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Essay / Bulgaria's Foreign Trade with Chocolate - 1338
IntroductionProduct CharacteristicsChocolate is a sweet food preparation made from cocoa beans in various forms and flavors. It has many applications in the food industry and can be consumed either as a final product or as a flavoring ingredient for a wide variety of sweet foods. Its main ingredient, cocoa, is grown by many crops in Mexico and Central America as well as some West African countries, such as the Ivory Coast. Chocolate production takes place in several stages. First, the bitter cocoa seeds must be fermented so that their intense bitter taste becomes milder. After fermentation, the beans are dried, cleaned and roasted. We then obtain the cocoa mass, which represents pure chocolate in raw form. When this mass is liquefied, it turns into chocolate liquor, which, on the other hand, can be transformed into cocoa solids or cocoa butter. Various chocolate products are made from different combinations of cocoa solids and cocoa butter as well as the addition of other ingredients such as milk, sugar, all kinds of flavorings, etc. Cocoa solids are valuable for their flavanols, antioxidants and alkaloids which have physiological properties. effects on the body and influence serotonin levels in the body, meaning they simply bring the perception of “happiness”. Chocolate is one of the most popular foods in the world and is widely used in the food industry.International chocolate tradeFrom 2008 to 2012, the value of exports (at current prices) of chocolate and other food preparations containing chocolate cocoa rose on average by 5.6%. to reach its peak of US$24.1 billion. During the same period, imports experienced a similar development with an average increase of 5.5% to reach the middle of paper......4.06.2013, http://www.capital.bg/biznes /kompanii/2013/06/24/2089103_prodava_se_shokoladovata_fabrika_v_botevgrad/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chocolate#The_chocolate_industry http://www.chocolatesource.com/history/index.asp http://www.thestoryofchocolate.com /Who/content.cfm?ItemNumber=3450&navItemNumber=3481 http://www.fairtrade.net/cocoa.html http://www.pobeda.bg/bg/node/Za-nas-2/Predstavyane-9.aspx http://www.prestige96.bg/bg/content/5/Za-kompaniyata “Slavery in the chocolate industry”, http://www.foodispower.org/slavery-chocolate/“The value chain of cocoa”, http: //coffeemeetscocoa.wordpress.com/2013/02/06/the-cocoa-value-chain/ “Welcome to the Bulgarian chocolate paradise”, http://www.questbg.com/lifestyle/food -a-drink/963- welcome to bulgarias-chocolate-heaven.html “What is the chocolate industry? », http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-the-chocolate-industry.htm