Chocolate

food · cocoa · sweet · treats

From cocoa pods. Chocolate starts with cocoa beans that grow inside large, bumpy pods on cocoa trees in tropical places like Africa and South America. The beans have to be fermented, dried, and roasted before they turn into the chocolate we know.

Three main types. Dark chocolate has lots of cocoa and less sugar, milk chocolate has cocoa mixed with milk to make it creamier, and white chocolate is made from cocoa butter without the brown cocoa solids.

Different forms. Chocolate can be a warm drink you sip, a solid bar you snap apart and eat, or a thick paste you spread on things like toast or use in baking.

Chemistry in your mouth. Cocoa butter in chocolate melts at body temperature, which is why chocolate feels smooth and creamy on your tongue instead of waxy or grainy.

Popular worldwide. People in almost every country eat chocolate in some form, whether as candy bars, hot chocolate drinks, desserts, or baking ingredients.