The word "chocolate" comes from the Aztecs of Mexico,

Chocolate has been used solely as a drink for nearly all of its history.

Chocolate most commonly comes in dark, milk, and white varieties, with cocoa solids contributing to the brown coloration. Chocolate comprises a number of raw and processed foods that are produced from the seed of the tropical cacao tree. Native to low land tropical South America, cacao has been cultivated for three millennia in Central America and Mexico, with its earliest documented use around 1100 BC. All of the Mexoamerican peoples made chocolate beverages, including the Maya and Aztecs, making it into a drink called "bitter water". The seeds of the cacao tree have an intense bitter taste, and must be fermented to develop the flavour. After being roasted and ground, the resulting products are known as chocolate or cocoa.

Much of the chocolate consumed today is made into bars that combine cocoa solids, fats like cocoa butter, and sugar. Chocolate has become one of the most popular flavours in the world. Gifts of foil-wrapped chocolate moulded into different shapes have become traditional on certain holidays: chocolate bunnies and eggs are popular on Easter, coins on Hanukkah, Santa Claus and other holiday symbols on Christmas, and hearts on Valentine's Day. Chocolate is also used in cold and hot beverages, to produce chocolate milk and cocoa.

Making good chocolate is about forming the most of the type V crystals. This provides the best appearance and mouth feel and creates the most stable crystals so the texture and appearance will not degrade over time. To accomplish this, the temperature is carefully manipulated during the crystallisation.

Chocolate tempering machines with computer controls can be used for producing consistently tempered chocolate, particularly for large volume applications.

Part of the pleasure of eating chocolate is due to the fact that its melting point is slightly below human body temperature: it melts in the mouth.

Good to know is that

recent studies have suggested that cocoa or dark chocolate may

possess certain beneficial effects on human health.