All About Chocolate

All About Chocolate Written by Robert Charles

《巧克力全知道》 作者：罗伯特·查尔斯

Introduction People around the world love chocolate. They love it so much that every year they eat more chocolate than any other sweet. If you have ever wondered where chocolate comes from and how it's made, then read on!

前言 全世界的人都喜爱巧克力。 人们太爱吃巧克力了，每年吃掉的巧克力比其他任何甜食都多。 如果你也好奇巧克力从哪来、是怎么做成的，那就往下读吧！

Where Chocolate Comes From Chocolate actually grows on trees. But you can't just pick a chunk of chocolate from a tree branch and eat it. The chocolate growing on trees looks, tastes, and smells nothing like the chocolate you eat. The tree that gives us chocolate is the cacao tree. Chocolate comes from beans that are found in large pods on the tree. Cacao trees grow where it is hot and wet. Mostly they grow near the equator. It takes four to five years before a cacao tree begins to grow pods.

巧克力从哪来 其实巧克力长在树上哦。 但你可不能直接从树枝上掰一块巧克力下来吃呀。 树上长的这种原料，和你吃的巧克力长相、味道、香气完全不一样。 给我们产出巧克力的树叫做可可树。 巧克力来自可可树大果荚里的可可豆。 可可树喜欢生长在炎热潮湿的地方。 它们大多生长在赤道附近。 可可树要生长四到五年才会开始结出果荚。

Today, most cacao trees are grown on farms called plantations. Cacao trees have lots of small white or yellow flowers. Some of the flowers change into pods, but most do not.

如今，大多数可可树都种在叫做种植园的农场里。 可可树会开出很多小小的白色或黄色花朵。 只有一部分花会结出果荚，大部分都不会哦。

The pods are shaped like little footballs. Workers trim the branches to get the most pods from the trees. The pods change from green to a golden or reddish color as they ripen.

可可果荚长得就像小号橄榄球呢。 工人们会修剪树枝，好让可可树结出更多果荚。 果荚成熟的时候，会从绿色变成金棕色或者红色。

Preparing the Beans Taking ripe pods from the cacao trees is the first step in making chocolate. Inside each pod are 20 to 50 beans. The cacao beans are the tree's seeds. It takes a lot of beans and a lot of work to make chocolate. The pods are first gathered and then cut open with a large blade.

处理可可豆 从可可树上摘下成熟的果荚，是制作巧克力的第一步。 每个果荚里面都有20到50颗可可豆。 这些可可豆就是可可树的种子呀。 制作巧克力需要很多可可豆，也需要很多工序哦。 工人们先把果荚收集起来，再用大刀把果荚切开。