VALO'S ARCHIVE

Chocolate: Transcending Differences Across Cultures Chocolate is a food that transcends politics, sports, and culture across nations. It can help put aside differences and bring people from all walks of life together. But did you know that chocolate has been bringing people together for over 4,000 years? The earliest account of chocolate consumption goes back to 1,900 B.C. in the Early Formative period. Ancient ceramic containers holding cacao residue were discovered at the El Manati archaeological site in Veracruz, Mexico. Today, chocolate is a $50 billion industry, and is sold all over the world. Its unique flavor simply can’t be found in any other treat. But if there’s one kind chocolate you should be eating, it should be dark chocolate. I recommend eating  dark chocolate  because of the many health benefits it provides. The processed chocolate bars most people are used to eating are actually unhealthy and contain very little nutrients. What makes dark cho...

Common Name Botanical Name AKA Chocolate Theobroma cacao Cocoa Chocolate We Love The rainforest tree from which chocolate derives is Theobroma cacao, named by the 18th century Swedish scientist Carl von Linne’. Botanical experts offer differing opinions regarding the origin of cacao. New genetic testing seems to have settled the matter, pointing to the Orinoco Valley of Venezuela as the first place where the tree grew. Wild cacao then presumably spread up into Mexico, where it was first cultivated. The tree ranges between four and eight meters in height, and its cinnamon brown trunk usually does not exceed two meters in length. The branches of the cacao tree are covered with shiny, dark green leaves about ten inches long and three inches wide. Though the tree bears fruit and flowers all year around, usually there are two harvest seasons for gathering the fruit. The actual ...