Chocolate is general term used for a number of foods made of cocoa beans. The early use of chocolate dates back to more than 2,500 years. It is believed that ancient Mayans used to drink chocolate.

Dark chocolate is the chocolate without milk. Dark chocolate is sometimes also called "plain chocolate." Dark chocolate contains a lot more cocoa than other forms of chocolate and thus it is an addictive.

General chocolate making process destroys up to half of the flavoniods present in the cocoa beans, but dark chocolate is produced with 95% of its flavoniods. The first step in making dark chocolate is harvesting cocoa beans that grow on the Theobroma cacao trees. Theobroma is the Greek word that means "the food of the god." The tree was the symbol of strength and prosperity. Chocolate contains nearly 380 known chemicals.

The cocoa beans are then cut to take out pulp. The husks are discarded and can be used for other purposes. The mixture of pulp and seeds is made to go thru fermentation, usually in wooden boxes in the ground, for between five to ten days. Once fermentation imparts sufficient flavor, the beans spread out to dry in hot sun or by using a special kiln. Here beans are cleaned of any sort of foreign materials.

These cleaned beans are then roasted to get stronger flavor and to lower their acidity. The beans are roasted at moderate temperature to retain up 95% of its flavoniods. These roasted beans are then cracked and blown through a fan to remove the shell from the meat of the bean. These chocolate nibs are crushed either by hand, or by stones, or by a machine. The crushing liquefies them into chocolate liquor. This liquid is then put into a mold where it gets hardened into blocks of dark unsweetened chocolate. Up to here the chocolate is pure dark chocolate.

This pure dark chocolate is used to make many kinds of confections such as chocolate bars, candy, ice cream, cookies, cakes, pies, chocolate mousse, and other desserts. For that purpose, sugar, cocoa butter, vanilla, milk, and several other ingredients are added to chocolate. These additions influence lowering down the percentage of flavoniods. To retain the 95% of its flavoniods, the other ingredients are added accordingly.

There are a number of studies that have linked cocoa and dark chocolate with numerous health benefits. The darker chocolate with the most concentrated cocoa are proven as the most beneficial for human health. Flavonoids are the antioxidants in chocolate. Studies have revealed that flavonoids slow the processing of "bad" LDL cholesterol into material that clogs the arteries, and at the same time make blood platelets less likely to clump and cause clots.

Paul writes for the chocolate drinks site and also for the UK SEO Adwords and EMarketing site ProMarketingOnline.