Among one of the best things that I make is a Mexican hot chocolate recipe. Cuddling up on a blustery fall evening with a cup brings back good memories of my childhood. But recently it got me asking exactly where it all begins. We think of chocolate often times as being from places like Switzerland and France, but in fact chocolate has its roots all over Central America and largely in Mexico.
Chocolate making in Mexico begins with the tropical tree Theobroma Cacao. It is indigenous to Mexico, and has been harvested there for at least 3 thousand years. The first documented usage of cacao was around 1100 BC. Chocolate is produced with the seeds of the cacao tree into a raw or refined food. The taste of the seeds is very bitter naturally, and must be fermented to make the taste more palatable.
Mesoamerican peoples have made chocolate drinks for many years, including the Aztecs and Mayans. The Aztecs made a beverage from it whose name translates as \"bitter water\". Both the Aztecs and Mayans used chocolate in both royal and religious events where priests would offer seeds of the cacao tree as offerings to the gods. Additionally they served chocolate liquor during sacred events. The Aztecs even ordered other peoples that they conquered that harvested cacao to pay it to them as a tax or tribute.
The production technique of chocolate making in Mexico begins with fermenting the cacao beans, and then drying and washing them before roasting them. After they are roasted, the shell is removed. This leaves what is called cacao nibs, which are then ground up to make pure chocolate in raw form, sometimes called cocoa mass. Cocoa mass is usually liquified and shaped with other ingredients into chocolate liquor, which is then further processed into cocoa solids and cocoa butter.
If you taste unsweetened baking chocolate from the store, you\'ll notice it has a slightly bitter taste since it is made up of cocoa solids and cocoa butter in various proportions. The more common types of chocolate known today as sweet chocolate are simply combinations of cocoa solids and cocoa butter with other fats and sugar. When sweet chocolate is mixed with condensed milk or milk powder you get milk chocolate. White chocolate is similar to milk chocolate but contains no cocoa solids.
Mesoamerican history shows that chocolate was always used simply as a drink there. In the 15th century, the Aztecs dominated Mesoamerica, and had adopted cacao into their culture associated with the goddess of fertility Xochiquetzal. Chocolate drinks were often used as sacred offerings. The Aztec drink was called Xocolatl, and was a frothy, bitter and spicy drink. It was wanted to be able to fight fatigue, and was seasoned with achiote (annatto), chile pepper and vanilla. Cacao was extremely difficult to develop within the dry central Mexican highlands, so it was imported and was considered a luxury good. Cocoa beans were often used as currency throughout the Aztec empire.
Chocolate is made from cacao beans, that are the partially fermented beans of the cacao tree (Theobroma Cacao). Theobroma is a scientific term that literally means \"food of the gods\". The three main types of cacao beans utilized in making chocolate are called forastero, criollo and trinitario. Forastero is the most commonly grown bean from a large group of harvested and wild cacaos mostly indigenous to the Amazon basin. It is typically strong in the classic chocolate flavor, but has a short duration and is not supported by any secondary flavors, which makes it a rather bland kind of chocolate. Criollo comprises no more than five percent of all grown cocoa beans, making it the rarest and most pricey available for sale. They are difficult to grow, and susceptible to a variety of environmental threats, which frequently causes low yields per tree of cacao. Criollo has a mild yet complex taste, with less classic chocolate flavor, but with more seconday notes of taste and of longer duration. Trinitario is a natural hybrid of both forastero and criollo. Within the last 50 years, almost all of the cacao produced has been of the forastero or lower-grade trinitario varieties.
Today, Mexico produces chocolate candies that are mostly imported in the U . s . for Valentines Day celebrations. Since 2002, imports from Mexico have more than doubled into the US as cheaper labor and sugar is drawing candymakers south in the border. By way of example, Hershey features a 1,500 sq . ft . chocolate factory inside northern Mexico capital of scotland - Monterrey to change plants it\'s got already closed in the US as well as in Canada. Moving to Mexico actually started back many years ago while using makers of hard candies with confectioners looking to survive an arduous business climate brought on by high sugar prices in the usa propped up for many years by government subsidies. Hershey makes its new plant in Monterrey one for its corporate $575 big cost-cutting plan.
At the very least for all of us makers of chocolate, moving to Mexico have their advantages in the form of lower wages. Mexican processed food industry workers during 2009 made typically only $2.70 an hour. An equivalent worker in the united states during 2009 was making between $19 and $25 an hour. However, despite having this advantage, Mexican cacao growers (mostly inside the small state of Tabasco) find it more and more difficult to compete with the even cheaper imports from Brazil, Ivory Coast and Indonesia.
A lot of chocolate making in Mexico is becoming assembly (maquila) work, instead of farm work. This can be due primarily to floods and disease (frosty pod rot) which has caused Mexico\'s production of cacao to drop from 47,000 tons in 2003, to less than 20,000 tons in 2008. This is leaving Mexican chocolate production in a really tenuous situation, whilst exports of Mexican chocolate are increasing so that as chocolate factories are multiplying in number.
