Cocoa and Chocolate
People often mistake cocoa and chocolate for being the same thing. The truth is, one is part of the other, but they're different things. Cocoa is the bean from which we derive cocoa powder and cocoa butter. The difference between dark chocolate, milk chocolate, and other types is the amount of cocoa powder to cocoa butter and other additives. Chocolates that are high in cocoa powder have a higher degree of anti-oxidants in them, and are more healthy for the heart.
Cocoa Fun Facts
- It takes 5 years for a cocoa tree to produce its first seed pods.
- It takes about 400 beans to make a pound of chocolate.
- December 13th is National Cocoa Day.
- Chocolate has properties that combat Heart disease; thanks to flavanoids from the cocoa plant.
- The ancient tribes, of the Maya Indians, were the first to discover the wonderful enchanting properties of the cocoa bean around the year 600 AD.
- Christopher Columbus, in 1502, was thought to have brought cocoa beans to King Ferdinand, during his fourth trip from the New World.
- Cocoa was exported to Europe in 1585 but the first chocolate bar was not made until 1848.
- The first chocolate house for the United States was established in Dorchester, Massachusetts.
- Throughout the world the annual cocoa production is 3 million tons
- Length of time required for a cocoa tree to produce its first beans (pods): five years
- Watching your caffeine intake? An ounce of semi-sweet dark chocolate has only 20 milligrams on average, about the same amount as three ounces of brewed regular tea.