Introduction to Chocolate Culture

Welcome to the first blog post of Cera's Chocolate Culture at Central, or C4 for short! To start off, I want to highlight some material and activities in my LAS-410 class, the first chapter of The True History of Chocolate, a book by Sophie and Michael Coe, as well as the documentary, "Chocolate Perfection," hosted by chef Michel Roux Jr. as he searches for a way to make the perfect chocolate. Specifically, I want to share what I've learned when it comes to chocolate impacting our culture.

Starting with my LAS-410 class where I get to learn how to make chocolate and appreciate it, my classmates and I have been introduced to the chocolate process and the end result. On the third day of class, our professor brought a variety of chocolates from local Pella businesses, Van Veen and The Work of Our Hands, and from HyVee. We had two forms to fill out about how two chocolates tasted, their ingredients, the sound they made when they were snapped, if the flavor lingered or not, and the percentage of cacao among other things. I chose to taste the Milk Caramel with Sea Salt made by Equal Exchange with Work of Our Hands and Latte Lavender Vanilla by Pocket's Chocolates. As the name implies, the first chocolate was filled with caramel and a few grains of salt. When I snapped a piece off of the bar, it made a crisp, high-pitched sound. I liked how the salt taste did not overshadow the sweetness of the milk chocolate and caramel, so I would taste it again. The Latte Lavender Vanilla on the other hand, I did not like. The latte part brought out a roasted flavor and the vanilla was almost fruity, but the lavender did not taste good. My love for the smell of lavender did not extend to its taste because I thought it was too bitter, but not like how the coffee part was bitter. It just overshadowed the other ingredients in the chocolate so I would not try it again.

Whatever the case, this chocolate tasting activity opened my eyes to the way of truly evaluating chocolate with all five senses. Eyes should focus on the shade of the treat and notice if it is darker or lighter than expected. Ears should listen to the sound it makes when snapped. A nose should determine if there is a strong odor or not. Hands should feel the outside texture to see if it is smooth or grainy. And of course, the taste should be determined by mouth. I felt like such a connoisseur while I was doing it.

Moving on to the book, The True History of Chocolate, the authors introduce the tree where it all starts: Theobroma cacao. Long before the European invaders discovered it, the Native Americans had interwoven it into their daily lives as a food as well as a currency. It was especially a treat for Mayan royalty, who consumed huge amounts of it during banquets. For my Spanish major, some of the Native American languages intermingled with the Spanish from the conquistadors and today there are still traces in dialects from the South and Central American countries. The authors also go into detail about the intense scientific process of making chocolate from cacao seed to nib. For my Computer Science major, the book emphasizes the importance of correctly implementing the four principles of producing cacao nibs, preferably in the order of fermentation, drying, roasting, and winnowing. When creating a computer program with code, it is similarly important to organize the code in the correct logical order and even misspelling a word or not putting a semicolon where it should belong would ruin the end result.

In the documentary, "Chocolate Perfection," Roux explores some of the best chocolate shops in France. On his journey, Roux tours the shops and sees their ingredients. A special moment is when he works with someone else to recreate an Aztec chocolate drink with ingredients that would have existed in the Mesoamerican era. Like the book's authors, Roux points out that chocolate was first created by the Native Americans for food and currency. He even interviews a historian about how chocolate was valued in the French royal court, whereas the book's first chapter mainly focused on the Native American royalty.

Throughout all of these ways to study chocolate, it is apparent how much chocolate has impacted our culture. The parts that really stick with me are 1) The cacao bean was used by the Native Americans well before the Europeans arrived, and 2) Chocolate worked its way down from just being a royal delicacy at special events to a treat that anyone can experience any day of the week. To truly appreciate chocolate, one must use all five senses when tasting the final result of this scientific creation. And while it is easy to appreciate chocolate, connecting it to my college majors made it more relevant for me.

Thank you for checking out C4: Cera's Chocolate Culture at Central! More posts will be coming soon!