SHIRLEY GRIFFITH:
To become chocolate, cacao seeds go through a long production process in a factory. Workers must sort, clean and cook the seeds. Then they break off the covering of the seeds so that only the inside fruit, or nibs, remain. Workers crush the nibs into a soft substance called chocolate liquor. This gets separated into cocoa solids and a fat called cocoa butter.
Chocolate makers have their own special recipes in which they combine chocolate liquor with exact amounts of sugar, milk and cocoa fat. They finely crush this "crumb" mixture so it is smooth. The mixture then goes through two more processes before it is shaped into a mold form.
BOB DOUGHTY:
Chocolate making is a big business. The market value of the yearly cacao crop around the world is more than five billion dollars. Chocolate is especially popular in Europe and the United States. For example, in two thousand five, the United States bought one point four billion dollars worth of cocoa products. Each year, Americans eat an average of more than five kilograms of chocolate per person. Specialty shops that sell costly chocolates are also very popular. Many offer chocolate lovers the chance to taste chocolates grown in different areas of the world.
The British company Cadbury has been selling chocolate products for over one hundred eighty years. It has been in the news over the past months during a disputed takeover negotiation with the American company Kraft Foods.
This month, a majority of Cadbury shareholders approved a purchase agreement by Kraft worth about nineteen billion dollars. Under the deal, Kraft will become one of the largest candy makers in the world.
But many people in Britain have fiercely protested the takeover by an American company. For many Britons, Cadbury's products, such as Crème Eggs and Dairy Milk bars, represent a treasured part of British history and food culture.
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SHIRLEY GRIFFITH:
Jane Morris is a chocolate maker in Washington D.C. She owns the company J Chocolatier. Here is her opinion on why people like chocolate so much:
JANE MORRIS: "Well, scientists tell us that we all love chocolate because there's a chemical response that takes place in our brains. But I like to think that people love chocolate because everybody has an experience that they can relate to eating chocolate, and usually it's a good one. It's a memory from childhood or it's eating something that you know you weren't supposed to, but you did it anyway and really enjoyed it. And chocolate marries well with almost any ingredient from any corner of the globe. It really is a perfect food."
BOB DOUGHTY:
Jane Morris can give you an entire lesson on different kinds of chocolate. She can give you a taste of a blended chocolate that contains cacao from around the world. Or, she can let you try a "single origin" chocolate grown in only one area of the world.
For example, one fine chocolate made with cacao grown in Madagascar has a very interesting sour taste. While another chocolate grown in Venezuela has a very different taste.
JANE MORRIS: "Some people tell me when they taste this chocolate from El Rey that they can taste what they imagine the rainforest would smell like."
Miz Morris uses these chocolates to make her own unusual creations.
JANE MORRIS: "Sometimes I look for inspiration in professional books. That's always a good starting place. Then I also think about what I eat and what flavors work well together."
Her most popular chocolate is called Montezuma.
JANE MORRIS: "People love this. It's a chocolate with chipotle spice and Vietnamese cinnamon."
You may think it is just a normal chocolate until you begin to taste the deep and rich heat of these special spices.
SHIRLEY GRIFFITH:
For another chocolate creation, she uses Earl Grey Tea to give it a flavor of the bergamot fruit. And, these chocolates are as nice to look at as they are to eat.
Jane Morris sells her chocolates in a shop in the Georgetown area of Washington. She also sells them in local wine, candy and gift stores. Jane says she does not use any preservative chemicals in her products, so they only last about two or three weeks. But, she says she believes this is the way chocolate should be eaten.
We asked her if there was anything she wanted to tell Special English listeners. It might not surprise you she suggested that everyone should eat chocolate!
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