Chocolate. Sweet joy for children and adults. They say it braces up when you eat it and improves the mood when you look at it. It’s possible to see chocolate works of art not only in the store windows, but also in museums.
There’re three museums in Ukraine: in Lviv, in Odessa and in Trostianka. The last one was opened some years ago, indeed the only chocolate Ukrainian fabric with complete production cycle is placed in Trostianka. More than 1500 exhibited objects are collected in three halls – «Korona», «Milka» and «Jakobs», they demonstrate history of creating chocolate and its making, let into legends of coffee creating, its sorts and coffee crockery. Decorative chocolate figures weighing 10 – 30 kg make the strongest impression. For example, a cacao bean – 10 kg of chocolate, Aztecs leader – 35 kg of chocolate, a swan – 25 kg of milk chocolate and its pedestal – 16 kg. The milk chocolate goes wrong faster, but it’s more aromatic. «Korona» - is the symbol of Ukrainian trademark – 16 kg of dark chocolate and its pedestal (made of milk chocolate) also weighs 16 kg.
Today nearly 1 000 workers in 8 sections are the part of the fabric. The production is fully automated, there’s a strict control of product quality and discipline. It produces chocolate “Korona”, “Milka”, coffee “Jakobs” etc. The warm liquid chocolate is spilled into greased with coconut oil forms the size of 50 - and 120- sm., then it’s cooled and sent for packing. Before that it’s tested for presence of metallic objects, stones and for appropriate weight. If chocolate bar is lighter to a few grams or thinner over a few microns, it goes for processing or utilization. Three laboratories are responsible for that: raw material one, physical and chemical one and microbiological. They control the product every hour. A machine for chocolate bars production is over 100 meters long.
Some history. Christopher Columbus was the first European to try the chocolate. Local people gave him a drink from unknown herbs and bearings at island Hayana in 1502 and he didn’t like the taste. The conquistadors invaded the territory of Mexico under leadership of Hernando Cortes in 1519. The Spanish were interested in the cacao beans beverage, it was a little bit bitter, but had a toning effect.
There’s a talk that there were discussions about drinking chocolate during the fast in XVI century. Mexican bishops even asked the Patriarch of Rome. It turned out Piy V has never tried and hasn’t even heard about it. A cup of coffee was prepared for the Patriarch. When he tried it, he curled up and said the phrase: «The chocolate doesn’t disturb the fest, it’s impossible such a disgusting thing to be pleasant for someone». These words were the start of coffee’s big career.
It’s proved today the coffee has an antioxidant effect on the organism: there’s the same amount of antioxidants in 50 g of dark chocolate as in 15 glasses of orange juice or ripe apples. Use of cacao and dark chocolate improves efficiency and makes a tonic effect on the organism. What is more, there’s no negative impact of chocolate use, except individual rejection.