Class covers beans to bonbons

 

 

 

PULLMAN, Wash. – As a chocoholic known to slip out nights in search of a fix, this reporter was tantalized by the idea of covering a chocolate lecture at Washington State University. Even better, it included taste-testing.

 

But first, a morsel of history. In what could be described as a bitter start, chocolate had a drug-like hold on humans long before Hershey bars and Godiva truffles. Some 1,500 years ago, a liquid concoction of unsweetened, ground cacao – pronounced kuh-COW – beans and chili peppers perked up the Aztecs and Mayans, said associate professor of food science Carolyn Ross to the recent gathering of chocolate fans at the CUB.

 

Her talk, “The history and science of chocolate,” was put on by WSU’s International Students’ Council as part of International Education Week.

 

The naturally caffeinated beverages were such a hit that the Aztec emperor Montezuma reportedly consumed up to 50 cups a day.

“Cacao beans symbolized life and fertility,” said Ross.

 

For Spanish conquistador Hernando Cortez, who invaded Mexico in 1520, the beans symbolized a potential money-maker for his homeland. After he and his men brought a load back to Spain, people started sweetening ground cacao with sugar and producing their own blend of beverage.

“Mixed with sugar or honey, chocolate as a drink caught on, first in Spain and then in other parts of Europe,” explained Ross.

In the 1800s, a British man discovered he could mold chocolate into a solid by adding melted cacao butter to the cocoa. Sweet thereafter, the chocolate bar was born, Ross said.

 

Whoever said money doesn’t grow on trees didn’t know about the beloved cacao bean, grown on a band of heat and moisture-loving trees that straddle the equator. The cacao tree, known botanically as Theobroma cacao, or “Food of the Gods,” produces red, yellow and orange pods the size of small footballs, Ross told the group. Inside is a cluster of beans encased in a milky goop.

“The beans are removed and cleaned and then fermented and dried in the sun,” she said.

Roasting is done in processing plants. Afterward comes the grinding, followed by the blending of cocoa powder, cocoa butter, sugar, vanilla and other ingredients.

The next step is conching, said Ross, a kneading process that transforms the mixture from grainy to silky. Eventually the chocolate is slowly cooled and then formed into bars and other shapes.

 

Ah, yes, chocolate bars. Ross handed out four small varieties for sampling: Dark chocolate; milk chocolate; lavender blueberry-flavored; and one flavored with chilies. We tasted them as though judging wine—complete with mouth-feel, texture, smell and clarity.

 

Why do people adore chocolate?

 

“Research suggests that the sensory appeal of chocolate – fat, sugar, texture and aroma – is likely the main factor at play,” said Ross.

Judging by the group’s oohs and ahhs, the research is sound – as was the wisdom of the Aztecs as they sipped their drinks of chocolate from goblets made of gold.