World Chocolate Day

Get excited because July 7th marks World Chocolate Day! The day was established in 2009 to mark the day on which chocolate was allegedly first introduced to Europeans in 1550.

Chocolate comes from cacao seeds with the earliest evidence of the plant dating all the way back to 1100 B.C. It grows in Central America, the northern part of South America, and Mexico where it has been a part of the area’s indigenous cultures for over three millennia. 

To turn cacao seed into the kind of chocolate you get in a candy bar the beans are first fermented before being dried, cleaned, and roasted. From there, the shells are removed leaving the cacao nibs behind which are ground into cocoa mass, or the rough form of pure chocolate. 

This cocoa mass is then liquefied into chocolate liquor which is then processed into either cocoa solids or cocoa butter. Specific proportions of these ingredients are then mixed together to create unsweetened baking chocolate or blended with sugar to make sweet chocolate. 

Sweet chocolate is then mixed with condensed milk to make milk chocolate. Alternatively, white chocolate is made using only cocoa butter mixed with sugar and milk, and dark chocolate is made by mixing the cocoa liquor with cocoa butter and sugar.

No matter which type of chocolate is your favorite, be sure to pick up a box or bar or maybe even try your hand at making your own bonbons on July 7th for World Chocolate Day.

Contact us today to spice up your next product with that little extra kick of flavor!