0_Wizard
I love chocolate! It is typically sweet and prepared from cacao seeds. 
Chocolate is a typically sweet, usually brown food preparation of "Theobroma cacao" seeds, roasted and ground.
chosen_Chocolate_0
Chocolate
chosen_topic_0_Chocolate
Chocolate
Chocolate is a typically sweet, usually brown food preparation of "Theobroma cacao" seeds, roasted and ground. It is made in the form of a liquid, paste, or in a block, or used as a flavoring ingredient in other foods. Cacao has been cultivated by many cultures for at least three millennia in Mesoamerica. The earliest evidence of use traces to the Olmecs (Mexico), with evidence of chocolate beverages dating back to 1900 BCE. In fact, the majority of Mesoamerican people made chocolate beverages, including the Maya and Aztecs, who made it into a beverage known as "xocolātl" , a Nahuatl word meaning "bitter water".
History of chocolate
The history of chocolate begins in Mesoamerica. Fermented beverages made from chocolate date back to 1900 BC. The Aztecs believed that cacao seeds were the gift of Quetzalcoatl, the god of wisdom, and the seeds once had so much value that they were used as a form of currency. Originally prepared only as a drink, chocolate was served as a bitter, from a liquid, mixed with spices or corn puree. It was believed to have aphrodisiac powers and to give the drinker strength. Today, such drinks are also known as "Chilate" and are made by locals in the South of Mexico. After its arrival to Europe in the sixteenth century, sugar was added to it, rendering it an aphrodisiac, and it became popular throughout society, first among the ruling classes and then among the common people.
Chocolate industry in the Philippines
The chocolate industry in the Philippines evidences the agricultural roots of the Philippine society. The growing of cacao or cocoa boasts a long history stretching from the colonial times. Originating from Mesoamerican forests, cacao was first introduced by the Spanish colonizers four centuries ago. Since then the Philippine cocoa industry has been the primary producer of cocoa beans in the Southeast Asia. There are many areas of production of cacao in the Philippines, owing to its agriculture. The chocolate industry is currently on a small to medium scale. The word “chocolate” as we know it today was spelled in different ways throughout time, in different ways such as “chocalatall,” “jocolatte,” “jacolatte,” and “chockelet.” It is a derivative of the word "cacahuatl" or "xocoatl", a bitter drink the Aztecs brewed from cacao beans mixed with spices, wine, and other local ingredients that can be traced back to Pre-Columbian Mexico.
Hot chocolate
Hot chocolate, also known as hot cocoa, drinking chocolate or just cocoa is a heated beverage consisting of shaved chocolate, melted chocolate or cocoa powder, heated milk or water, and usually a sweetener. Hot chocolate may be topped with whipped cream. Hot chocolate made with melted chocolate is sometimes called drinking chocolate, characterized by less sweetness and a thicker consistency. The first chocolate beverage is believed to have been created by the Mayans around 2,500-3,000 years ago, and a cocoa beverage was an essential part of Aztec culture by 1400 AD, by which they referred to as xocōlātl.
Theobroma cacao
Theobroma cacao, also called the cacao tree and the cocoa tree, is a small ( tall) evergreen tree in the family Malvaceae, native to the deep tropical regions of Central and South America. Its seeds, cocoa beans, are used to make cocoa mass, cocoa powder, confectionery, ganache and chocolate. Leaves are alternate, entire, unlobed, long and broad. The flowers are produced in clusters directly on the trunk and older branches; this is known as cauliflory. The flowers are small, diameter, with pink calyx. The floral formula is ✶ K5 C5 A(5°+5²) (5). While many of the world's flowers are pollinated by bees (Hymenoptera) or butterflies/moths (Lepidoptera), cacao flowers are pollinated by tiny flies, "Forcipomyia" midges in the subfamily Forcipomyiinae.
Cocoa bean
The cocoa bean, also called cacao bean, cocoa (), and cacao (), is the dried and fully fermented seed of "Theobroma cacao", from which cocoa solids and, because of the seed's fat, cocoa butter can be extracted. The beans are the basis of chocolate, and of such Mesoamerican foods as "mole" and "tejate". The word "cocoa" comes from the Spanish word "cacao", which is derived from the Nahuatl word "cacahuatl". The Nahuatl word, in turn, ultimately derives from the reconstructed Proto Mije-Sokean word "*kakaw~*kakawa". The term "cocoa" also means  The cacao tree is native to the Americas. It originated in Central America and parts of Mexico.
History of chocolate in Spain
The history of chocolate in Spain is part of the culinary history of Spain as understood since the 16th century, when the colonization of the Americas began and the cocoa plant was discovered in regions of Mesoamerica, until the present. After the conquest of Mexico, cocoa as a commodity travelled by boat from the port of Nueva España to the Spanish coast. The first such voyage to Europe occurred at an unknown date in the 1520s. However it was only in the 17th century that regular trade began from the port of Veracruz, opening a maritime trade route that would supply the new demand from Spain, and later from other European countries.
1_Apprentice
Oh it's incredible, as a Ketoer, it's nice to be able to have some of the darker cacao cause it's almost no sugars.
