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There are several unique focuses for 2025. I covered the first 12 in Part One. The following are the rest I have discovered for this year. As with all issues of LEEP Ink, the following descriptions are a...
Chocolate Lover's Month likely came about due to the association of chocolate hearts with Valentine's Day.
Chocolate beans first appeared around 1900 BC in Central America, usually as a bitter drink, often alcoholic or spiced with red peppers. It is quite a treat if you've never tried hot chocolate with red peppers using hot water instead of milk!
It would take Christopher Columbus, on his fourth voyage, to bring this delicious bean to Europe. He noted his first encounter with chocolate in his ship's log on August 15, 1502. a few decades later, Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés brought the bean back in bulk for European markets. He was only 17 when Columbus became aware of chocolate.
However, it wasn't the sweet treat we see today in its Central American form. That required several inventions:
John Baker's process of grinding cocoa beans between millstones to create a cocoa powder in 1764 is the first.
Conrad Van Houten's method for extracting the cacao liquor from the fat in the cocoa bean in 1828 made chocolate affordable.
And finally, the development of conching by Swiss chocolatier Rodolphe Lindt in 1879.
The rest is sweet history.
There are several different types of cocoa beans. Though native to the Americas, today, nearly two-thirds of cocoa production occurs in Africa. Ivory Coast is the largest producer.
There is no official sponsor of this event. However, many trade organizations, restaurants, and retailers host promotions throughout February.
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