Chocolate making in Mexico begins with the tropical tree Theobroma Cacao. It is indigenous to Mexico, and has been harvested there for at least 3 thousand years. The first documented usage of cacao was around 1100 BC. Chocolate is produced with the seeds of the cacao tree into a raw or refined food. The taste of the seeds is very bitter naturally, and must be fermented to make the taste more palatable.
Mesoamerican peoples have made chocolate drinks for many years, including the Aztecs and Mayans. The Aztecs made a beverage from it whose name translates as \"bitter water\". Both the Aztecs and Mayans used chocolate in both royal and religious events where priests would offer seeds of the cacao tree as offerings to the gods. Additionally they served chocolate liquor during sacred events. The Aztecs even ordered other peoples that they conquered that harvested cacao to pay it to them as a tax or tribute.
The production technique of chocolate making in Mexico begins with fermenting the cacao beans, and then drying and washing them before roasting them. After they are roasted, the shell is removed. This leaves what is called cacao nibs, which are then ground up to make pure chocolate in raw form, sometimes called cocoa mass. Cocoa mass is usually liquified and shaped with other ingredients into chocolate liquor, which is then further processed into cocoa solids and cocoa butter.
If you taste unsweetened baking chocolate from the store, you\'ll notice it has a slightly bitter taste since it is made up of cocoa solids and cocoa butter in various proportions. The more common types of chocolate known today as sweet chocolate are simply combinations of cocoa solids and cocoa butter with other fats and sugar. When sweet chocolate is mixed with condensed milk or milk powder you get milk chocolate. White chocolate is similar to milk chocolate but contains no cocoa solids.
Mesoamerican history shows that chocolate was always used simply as a drink there. In the 15th century, the Aztecs dominated Mesoamerica, and had adopted cacao into their culture associated with the goddess of fertility Xochiquetzal. Chocolate drinks were often used as sacred offerings. The Aztec drink was called Xocolatl, and was a frothy, bitter and spicy drink. It was wanted to be able to fight fatigue, and was seasoned with achiote (annatto), chile pepper and vanilla. Cacao was extremely difficult to develop within the dry central Mexican highlands, so it was imported and was considered a luxury good. Cocoa beans were often used as currency throughout the Aztec empire.
Chocolate is made from cacao beans, that are the partially fermented beans of the cacao tree (Theobroma Cacao). Theobroma is a scientific term that literally means \"food of the gods\". The three main types of cacao beans utilized in making chocolate are called forastero, criollo and trinitario. Forastero is the most commonly grown bean from a large group of harvested and wild cacaos mostly indigenous to the Amazon basin. It is typically strong in the classic chocolate flavor, but has a short duration and is not supported by any secondary flavors, which makes it a rather bland kind of chocolate. Criollo comprises no more than five percent of all grown cocoa beans, making it the rarest and most pricey available for sale. They are difficult to grow, and susceptible to a variety of environmental threats, which frequently causes low yields per tree of cacao. Criollo has a mild yet complex taste, with less classic chocolate flavor, but with more seconday notes of taste and of longer duration. Trinitario is a natural hybrid of both forastero and criollo. Within the last 50 years, almost all of the cacao produced has been of the forastero or lower-grade trinitario varieties.
Today, Mexico produces chocolate candies that are mostly imported in the U . s . for Valentines Day celebrations. Since 2002, imports from Mexico have more than doubled into the US as cheaper labor and sugar is drawing candymakers south in the border. By way of example, Hershey features a 1,500 sq . ft . chocolate factory inside northern Mexico capital of scotland - Monterrey to change plants it\'s got already closed in the US as well as in Canada. Moving to Mexico actually started back many years ago while using makers of hard candies with confectioners looking to survive an arduous business climate brought on by high sugar prices in the usa propped up for many years by government subsidies. Hershey makes its new plant in Monterrey one for its corporate $575 big cost-cutting plan.
At the very least for all of us makers of chocolate, moving to Mexico have their advantages in the form of lower wages. Mexican processed food industry workers during 2009 made typically only $2.70 an hour. An equivalent worker in the united states during 2009 was making between $19 and $25 an hour. However, despite having this advantage, Mexican cacao growers (mostly inside the small state of Tabasco) find it more and more difficult to compete with the even cheaper imports from Brazil, Ivory Coast and Indonesia.
A lot of chocolate making in Mexico is becoming assembly (maquila) work, instead of farm work. This can be due primarily to floods and disease (frosty pod rot) which has caused Mexico\'s production of cacao to drop from 47,000 tons in 2003, to less than 20,000 tons in 2008. This is leaving Mexican chocolate production in a really tenuous situation, whilst exports of Mexican chocolate are increasing so that as chocolate factories are multiplying in number.
No comments:
Post a Comment