Chocolate is quite possibly the greatest invention ever! Biased opinion I know, but here are the facts: it’s deliciously addictive, the smell ahhhhh the sweet smell and 97% of the World’s population craves it. But how did this magical been come to be?

Chocolate’s 4000-year old history began in ancient Mesoamerica, it’s here that the first cacao plants were found. The Olmec, one of the earliest civilisations in Latin America, were the first to turn the cacao plant into chocolate. They drank their chocolate during rituals and used it as medicine. Centuries later, the Mayans praised chocolate at the drink of the gods. Mayan chocolate was a revered brew made of roasted and ground cacao seeds mixed with chillies, water and cornmeal. Mayans poured this mixture from one pot to another, creating a thick foamy beverage called “xocolatl, meaning “bitter water”

The Aztecs took chocolate admiration to another level. They believed cacao was given to them by their gods. Like the Mayans, they enjoyed the caffeinated kick of hot or cold, spiced chocolate beverages in ornate containers, but they also used cacao beans as currency to buy food and other goods. In Aztec culture, cacao beans were considered more valuable than gold!

During the Revolutionary War, chocolate was provided to the military as rations and sometimes given to soldiers as payment instead of money. Chocolate was also provided as rations to soldiers during World War II

 

So what’s the difference between compound and couverture chocolate?

The two major constituents of chocolate, that are responsible for it’s flavour and quality, are chocolate liquor and cocoa butter.

These two ingredients determine the chocolate’s taste and worth.

The superior the nature of chocolate liquor and cocoa butter, the finer the chocolate tastes.

In a chocolate compound, the chocolate liquor is replaced with cocoa powder, and cocoa butter with vegetable oil.

While such substitutions does make the chocolate affordable, it sacrifices flavour.

 

So why eat organic chocolate?

Conventional cacao tree cultivation uses more pesticides than other factory farming process except cotton. In addition to using synthetic pesticides, herbicides and fertilisers, many non-organic chocolates, once processed contain high fructose corn syrup, wax, artificial flavours and colours and other unappetising non-food ingredients.

We chocolate coat all our products in an organic Belgium styled couverture chocolate, this results in a luxuriously smooth and full flavoured chocolate. Besides the overwhelming health benefits of chocolate the euphoria it brings is unmatched.

With more than 500 flavours to stimulate your taste buds, 250 more than any other food, it’s no wonder we love chocolate!