0_Wizard
I recently found out that cacao has been cultivated by many cutlures for at least three millennia. That is a long time!
Cacao has been cultivated by many cultures for at least three millennia in Mesoamerica.
partner_Chocolate_2
Chocolate
partner_0_Chocolate
Chocolate
Chocolate is a typically sweet, usually brown food preparation of "Theobroma cacao" seeds, roasted and ground. It is made in the form of a liquid, paste, or in a block, or used as a flavoring ingredient in other foods. Cacao has been cultivated by many cultures for at least three millennia in Mesoamerica. The earliest evidence of use traces to the Olmecs (Mexico), with evidence of chocolate beverages dating back to 1900 BCE. In fact, the majority of Mesoamerican people made chocolate beverages, including the Maya and Aztecs, who made it into a beverage known as "xocolātl" , a Nahuatl word meaning "bitter water".
Theobroma cacao
Theobroma cacao, also called the cacao tree and the cocoa tree, is a small ( tall) evergreen tree in the family Malvaceae, native to the deep tropical regions of Central and South America. Its seeds, cocoa beans, are used to make cocoa mass, cocoa powder, confectionery, ganache and chocolate. Leaves are alternate, entire, unlobed, long and broad. The flowers are produced in clusters directly on the trunk and older branches; this is known as cauliflory. The flowers are small, diameter, with pink calyx. The floral formula is ✶ K5 C5 A(5°+5²) (5). While many of the world's flowers are pollinated by bees (Hymenoptera) or butterflies/moths (Lepidoptera), cacao flowers are pollinated by tiny flies, "Forcipomyia" midges in the subfamily Forcipomyiinae.
Chocolate industry in the Philippines
The chocolate industry in the Philippines evidences the agricultural roots of the Philippine society. The growing of cacao or cocoa boasts a long history stretching from the colonial times. Originating from Mesoamerican forests, cacao was first introduced by the Spanish colonizers four centuries ago. Since then the Philippine cocoa industry has been the primary producer of cocoa beans in the Southeast Asia. There are many areas of production of cacao in the Philippines, owing to its agriculture. The chocolate industry is currently on a small to medium scale. The word “chocolate” as we know it today was spelled in different ways throughout time, in different ways such as “chocalatall,” “jocolatte,” “jacolatte,” and “chockelet.” It is a derivative of the word "cacahuatl" or "xocoatl", a bitter drink the Aztecs brewed from cacao beans mixed with spices, wine, and other local ingredients that can be traced back to Pre-Columbian Mexico.
Cocoa bean
The cocoa bean, also called cacao bean, cocoa (), and cacao (), is the dried and fully fermented seed of "Theobroma cacao", from which cocoa solids and, because of the seed's fat, cocoa butter can be extracted. The beans are the basis of chocolate, and of such Mesoamerican foods as "mole" and "tejate". The word "cocoa" comes from the Spanish word "cacao", which is derived from the Nahuatl word "cacahuatl". The Nahuatl word, in turn, ultimately derives from the reconstructed Proto Mije-Sokean word "*kakaw~*kakawa". The term "cocoa" also means  The cacao tree is native to the Americas. It originated in Central America and parts of Mexico.
History of chocolate
The history of chocolate begins in Mesoamerica. Fermented beverages made from chocolate date back to 1900 BC. The Aztecs believed that cacao seeds were the gift of Quetzalcoatl, the god of wisdom, and the seeds once had so much value that they were used as a form of currency. Originally prepared only as a drink, chocolate was served as a bitter, from a liquid, mixed with spices or corn puree. It was believed to have aphrodisiac powers and to give the drinker strength. Today, such drinks are also known as "Chilate" and are made by locals in the South of Mexico. After its arrival to Europe in the sixteenth century, sugar was added to it, rendering it an aphrodisiac, and it became popular throughout society, first among the ruling classes and then among the common people.
Maya civilization
The Maya civilization was a Mesoamerican civilization developed by the Maya peoples, and noted for its hieroglyphic script—the only known fully developed writing system of the pre-Columbian Americas—as well as for its art, architecture, mathematics, calendar, and astronomical system. The Maya civilization developed in an area that encompasses southeastern Mexico, all of Guatemala and Belize, and the western portions of Honduras and El Salvador. This region consists of the northern lowlands encompassing the Yucatán Peninsula, and the highlands of the Sierra Madre, running from the Mexican state of Chiapas, across southern Guatemala and onwards into El Salvador, and the southern lowlands of the Pacific littoral plain.
Latin American economy
Latin America as a region has multiple nation-states, with varying levels of economic complexity. The Latin American economy is an export-based economy consisting of individual countries in the geographical regions of Central America, South America, and the Caribbean. The socioeconomic patterns of what is now called Latin America were set in the colonial era when the region was controlled by the Spanish and Portuguese empires. Up until independence in the early nineteenth century, colonial Latin American regional economies boomed. Many parts of the region had favorable factor endowments of deposits of precious metals, mainly silver, or tropical climatic conditions and locations near coasts that allowed for the development of cane sugar plantations.
1_Apprentice
Absolutely, it's been an important part of many cultures