#ChefTip

‘That’s not chocolate,’ is something a lot of my friends have heard me mutter to them over the years as they bite into what Americans rightly call ‘candy bars’. Marketing and advertising are all about smoke and mirrors and confusing people in such subtle ways that they ignore things that are staring them right in the face.

What is chocolate? The word itself comes from the ancient language spoken by the Aztec’s in Mesoamerica (now Central America where Mexico is located). It referred to a beverage made using beans from the cacao tree called ‘xocolatl’ which when translated means ‘bitter drink’. The jury is still out on the details, though. Many historians dispute the origins of the word ‘chocolate’ and which of the Spanish explorers who conquered the region brought the product back to Europe. Either way, it was a groundbreaking find that would create a huge, multi-trillion dollar industry.