Dessert is a course that concludes a main meal. The course usually consists of sweet foods and beverages, such as dessert wine or liqueurs, but may include coffee, cheeses, nuts, or other savory items. In some parts of the world, such as much of central and western Africa, there is no tradition of a dessert course to conclude a meal.
The term “dessert” can apply to many confections, such as cakes, tarts, cookies, biscuits, gelatins, pastries, ice creams, pies, puddings, custards, and sweet soups. Fruit is also commonly found in dessert courses because of its naturally occurring sweetness. Some cultures sweeten foods that are more commonly savory to create desserts.
Sweets were fed to the gods in ancient Mesopotamiaand India and other ancient civilizations. Dried fruit and honey were probably the first sweeteners used in most of the world, but the spread of sugarcane around the world was essential to the development of dessert.
Sugarcane was grown and refined in India before 500 BCE and was crystallized, making it easy to transport, by 500 CE. Sugar and sugarcane were traded, making sugar available to Macedonia by 300 BCE and China by 600 CE. In South Asia, the Middle East and China, sugar has been a staple of cooking and desserts for over a thousand years. Sugarcane and sugar were little known and rare in Europe until the twelfth century or later, when the Crusades and then colonialization spread its use.
Europeans began to manufacture sugar in the Middle Ages, and more sweet desserts became available. Even then sugar was so expensive usually only the wealthy could indulge on special occasions. The first apple pie recipe was published in 1381. The earliest documentation of the term cupcake was in “Seventy-five Receipts for Pastry, Cakes, and Sweetmeats” in 1828 in Eliza Leslie’s Receipts cookbook.
The Industrial Revolution in America and Europe caused desserts to be mass-produced, processed, preserved, canned, and packaged. Frozen foods became very popular starting in the 1920s when freezing emerged. These processed foods became a large part of diets in many industrialized nations. Many countries have desserts and foods distinctive to their nations or region.
Chocolate is a typically sweet, usually brown, food preparation of Theobroma cacao seeds, roasted, ground, and often flavored. Pure, unsweetened chocolate contains primarily cocoa solids and cocoa butter in varying proportions. Much of the chocolate currently consumed is in the form of sweet chocolate, combining chocolate with sugar. Milk chocolate is sweet chocolate that additionally contains milk powder or condensed milk. White chocolate contains cocoa butter, sugar, and milk, but no cocoa solids. Dark chocolate is produced by adding fat and sugar to the cacao mixture, with no milk or much less than milk chocolate.
Chakula cha kiamsha-kinywa ni chakula cha mwisho cha mlo mkuu. Kwa kawaida chakula hicho hutia ndani vyakula na vinywaji vitamu, kama vile divai ya dessert au pombe, lakini kinaweza kutia ndani kahawa, jibini, karanga, au vyakula vingine vyenye ladha nzuri. Katika sehemu fulani za ulimwengu, kama vile sehemu kubwa ya Afrika ya kati na magharibi, hakuna desturi ya chakula cha kiamsha-kinywa kuhitimisha mlo. Neno " dessert " linaweza kutumiwa kwa ajili ya vyakula vingi vya sukari, kama vile keki, keki, biskuti, biskuti, gelatini, keki, aiskrimu, keki, pudding, custards, na mchuzi mtamu. Matunda pia hupatikana kwa kawaida katika vyakula vya dessert kwa sababu ya utamu wake wa asili. Tamaduni fulani huongeza ladha ya vyakula vyenye ladha nzuri ili kutengeneza dessert. Vyakula vitamu vilitolewa kwa miungu katika Mesopotamia ya kale na India na ustaarabu mwingine wa kale. Matunda yaliyokaushwa na asali labda zilikuwa tamu za kwanza kutumika katika sehemu kubwa ya ulimwengu, lakini kuenea kwa miwa ulimwenguni kote kulikuwa muhimu kwa maendeleo ya dessert. Mti wa sukari ulianza kukua na kusafishwa nchini India kabla ya 500 KK na ulipunguzwa, na hivyo kuweza kusafirishwa kwa urahisi. Kwa hivyo, sukari ilianza kuuzwa kwa makampuni ya sukari huko Makedonia mnamo 300 KK na China mnamo 600 KK. Katika Asia ya Kusini, Mashariki ya Kati na China, sukari imekuwa chakula kikuu cha kupikia na desserts kwa zaidi ya miaka elfu moja. Mti wa sukari na miwa haukujulikana sana na haukujulikana sana huko Ulaya hadi karne ya kumi na mbili au baadaye, wakati Vita vya Msalaba na kisha ukoloni uliposambaza matumizi yake. Wazungu walianza kutengeneza sukari katika Enzi za Kati, na vyakula vingi vitamu vilianza kutolewa. Hata wakati huo sukari ilikuwa ghali sana kwa kawaida tu matajiri wangeweza kufurahia katika pindi za pekee. Mapishi ya kwanza ya keki ya apples yalichapishwa mwaka 1381. "Kuna kumbukumbu ya kwanza ya neno ""cupcake"" katika ""Seventy-five Recipes for Pastry, Cakes, and Sweets"" katika kitabu cha Eliza Leslie cha 1828." Mapinduzi ya Viwanda huko Marekani na Ulaya yalisababisha vyakula vya kiamsha-kinywa kutengenezwa kwa wingi, kusindika, kuhifadhiwa, kuhifadhiwa, na kufunguliwa. Chakula kilichogandishwa kilianza kuenea katika miaka ya 1920 na kuanzishwa kwa njia ya kufungia. Vyakula hivyo vilivyotengenezwa viliwa sehemu kubwa ya mlo katika mataifa mengi ya viwanda. Nchi nyingi zina vyakula vya kiamsha-kinywa na vyakula vya kipekee kwa mataifa au mkoa wao. Chokoleti ni chakula kitamu, cha rangi ya kahawia, kilichotayarishwa kutokana na mbegu za kakao za Theobroma, kilichokaangwa, kilichopondwa, na mara nyingi kina ladha. Chokoleti safi isiyo na sukari ina hasa vitu vilivyo na kakao na siagi ya kakao katika kiasi tofauti-tofauti. Chokoleti nyingi zinazotumiwa kwa sasa ni za aina ya chokoleti tamu, ambazo huchanganya chokoleti na sukari. Chokoleti ya maziwa ni chokoleti tamu ambayo pia ina poda ya maziwa au maziwa yaliyozidiwa. Chokoleti nyeupe ina siagi ya kakao, sukari, na maziwa, lakini haina vitu vilivyo na kakao. Chokoleti nyeusi hutengenezwa kwa kuongeza mafuta na sukari kwenye mchanganyiko wa kakao, bila maziwa au kidogo kuliko chokoleti ya maziwa.