Chocolate – The Food of the Gods – IELTS Reading Answers

‘Chocolate – The Food of Gods’ is an academic reading passage that has appeared in an IELTS Test. Since questions get repeated in the IELTS exam, these kinds of reading passages are ideal for practice. If you want more practice, try taking a whole IELTS reading practice test.

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Chocolate – The Food of Gods

A. The story of chocolate begins with the discovery of America in 1492. Columbus was the first European to come into contact with cacao. On August 5th, 1502, on his fourth and last voyage to the Americas, Columbus and his crew met some natives in a canoe that contained beans from the cacao tree. Columbus was struck by how much value the Indians placed on them as he did not know the beans were used for currency. It is unlikely that Columbus brought any of these beans back to Spain and it was not until about twenty years later that Cortez grasped the commercial possibilities when he found the Aztecs using the beans to make the royal drink “chocolate”.

B. The Spanish, in general, were not fond of the bitter drink so Cortez and his followers made it more palatable by adding cane sugar and later cinnamon and vanilla were added. Spanish monks let the secret out back home and, although the Spanish hid it from their neighbours for a hundred years, finally chocolate’s popularity grew until it was the fashionable drink at the French court and the discerning choice of customers at London meeting houses.

C. The cacao beans are harvested from pods grown on the cacao tree. The pods come in a range of types since cacao trees cross-pollinate freely. These types can be reduced to three classifications. The most common is Forastero, which accounts for nearly 90% of the world’s production of cacao beans. This is the easiest to cultivate and has a thick-walled pod and a pungent aroma. Rarest and most prized are the beans of the Criollo. These beans from the soft, thin-skinned pod have an aroma and delicacy that make them sought after by the world’s best chocolate makers. Finally, there is the Trinitario, which is believed to be a natural cross from strains of the other two types. It has a great variety of characteristics but generally possesses a good, aromatic flavour and the trees are particularly suitable for cultivation.

D. The cacao tree is strictly a tropical plant thriving only in hot, rainy climates. Thus, its cultivation is confined to countries not more than 20 degrees north or south of the equator. The cacao tree is very delicate and sensitive. It needs protection from the wind and requires a fair amount of shade under most conditions. This is true, especially in its first two or three years of growth. A newly planted cacao seedling is often sheltered by a different type of tree. It is normal to plant food crops for shade such as bananas, plantain, coconuts or cocoyam’s. Rubber trees and forest trees are also used for shade. Once established, however, cacao trees can grow in full sunlight, provided there are fertile soil conditions and intensive husbandry. With pruning and careful cultivation, the trees of most strains will begin bearing fruit in the fifth year. With extreme care, some strains can be induced to yield good crops in the third and fourth years.

E. The process of turning cacao into chocolate hasn’t changed much since the Swiss made the major breakthroughs in the process in the late 1800s. First, the beans (up to twelve varieties harvested from all over the world) go through a process of fermentation and drying. They are then sorted by hand before cleaning and then roasting. Winnowing follows which removes the hard outer hulls and leaves what is known as the “nibs”. A crushing and heating process known as Hunter’sProcess is then used to remove nearly half of the cocoa butter from the nibs. This makes unsweetened chocolate (also known as cooking chocolate). Basic eating chocolate is made from a blending of the unsweetened chocolate with some of the cocoa butter along with other ingredients such as sugar and vanilla. The resulting product is then “conched” and this conching gives chocolate the velvet texture that we know so well. The finished result is then moulded, cooled, packaged by machine, distributed, sold and, of course, eaten!

F. Where methods of manufacturing are concerned, manufacturers have a completely free hand and have developed individual variations from the pattern. Each manufacturer seeks to protect his own methods by conducting certain operations under an atmosphere of security. No chef guards his favourite recipes more zealously than the chocolate manufacturer guards his formulas for blending the beans. Time intervals, temperatures and proportions are three critical factors that no company wants to divulge.

