Making chocolate involves a long process, from the cacao tree to the hands of the farmers to the factory to the hands of the master chocolate maker.
From Nature to the Factory
Chocolate comes from processed cacao beans, harvested from the cacao tree. Cacao trees only grow in tropical climates, 10 to 20 degrees north and [...]

Not just because it’s chocolate, it’s good; maybe when you’re five years old, it does not matter that much—chocolate is chocolate is chocolate. But when you’re a little older, your taste matures, and you’re expected to have a little “sophistication” especially when it comes to something as luxurious as chocolate. Not knowing your Hershey from [...]

Chocolate, when not stored properly, can lose its richness and flavor and may become stale. It is very sensitive to humidity and temperature. Proper storage and packing is needed to preserve its freshness and wonderful taste and aroma. The ideal storage temperature for chocolate is between 15 and 17 °C (59 to 63 °F) with [...]

Throughout history, chocolate has captured the hearts of men and women the world over. Chocolate is produced from the seed of cacao, a tropical tree that is native to South America. Cocoa seed has an intensely bitter taste, and thus needs to be fermented first for its flavor to mature. After fermentation, the seeds are [...]

Different people have different preferences and tastes when it comes to chocolates. Some like their chocolate sweet and milky, while others like theirs dark, rich and bitter. Chocolate is made in different places around the world and each country or place has its own distinctly unique chocolate product. U.S. chocolates tend to taste distinctly different [...]

Chocolates from around the world vary in taste, flavor, and potency depending on their country of origin. Below are the top chocolates in the world, by country.
Mexican chocolate
Mexico is the birth place of chocolate, from the chocolate drink “chocolatl,” a luxurious drink which was available as early as 400 AD. The drink was made [...]

Abstaining from chocolate is surely not an easy feat. The joy of chocolate is just too hard to resist even when it is loaded with sugar that obviously takes a toll on our health. Luckily, recent studies have shown that chocolate has tons of health benefits, particularly dark chocolate because it contains higher levels of [...]

In recent years, chocoholics and chocolate lovers have more reasons to celebrate and to eat more chocolates with less of the guilt. Recent studies show that cocoa actually contains a substantial amount of antioxidants that is even higher than black tea or red wine! That’s a lot of antioxidants to help fight free radicals that [...]

Making chocolate is a long process, beginning with the growing and cultivating of the cacao trees and to molding the liquefied cacao in the chocolate factories, and finally designed and added with different types of flavors and confections. From the plantation of cacao trees in South and Central Americas as well as from other cacao [...]

Great Tools Maketh A Great Bartender - That, and the deft art of shaking a cocktail while flashing your megawatt smile a la Tom Cruise in the movie “Cocktail”. While he may not exactly be famous for bartending any more, this is the movie that launched him into superstardom. If that’s what nifty bartending skills [...]