The Story of Chocolate

Reveals how our love affair with chocolate begain. In Mesoamerica, Southern Mexico and Central America, people living in the tropical rain forests discovered the edible properties of Theobroma Cacao, referred to as the "food of the gods." Visit boutique chocolate houses and learn the secret behind great chocolate making: roasting, cracking, winnowing, grinding, aging, tempering and packaging. Discover the stories behind the creation of famous chocolate brands. At the Royal Botanic Gardens in London, horticulturalist Lara Jewitt discusses the components of the cacao tree. In St. Lucia, Zoe Palmer visits the Fond Doux Cocoa Plantation to learn how to produce cocoa beans for export. Historian Sara Jayne-Stans explains how, in the sixteenth century, the Spanish introduced the bitter chocolate drink of the Aztec nobility to Europe. Historian and broadcaster Dr. Matthew green conducts seventeenth and eighteenth-century Chocolate House tours in the heart of St. James Square, London.