G. Apart from the taste, one of the most pleasant effects of eating chocolate is the “good feeling” that many people experience after indulging. Chocolate contains more than three known chemicals including caffeine, theobromine and phenlethylamine which are stimulants. Some researchers believe that chocolate contains pharmacologically active substances that have the same effect on the brain as marijuana and that these chemicals may be responsible for problems such as the psychoses associated with chocolate craving. However, eating too much of anything can obviously cause health problems and as long as moderation is exercised, chocolate should not cause the average person any harm.

Questions 28 – 33

The reading passage on The Story of Chocolate has 7 paragraphs A –G. From the list of headings below choose the most suitable headings for paragraphs B –G. Write the appropriate number (i –xi) in boxes 28 –33 on your answer sheet. There are more headings than paragraphs, so you will not use them all.

List of Headings

i) Growing The Tree

ii) Problems With Manufacture

iii) Why We Like It

iv) How the Aztecs Discovered Chocolate.

v) Chocolate Spreads to Europe

vi) First Contact

vii) The Countries that Grow Cacao Trees

viii) Secrecy Issues

ix) Recipes for Using Chocolate

x) Varieties of Cacao

xi) From Bean to Bar

Example Answer

Paragraph A iv

28 Paragraph B

29 Paragraph C

30 Paragraph D

31 Paragraph E

32 Paragraph F

33 Paragraph G

Questions 34 –37

Do the following statements agree with the information given in The Story of Chocolate?In boxes 34 –37 on your answer sheet write:

YES if the statement agrees with the information

NO if the statement contradicts the statement

NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this in the passage

34 Most early Spaniards did not particularly like the chocolate that the Aztecs originally drank.

35 The Forastero bean is generally regarded as making the best chocolate.

36 Cacao trees need a lot of looking after to be used commercially.

37 Some chocolate companies have been known to steal chocolate recipes from other companies.

Questions 38 –40

Using the information in the passage, complete the flow chart below. Write your answers in boxes 38 –40 on your answer sheet. Use NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the passage for each answer.

The Chocolate Production Process

The beans are (eg) __________ at the farm and are then fermented, dried, sorted and cleaned. Answer – harvested

The beans are winnowed after 38__________ and these two processes produce the nibs.

Some of the 39__________ is then extracted using Hunte’s Process to make cooking chocolate.

The cooking chocolate is then blended with other ingredients to make the various types of eating chocolate available today. 40__________produces the smoothness in the chocolate.The chocolate is re-heated to melt it, put into moulds and then cooled to make its final shapes. The finished product is wrapped automatically, sent to the shops and then sold. Finally, the customer eats his or her bar of chocolate.

Chocolate – The Food of Gods IELTS Reading Answers

Check out the answer key for this IELTS Academic Reading passage, Chocolate – The Food of Gods, with detailed explanations.

28 Answer: v

Question type: Matching Headings

Answer location: Paragraph B

Answer explanation: Paragraph B talks about how chocolate spread to countries like France and the United Kingdom from Spain, who hid the secret to chocolate for a hundred years. It was Spanish monks who leaked the secret to chocolate back home. Thus, the answer is v.

29 Answer: x

Question type: Matching Headings

Answer location: Paragraph C

Answer explanation: Paragraph C talks about how cacao trees can cross-pollinate freely, leading to a wide variety of cacao pods. It also mentions that Cacao can be classified into three broad categories, which are Forastero, Criollo and Trinitario and each has its own individual attributes. Thus, the answer is x.

30 Answer: i

Question type: Matching Headings

Answer location: Paragraph D

Answer explanation: Paragraph D talks about the various properties of the cacao tree and the conditions under which it can be cultivated. It mentions some important facts like the tropical nature of the cacao tree and how it can only grow in hot and rainy climates. We also understand that the cacao tree needs protection from sunlight in the first few years of life and other facts about its cultivation. Thus the answer is i.

31 Answer: xi

Question type: Matching Headings

Answer location: Paragraph E

Answer explanation: Paragraph E talks about the process of turning cacao into chocolate and how the process of turning cacao into chocolate hasn’t changed much since the Swiss made the major breakthroughs in the process in the late 1800s. In this paragraph, we also understand how cacao beans are harvested from all over the world and then go into the process of fermentation and drying. Other parts of the process include winnowing, crushing and heating, which is also known as Hunter’s process. We also get to know that eating chocolate is obtained after mixing sugar and vanilla, and finally, chocolate is shaped and packaged by machines for consumption. Thus, the answer is xi.

