Chocolates are made from cacao — a tree that is commonly cultivated today. The fruit is a celebrity in Mesoamerican cities — Mayans celebrate the deity that they believed to have given them the fruit every April and Aztecs once used this as a form of money and business. What Is Cacao? The Theobroma cacao is a small tree with a maximum height of 6 meters. This tree thrives in tropical climate. There are 20 countries known to cultivate cacao as a means of supplying chocolate-related business with raw materials for their concoctions. Cacao and Chocolates The most common use of the cacao is to serve as primary ingredient for chocolates. Cacaos are harvested when ripe, dried, cleaned and roasted, removed from the shell, ground then liquefied to become a solution known as the chocolate liquor. The liquor may then be used as ingredient for cocoa butter or cocoa bars which makes up a complete chocolate. Today’s chocolate includes a healthy portion of sugar as an added ingredient to the mix. White chocolate is made wholly out of cocoa butter. Another variation of the chocolate mixture is the dark chocolate, which is not a popular choice of today’s younger generation. This chocolate is made from pure cocoa beans without any sugar or milk — commonly termed as unsweetened chocolate. Nutritional Value Many believe that chocolates are healthy because of the nutritional value common in cacao beans. Well, this is more of a misunderstanding than truth. An average chocolate made with milk and sugar retains only 1% of the nutrients found in cacao beans. Dark chocolates made from pure cocoa contain around 70% of its beneficial compounds so if you’re looking for health benefits from chocolates then you might want to go for those of purer quality. Check out www.healthyfoodrawdiet.com. You will find all information about healthy food, organic Cacao, raw diet, vegan diet food and so on.
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