All about Chocolate

“Life is like a box of chocolates. You never

know what you’re going to get.” (Forrest Gump)
 Content

(1) History of Chocolate

(2) Production of Chocolate
(3) Prejudices and Truth
(4) Chocolate in everyday life
 Where does Cocoa come from?
• First people who made chocolate were the Mayas and
the Aztecs
• They drank chocolate as a bitter and spicy beverage
called “xocoatl” (“bitter water”)
• Chocolate played an important role in their social and
religious life
• It symbolized life and fertility and was also used as
medicine
• It was a drink for wealthy and
important people
(royalty, priests, etc.)
• Cocoa beans were also used
as money
Chocolate in Europe - Some Dates
1674: The first solid chocolate in a stick form had
been sold
End of 17th century: chocolate came to Germany
 first pralines were made by a German cook
 a tax was imposed by Frederick I of Prussia
1792: A chocolate factory was opened in Berlin
1875: The first milk chocolate was put on the
market
 Flow Diagram of
Chocolate Production

Step 1: cocoa beans

Step 2: shell and nibs

Step 3: cocoa powder

Step 4: plain chocolate

1. It all starts from a tree – a cocoa tree.
cocoa farmers harvests the pods they
used a long handle knife to cut them
down.
• 2.The farmers then cut the pods open to
reveal cocoa beans covered in pulp.
3. Then farmers then lay banana leaves on
the ground and they then leave them to
ferment for seven days. This makes the
beans change colour and gives them their
chocolate flavour.
4.After they have been fermented, they put
them on a drying table.
5. When the drying is complete they take the
beans in a sack
Then the sack get sealed, loaded onto ships
and transported across the world.
 Table of Prejudices and Truth
Prejudice Reason Truth
migraine large doses of tyramine only small quantity
 Table of Prejudices and Truth
Prejudice Reason Truth
migraine large doses of tyramine only small quantity
obesity sugar * a lot of sugar
# less sugar  no
correlation

*cheap, mass-produced chocolate # dark chocolate (> 70%)

 Table of Prejudices and Truth
Prejudice Reason Truth
migraine large doses of tyramine only small quantity
obesity sugar * a lot of sugar
# less sugar  no
correlation
acne no correlation between acne and chocolate proved

*cheap, mass-produced chocolate # dark chocolate (> 70%)

 Table of Prejudices and Truth
Prejudice Reason Truth
migraine large doses of tyramine only small quantity
obesity sugar * a lot of sugar
# less sugar  no
correlation
acne no correlation between acne and chocolate proved
tooth decay Tannin counteracts *lot of tannins
enzyme  caries # calcium and fluoride 
fortification

*cheap, mass-produced chocolate # dark chocolate (> 70%)

 Table of Prejudices and Truth
Prejudice Reason Truth
migraine large doses of tyramine only small quantity
obesity sugar * a lot of sugar
# less sugar  no
correlation
acne no correlation between acne and chocolate proved
tooth decay Tannin counteracts *lot of tannins
enzyme  caries # calcium and fluoride 
fortification
allergy allergy is rare (exception: traces of nuts)

*cheap, mass-produced chocolate # dark chocolate (> 70%)

 Table of Prejudices and Truth
Prejudice Reason Truth
migraine large doses of tyramine only small quantity
obesity sugar * a lot of sugar
# less sugar  no
correlation
acne no correlation between acne and chocolate proved
tooth decay Tannin counteracts *lot of tannins
enzyme  caries # calcium and fluoride 
fortification
allergy allergy is rare (exception: traces of nuts)
addiction no evidence proved (only delight and desire)

*cheap, mass-produced chocolate # dark chocolate (> 70%)

Advertising
 Advertising

For adults filled with For children filled with

alcohol milk cream
 Advertising
For adults and kids
 “play, fun, tension and chocolate”
Films
Films
 Quotations about Chocolate
• There is nothing better than a good friend, except a good friend with
chocolate. (Linda Grayson, “The Pickwick Papers”)
• It is not that chocolates are a substitute for love. Love is a substitute for
chocolate. Chocolate is, let’s face it, far more reliable than a man.
(Miranda Ingram)
• Man cannot live on chocolate alone; but woman sure can. (unknown)
• This guy found a bottle on the ocean, and he opened it and out popped a
genie, and he gave him three wishes. The guy wished a million dollars
and poof! there was a million dollars. Then he wished for a convertible,
and poof! there was a convertible. And then, he wished he could be
irresistible to all women … poof! He turned into a box of chocolates.
(unknown)
 Quotations about Chocolate
• Chemically speaking, chocolate really is the world’s perfect
food. (Michael Levine, nutrition researcher)

• I have this theory that chocolate slows down the aging

process.
It may not be true, but do I dare take the chance? (unknown)

• I never met a chocolate I didn’t like. (Deanna Troi in “Star

Trek”)

• Simply put … everybody has a price, mine is chocolate!

(unknown)