32 Answer: viii

Question type: Matching Headings

Answer location: Paragraph F

Answer explanation: Paragraph F talks about the secrecy that chocolate manufacturers maintain about their process of manufacturing chocolate. Time intervals, temperatures and proportions are three critical factors that no company wants to divulge. Thus, the answer is viii.

33 Answer: iii

Question type: Matching Headings

Answer location: Paragraph G

Answer explanation: Paragraph G discusses the qualities of chocolate other than its taste that makes it so popular among people. “Chocolate contains more than three known chemicals including caffeine, theobromine and phenlethylamine which are stimulants. Some researchers believe that chocolate contains pharmacologically active substances that have the same effect on the brain as marijuana and that these chemicals may be responsible for problems such as the psychoses associated with chocolate craving.” Thus, the answer is iii.

34 Answer: Yes

Question type: Yes/ No/Not Given

Answer location: Paragraph B, Line 1

Answer explanation: The first line of Paragraph B states that “The Spanish, in general, were not fond of the bitter drink so Cortez and his followers made it more palatable by adding cane sugar and later cinnamon and vanilla were added.” This clearly indicates that most early Spaniards did not particularly like the chocolate that the Aztecs originally drank. Thus, the answer is yes.

35 Answer: No

Question type: Yes/ No/Not Given

Answer location: Paragraph C, line 5 – line 7

Answer explanation: The fifth line of Paragraph C states that “Rarest and most prized are the beans of the Criollo. These beans from the soft, thin-skinned pod have an aroma and delicacy that make them sought after by the world’s best chocolate makers.” It is also mentioned in Paragraph C that “The most common is Forastero, which accounts for nearly 90% of the world’s production of cacao beans”. Thus, it can be inferred that the Forastero bean may be regarded as the most popular but it is not used to make the best chocolate. Hence the answer is No.

36 Answer: Yes

Question type: Yes/ No/Not Given

Answer location: Paragraph D, line 2 – line 4

Answer explanation: According to Paragraph D, “The cacao tree is very delicate and sensitive. It needs protection from the wind and requires a fair amount of shade under most conditions. This is true, especially in its first two or three years of growth.” This indicates that Cacao trees need a lot of looking after to be used commercially. Thus the answer is yes.

37 Answer: Not given

Question type: Yes/ No/Not Given

Answer location: Paragraph F

Answer explanation: From Paragraph F, we can understand that chocolate-making companies exercise tremendous secrecy when it comes to their chocolate manufacturing process. However, it is not mentioned in the paragraph about other companies stealing chocolate recipes from their competitors. Thus, the answer is Not given.

38 Answer: Roasting

Question type: Note completion

Answer location: Paragraph E, line 3 – line 5

Answer explanation: The third line of Paragraph E states that “They are then sorted by hand before cleaning and then roasting. Winnowing follows which removes the hard outer hulls and leaves what is known as the “nibs”.” Thus, we can conclude that the beans are winnowed after roasting. Hence the answer is roasting.

39 Answer: Cocoa butter

Question type: Note completion

Answer location: Paragraph E, line 5 – line 6

Answer explanation: The following line of Paragraph E states that “A crushing and heating process known as Hunter’sProcess is then used to remove nearly half of the cocoa butter from the nibs. This makes unsweetened chocolate (also known as cooking chocolate).” Thus, it can be said that it is cocoa butter that is extracted using Hunter’s Process. Hence the answer is cocoa butter.

40 Answer: Conching

Question type: Note completion

Answer location: Paragraph E, line 9 – line 10

Answer explanation: The following line from Paragraph E states that “The resulting product is then “conched” and this conching gives chocolate the velvet texture that we know so well.” From this, we can conclude that ‘conching’ gives chocolate its smoothness. Thus, the answer is conching.

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