Technical Issue

For understanding this blog, please read it in reverse as in start with the older posts, trasfering the data from my wiki project disagreed with Blogspot and this is how it turned out. Thank you for reading about my short insight into the world of chocolate.

Which Prints were relevant and which info agencies were used?

Both Print and Non-print were used, even physical examples were used to test and work out the intricate nature of chocolate, first off I delved into a lot of printed work and summarized then had to cross reference materials with my own information.

As for the Information agencies you could say I plumed them all, the internet, reference books, catalogues, cookbooks and so forth.

Then the information was sorted into relevance and what was needed and trimmed of useless information, it was then summarized and put into my own words.

Extenral links and Refferances

http://www.cacaoweb.net/chocolate.html

http://www.fieldmuseum.org/Chocolate/history.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_chocolate

http://www.chocolatedrops.com.au/history-of-chocolate.aspx

http://www.xocoatl.org/

The Great Book of Chocolate by David Lebovitz, page's 3,5,9,15.

The Art of Chocolate by Elaine Gonzalez, pages 9,15,25

Types of Chocolate

The main types of chocolate we see today in our supermarkets are:

• Milk Chocolate which is contains 10-20% cocoa (including cocoa butter and pure cocoa, 12% milk solids.
• Dark Chocolate which contains 90%-95% cocoa and very little milk
• Sweet Dark Chocolate which contains 35%-40% cocoa and 10% milk
• Semi-Sweet Chocolate which contains 40%-65% cocoa
• Bitter-Sweet Chcoclate which contains 60%-85% cocoa and very little to no milk
• Unsweetened- chocolate or Cooking chocolate 100% refined cocoa
• White-Chocolate or known as false chocolate made up of cocoa butter, sugar, milk, emulsifier, vanilla and sometimes other flavourings.

Why did I choose this topic and What did you decide to look for and Retrieval stratergy

The reason I chose the topic of chocolate is because its history, complexities and all out chocoholic :) and as for the information gathering and finding I referred to several different blogs, chocolate sales sights, Cadburys and several other chocolate makers. Retrieval strategies I used are simple:

• Basic google search
• Refined Google search
• Book listings
• Library information
• General Information
• Even if not liked Wikipeida searching

How Chocolate came to be a popular candy item

Chocolate came to be the popular confectionery item you see today due to several reasons:

1. When mixed with several ingredients early European chocolate makers found it was quite sweet and thought it could be pulled of if introduced in its sweet form

2. The Cocoa bitter drink could be spiced and sweetened but also could be made down into a very bitter alcoholic beverage

3. Cocoa beans were extremely easy to grow and transport then other items and also could be used to exchange with the native southern Americans.

Citation One ((Moving Image Database, Slide))

History of Chocolate

Take a guess how old chocolate is, if you guess quite new, you would be surprised. Chocolate is said to have originated 4000 years ago in the Amazon and Sou then American cultures. Chocolate was known by the Mayan name of acahuaquchtl meaning Tree and the word xocoatl meaning bitter water. Chocolate at first was not the sweet thing we have today, It was found in the form of a very bitter drink, that the Mayans and Aztec's drank to celebrate different feast and celebrations, this drink though bitter itself, was often topped with different spices and herbs to give a bit more a spicy/bitter taste.

The next step in history for chocolate is when it first was transported from South America to Europe, where Christopher Columbus first presented the brown beans that were caoco beans where only given a small mention and largely overlooked by King Ferdiand and Queen Isabella and where was porperly looked at when Columbus discovered in the now what is called Nicaragua that the beans were used as a form of currency

The drink itself when discovered as parietal remains in jars found around both civilization, first sparked off the idea of of making it the hot sweet drink we have today but this is skipping alot of history and to find the best timeline take a look over here: http://www.chocolatemonthclub.com/chocolatehistory.htm ((Citation 2, Electronic Resourse of historical information))

Chocolate: What it is and what types are there

Chocolate.

What it is:

Chocolate is a raw extract that comes from cacao which in turn can be refined into several different types of confectionery that include:

• Milk Chocolate
• Dark Chocolate
• White Chocolate
• Coco powder

and various other products.

Welcome Information

Hi and welcome to my blog on Choclate, here I hope to focus on several different aspects from the history of chocolate, origins, recpies and so forth.

so again welcome to my blog and enjoy the read :)