American women say they'd rather receive chocolate than flowers on Valentine's Day, especially those over the age of 50. 4. Cadbury also introduced the first Valentine's Day candy box. Chocolate comes from cacao beans. It was first found in 1591 by Spanish explorer Hernan Cortez in Mexico. After he tasted it, he recognized its commercial use, and sent it back to Spain with recipes on how to convert cacao into chocolate.
Cocoa trees produce pods that are the size of a pineapple.
Inside these pods, there are between 20 and 50 cream-colored seeds. The seeds, called beans, are strung in five chains around a single placenta within the pod. Cacao beans are taken out of the pods, and begin a process of fermentation, that lasts three to nine days. The fermentation is done to rid of germs and reduce the moisture content of the bean. The fermented beans are then shipped to processing plants, where they are converted into chocolate.