Chocolate is a processed food, though it can be raw also, which is produced from the seed of the Theobroma cacao tree, a tropical tree. As far as firm evidence goes, it is known that cacao has been cultivated for at least three millennia in Central and South America. It is known that the majority of Mesoamerican people used to make chocolate beverages such as the Aztecs who made a chocolate drink known as “xocolatl”, which is a Nahuatl word which means “bitter water”. To develop the flavour of the cacao tree’s seeds, they must be fermented, otherwise they retain their extremely bitter taste.

Luckily, one does not need to go through this process to get chocolate nowadays. One can also buy chocolate rather cheaply if they employ some Hotel Chocolat discount codes. Following the fermentation stage, the seeds are dried, cleaned, and roasted, before the shell is removed to produce the cacao nibs. The nibs are subsequently ground into a cocoa mass which is pure chocolate in its rough form.