This summer, if you're going to San Francisco, there is an interesting exhibit on chocolate that you should know about.<
This summer, if you're going to San Francisco, there is an interesting exhibit on chocolate that you should know about.
Jerry Kay spoke to Dr. Frank Almeda, Senior Curator of Botany at the California Academy of Sciences:
Almeda says that chocolate comes from grinding a bean -- it's plant-based. Most people aren't aware that the flavor doesn't come out until the beans are actually roasted, like coffee. Then other ingredients like sugar or vanilla are added to augment chocolate's signature flavor and aroma.
Only one of the 22 species of plant from which chocolate can be produced are actually used to make chocolate. He says that indiginous people in South and Central America use a couple of the other species, but the quality of chocolate from those species is inferior.
You can find out more about the Chocolate Exhibition at the California Academy of Sciences' website here: Chocolate Exhibit.
Be sure to visit EarthNews Radio's home here at ENN regularly. Jerry Kay interviews compelling environmentalists, and scientists, and activists in 90 blasts of information will make you think -- and prompt you to act. You can find it at www.enn.com/enn_radio_main.html.
