This lavishly illustrated book takes readers on a journey through the history and production of the world's most seductive confection: chocolate. Through the eyes of food critics, chefs, journalists, and historians, this book explores the rich history of chocolate, along with a modern-day investigation of its many flavors and forms. Learn how the cocoa bean, first enjoyed by the Aztecs, has traveled around the globe to produce innumerable variations of chocolate. In the sixteenth century, chocolate was consumed as a highly-spiced drink attributed with curative, even aphrodisiacal, powers. Entrepreneurs like the Cadbury brothers in Bournville, England, Dr. James Baker in Massachusetts, and Milton S. Hershey in Pennsylvania made it possible for modern chocoholics to indulge daily in this once unattainable luxury. This bestseller, first published in 1996, is brought up to date with a guide to the finest purveyors of chocolate worldwide. Illustrated with vintage advertising posters and chocolate packages, fine paintings, and lavish, specially-commissioned photographs, The Book of Chocolate is completed with ten sinfully good recipes.