13 December: National Cocoa Day

Cocoa, also known as hot Chocolate or drinking chocolate, is a hot drink made from cocoa powder or melted chocolate, hot Milk or Water and sweeteners.

1. Cocoa beans come from the cacao tree, which grows in the deep tropical region of the Americas. The Latin name for this tree is Theobroma cacao. These trees will only grow in the hot, damp climates found between the latitudes 20° North and 20° South of the Equator.
2. The trees don't like direct sunlight, so are planted next to taller trees to protect them. It takes 5 years for the tree to produce its first seed pods.
3. The Mayans were the first people to consume a drink made from cocoa beans, although what they drank was very different from the cocoa we drink today. They drank it cold, and unsweetened. They made it by grinding cocoa seeds into a paste and mixing it with water, cornmeal, Chilli peppers, and other ingredients. The next step was to pour it from a pot to cup and back again several times until it developed a thick foam.
4. Christopher Columbus was thought to have brought cocoa beans to King Ferdinand during his fourth trip from the New World in 1502. It was later on, in 1528, that Cortés brought back to Spain not only the beans, but the equipment for making the drink as well. It was still unsweetened but quickly became popular with the Spanish upper classes. It was, however, very expensive - so much so that cocoa was given as a dowry when members of the Spanish Royal Family married other European aristocrats.
5. In 1657 the first Chocolate House opened. By now, people were drinking it hot and mixing it with spices, but still no milk or sugar. One recipe was hot chocolate "infused with fresh Jasmine flowers, amber, musk, vanilla and ambergris." Still only the rich could afford to drink the stuff as it cost 10-15 shillings a pound.
6. It was Hans Sloane, president of the Royal College of Physicians in the late 17th century who introduced milk to cocoa. He tried the drink in Jamaica and hated it at first, but found it was palatable if he added milk.
7. From the 16th to 19th centuries, hot chocolate was valued as a medicine. Explorers of the time documented that it helped treat fever, liver disease, chest ailments and stomach disorders. It was the French who first noticed the mood altering properties of chocolate and cocoa was recommended "to fight against fits of anger and bad moods". Today, research is showing that hot chocolate does have health benefits. It contains more antioxidants than Wine and Tea, therefore reducing the risk of heart disease. More antioxidants are released when the beverage is heated.
8. Coenraad Johannes van Houten is credited with inventing the first cocoa powder producing machine in the Netherlands in 1828.
9. In the UK, cocoa tends to be seen as the hot drink people have late at night before bed, but in many parts of the world, people drink cocoa for breakfast. In Spain, thick hot chocolate with churros is the traditional working-man's breakfast. In Nigeria, too, it is consumed for breakfast and this is why people in Nigeria often refer to cocoa as "tea" since "tea" is the word Nigerians generally use for any drink consumed in the morning.
10. There is a world record for the fastest time to drink a hot chocolate. The time is 5.45 seconds, and the record holder is cricketer Andrew 'Freddie' Flintoff, who set this record in 2012.

New!

Jack Ward, President of Innovia, owes his life twice over to the enigmatic superhero, dubbed Power Blaster by the press. No-one knows who Power Blaster is or where he comes from - and he wants it to stay that way.

Scientist Desi Troyes has developed a nuclear bomb to counter the ever present threat of an asteroid hitting the planet. When Ward signs the order giving the go ahead for a nuclear test on the remote Bird Island, he has no inkling of Troyes' real agenda, and that he has signed the death warrants of millions of people.

Although the island should have been evacuated, there are people still there: some from the distant continent of Classica; protesters opposed to the bomb test; and Innovians who will not, or cannot, use their communication devices.

Power Blaster knows he must stop the bomb from hitting the island. He also knows it may be the last thing he ever does.

Meanwhile in Innovia, Ward and his staff gather to watch the broadcast of the test. Nobody, not even Troyes himself, has any idea what is about to happen.

Part One of The Raiders Trilogy.

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