Chocolate: A Guide

Appears in
Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey: Desserts for the Serious Sweet Tooth
Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey

By Jill O'Connor

Published 2007

  • About

It is impossible to have a lukewarm response to chocolate. Passion, desire, and giddy delight have swirled in the wake of this glamorous treat since Montezuma gave Cortés his first sip of the original tchocolatl, the Aztec ruler’s cacao-based, spiced energy drink. The Spanish popularized a warm, sweetened version of this drink in the early 1500s, and chocolate, in all its manifestations, has been hugely popular ever since.

Cacao beans come from tropical evergreen trees and after harvest are fermented, dried, and roasted. The cacao “nibs,” the meat of the cacao bean, are then ground and heated to create thick, rich chocolate liquor. Chocolate liquor is the basis of all other chocolates—and that’s where the fun begins.