Chocoholic

It is national Chocolate week in the UK this week and that got me wondering – how long have we had chocolate and where does the best chocolate come from?

It appears we have had cocoa – the raw ingredient for chocolate - for about 4,000 years and it was first discovered in the Amazon basin and was worshiped by the Aztecs. Christopher Columbus is credited with bringing cocoa to Europe but it was Herman Cortez who really introduced it commercially to Europe.

The best beans are said to come from Venezuela and the best chocolates have a high Cocoa Butter content – sometimes called dark chocolate.

Reports say that the buzz we get from eating such chocolates is linked to the serotonin in our brains and that in moderate doses it can even help reduce blood pressure – bring it on.

One of my happiest childhood memories was a trip to Cadbury’s World in Bourneville, UK. Here Cadbury’s make much of their chocolates that we all know and you can take a tour of the factory, sampling as you go- the closest you can get to heaven in my opinion. At the end of the tour there is a “seconds” shop where you can buy really cheap chocolate that still tastes great but is a bit misshapen.

The factory and tour is still there so why not grab the opportunity this week and make up your mind which is the best chocolate they do.