Find out more about this delectable ingredient by dipping into this comprehensively
delicious chocolate guide with everything from recipes, facts to easy step-by-step guides.
Top 20 chocolate recipes
The birth of chocolate
Historically, chocolate has been used as both a type of currency and also as an indulgent drink affordable only to royalty.
The first people known to have made chocolate were the ancient cultures of Mexico and Central America.
The Maya and Aztecs mixed ground cacao seeds with various seasonings to make a spicy, frothy drink.
The Spanish conquest of the Aztecs made it possible to import chocolate to Spain, where it
quickly became a court favourite. Within a 100 years, the love of chocolate has spread throughout the rest of
Europe and today chocolate manufacturing is a multi-billion dollar industry.
Did you know?
The word 'chocolate' comes from the Aztec word, cacahuatl or xocolatl. This means 'bitter water'.
Cocoa beans were used as a currency and as a unit of calculation in the Mayan and Aztec cultures.
Great chocolate manufacturers choose their beans in the same way as a wine-maker chooses his or her grape varieties.
Queen Victoria sent her New Year's greetings to the British troops during the Boer War in the form of a specially moulded chocolate bar.
The French Leader Napoleon insisted that chocolate should be available during military campaigns.
In 1875, Daniel Peter of Switzerland created a concoction called milk chocolate. He sold it to Henri Nestle, and thus Nestle Chocolate came into being.
In 1879, Rodolphe Lindt, the founder of Lindt Chocolates, invented the process of "conching" which is used to refine chocolate thus enhancing its quality.
Hershey produces approximately 20 to 25 million Hershey's kisses per day in a variety of flavours.
In 1960, chocolate syrup was used to simulate blood in the famous shower scene in Alfred Hitchcock's movie, "Psycho".
Consumers worldwide spend more than $20 billion a year on chocolate.
Step by step
If you find recipes a bit intimidating - help is at hand. Follow our step-by-step guides and we'll
show you how to make some delicious treats without anxiety.
