“Please Sir, can I have some more?”

Chocolate, is a dear friend of the gourmands.

Its sweet taste has always been coveted by palates, and not only the sweetest ones. Chocolate Is often the centre of our attention, for example, this week in London we celebrate the week of chocolate until Sunday 18th of October. Travelling back in time, we assimilate the first use of chocolate which dates back to 1900 BC.

Indeed, back in this time in Meso-America, Aztecs grew this fruit and were using it in order to give strength to the one who was drinking it during rituals, according to their believers it was also used as a currency and aphrodisiac. It was served as a frothy liquid, with a bitter taste, usually mixed with Shall we explain this desire that chocolate has always been aroused by his intricate life conditions? Yes we should. The cocoa plant doesn’t just grow in any region but only on each side of the equator. It comes out at an altitude of 400 up to 700 meters in semi-obscurity. Trees begin to flower after around 2 and 5 years. They reach their maturity at 12 years old and keep blooming for up to 30 years. Out of 50 000/100 000 flowers trees, just 1% of these will be fertilised and become a cocoa pod. The pod can reach 25 centimetres and we find beneath a tough skin, the cocoa grain.

From now on, we can understand why a cocoa tree produces 1 kilograms or 1 and half kilograms of To honour this long effort, London has decided to dedicate a whole week to chocolate. Several chocolatiers and restaurants are collaborating for the Chocolate week, happening in Olympia National Hall until Sunday. You can enjoy different tastings in several restaurants and chocolatiers of At Chef Academy, we teach to our student’s food history. We think it has to be part of theirprofessional cooking trainings to talk about this topic in order to make them realize how important

the origins of the products they choose, and use are, their story and also the different techniques to Would you like to know how to do a chocolate icing or to temper the chocolate? Have a look to our pastry trainings  and get ready for becoming a pastry chef.