Bitter Brown   

A brown fancy. A temptation of a lifetime. But did you know that this munching delight is over 4,000 years old? Chocolate is an ancient food that takes a long, complicated process. But it’s not all that sweet. Loads of pesticides and sugar get squeezed in. But a chocolate is not just a devil for your teeth, it can keep you spruced up too! Find out how.

₁ Cocoa Trees harvested
Cocoa pods are plucked from the trees.

₂ Pesticides enter beans
Cocoa beans (crops) absorb pesticides that contaminate the eventual product

₃ Cocoa beans processed
The pods are cracked open. The beans present inside, are dried in the sun, roasted and ground.

₄ Ground beans are pressed
The beans are squeezed to make cocoa butter

₅ Liquid Chocolate
Cocoa powder, sugar and cocoa butter are mixed. Fermented milk, nuts and fruit are added

₆ Making the chocolate bar
The liquid chocolate is cooled and poured into moulds

₇ Packaging
The chocolate is wrapped and shipped to the sellers

₈ Yum!
Wrappers disposed after chocolate bar is eaten.

x  Waste wrappers
Wrappers blocked in landfills

₉ Biological cycle
Waste decomposed or recycled. Returns to the biological cycle

Chocolate keeps the doctor away

Chocolate isn’t all that bad for you! Some chemicals in cocoa fight disease. Dark chocolate lowers blood cholesterol, reducing the risk of heart attacks and strokes. A chocolate bar has more calcium, protein and B2 vitamin than a banana or an orange! It can zip up your mood because of the serotonin in cocoa. Chocolate also has phenylethylamine, a chemical that is released in the body when you’re in love! So it’s true, chocolates are romantic…

Over-indulgence?

But don’t be too mad about chocolate. If you are addicted to it, you’d better be careful. Chocolate contains saturated fats and pure sugar, both of which are bad for you in large amounts. In the short term, eating a lot of chocolate can cause obesity and tooth decay. In the long term, it can raise cholesterol levels and contribute to heart disease and even heart attacks!

But chocolate isn’t dangerous in small amounts, just the same as any other fatty and sugary food — with good exercise and a balanced diet, you can still enjoy that chocolate bar.

By Nicki Kindersley