Whatever the occasion you’re celebrating, conventional gift ideas, such as champagne, flowers and chocolate are all of the time heartily welcomed.

Chocolate gifts are especially exceptional and versatile. There’s something for everybody, whatsoever the age or the milestone, from birthdays, days of remembrance, valentines, Christmas and Easter to dinners, house warmings and thank you gifts of all sorts.

A widely range of chocolate gift ideas can be found, from recherché milk and bittersweet chocolates from the continent to foreign flavours around the globe, deluxe, organic, fair trade, wheat and gluten free, dairy free, truffles and knickknack chocolates including chocolate cats, dogs, footballs, cars, coins and hearts.

The roots of chocolate can be followed back to Mayan and Aztec cultures in Central America. Chocolate was solely for drinking till the early Victorian era, when a formula for making solid eating chocolate was invented.

The story of chocolate commences with cocoa trees. They grow in the selvas of Central and South America and cocoa beans were utilised for hundreds of years by the Aztecs as an ingredient for their chocolate drink and as vogue.

Whenever you’re searching inspirational gift idea, a lot of chocolate companies offer clients an inspired range of gala gifts and classic children’s gifts with a choice of box designs or gift wrapping, personalised greeting cards, and chances to make your own chocolate message.

There are numerous chocolates to choose from and they’re beautifully graced and presented in a diversity of gift boxes in all shapes and sizes, big enough for box sharing, satin or elegant ribboned boxes, heart shaped boxes and specialities that have that little extra, including fruit gelatins, brazils, toffy and soaked nuts or a selection of orangish, Citrus aurantifolia, vanilla extract and raspberry bush truffles.

I had eczema for years and usual medications didn’t help. After I found about natural remedies to cure eczema, the disease disappeared in a month. My skin has been healthy ever since.

Types of Chocolate

The main types of chocolate are white chocolate, milk chocolate, semisweet chocolate, bittersweet chocolate and unsweetened chocolate. These types of chocolate may be produced with ordinary cacao beans (mass-produced and cheap) or specialty cacao beans (aromatic and expensive) or a mixture of these two types. The composition of the mixture, origin of cacao beans, the treatment and roasting of beans, and the types and amounts of additives used will significantly affect the flavor and the price of the final chocolate.

White chocolate

Chocolate made with cocoa butter, sugar, milk, emulsifier, vanilla and sometimes other flavorings. It does not contain any non-fat ingredients from the cacao bean and has therefore an off-white color. In some countries white chocolate cannot be called ‘chocolate’ because of the low content of cocoa solids. It has a mild and pleasant flavor and can be used to make Chocolate Mousse, Panna Cotta and other desserts.

Milk chocolate

Sweet chocolate which normally contains 10-20% cocoa solids (which includes cocoa and cocoa butter) and more than 12% milk solids. It is seldom used for baking, except for cookies.

“I’d certainly like to believe that chocolate is good for me.
And why not? Even Andrew Weil says so.”

In fact, as if anticipating that this study might be over-hyped, the journal headed the issue with an editorial to put the findings in perspective. In “How good is chocolate?” nutrition expert Paul Nestel noted that plants supply many thousands of healthful substances to the human diet. It is well known that soy, grapes, tea, onions, apples, citrus and many others are rich sources of antioxidants, so it’s not surprising that cocoa contains an antioxidant, too. How important is the antioxidant in chocolate? Nestel questioned the importance of chocolate’s modest effects on LDL oxidation. He further asked, “Given that there are thousands of flavonoids in the foods that we eat … should each new finding be greeted as an encouragement to eat that particular source because it contains a special flavonoid?” 2

One ounce of dark chocolate three times a week.
Stephen Sinatra, M.D., cardiologist.
In fact, you can indulge yourself a lot more by using products and recipes that combine cocoa with healthier fats and sweeteners rather than manufactured chocolates. The food industry should work on this. Providing “healthy chocolate” made of cocoa and healthy ingredients would tap a big market of health-conscious chocolate lovers like me. Maybe then I could write a truly enthusiastic article about chocolate.

While this list is far from exhaustive, we hope this provides an overview of the history of one of the world’s most loved consumables.

1) Cacao is a tree, native to South America, whose seeds are the source of cocoa and chocolate.

2) Botanists believe that cacao trees grew wild in the Amazon region , however, the use of the cacao tree, for culinary purposes, did not begin until it reached the lush tropical lowlands of southern Mexico over 3000 years ago.

3) The oldest known civilization of the Americas (1500 – 400 B.C.), The Olmecs, were probably the first users of cacao.

Though few records survived, recent linguistic findings suggest the word “cacao” is derived from the word Kakawa in Mixe-Zoquean, believed to have been their language.

4) Cacao beans were so valuable in ancient Mexico that the Maya and subsequent Aztec and Toltec civilizations used them as a means of currency to pay for commodities and taxes.

The Aztecs, and other ancient indigenous cultures, believed chocolate to be an aphrodisiac.  Although this is not exactly true, chocolate does contain phenyl ethylamine (PEA) which creates a chemical reaction in the brain similar to that of falling in love.

5) In the 17th Century, the first recorded case of “Death by Chocolate” occurred.

In San Cristobal de las Casa, in Chiapas, Mexico, upper class Spaniards were so addicted to chocolate intake that they refused a church dictated ban forbidding consumption of drink or food during Mass.

In response, the townspeople refused to uphold this edict and chose to attend worship services in Convents.

The Bishop of Chiapas, who passed the edict, was found dead due to a mixture of poison that was secretly added to his daily cup of chocolate.  Rumor has it that he passed from this world with a smile on his face.