $iece of edible art that wins com$etitions on food network. There are so many different ty$es of cocoa that all started from the sim$le bars from 9ohn Cadb!ry. The more I have learned from st!dying different ty$es of chocolates and how they are made has made me love chocolate so m!ch more! I still co!ldn+t find a way to eat as m!ch chocolate as I want witho!t affect b!t I did learn that I can eat dark chocolate ,one of my favorites- and it can hel$ my health slightly! 7oot 7oot!