The history of Chocolate

Chocolate in the Americas – Maya and Aztec civilizations

Cocoa originates from Central and South America and it was unknown to Europe before America was discovered. American civilisations started to use cocoa to make chocolate, at least 4,000 years ago in the Amazon region.

Chocolate was very precious and it was drank only by powerful and rich people. Cocoa beans were so precious, that they were used as currency. Chocolate had a very important role in Maya and Aztec cultures and Maya and Aztec usually drank chocolate in the form of a cold, thick unsweetened drink, called xocoatl. They sometimes added spices, such as chilli peppers, to improve the taste.
The world chocolate comes from the Maya word xocoatl (meaning bitter water), which then the Spanish changed into chocolatl in the 1500’s.

XVI century – the Spanish discover chocolate

When Columbus arrived in America for the first time, in 1492, he brought back some cocoa seeds to Spain, but nobody yet understood their potential. In 1502, when Columbus went to Nicaragua, he realised the value that cocoa beans had as currency and so, Spanish colonisers started using cocoa beans to trade with American indigenes.

In 1519 Hernand Cortés began a cocoa plantation, in order to use the seeds as currency, but he soon realised the big potential of cocoa seeds and in 1528 he gave some cocoa seeds to the king of Spain. It was not long before the Spanish started making chocolate, by mixing cocoa with sugar, vanilla, nutmeg and cloves. Chocolate at the time was still a drink and in Spain it became a big success, although only among the most affluent people, because it was still very expensive.

XVII century and beginning of XVIII century – chocolate spreads throughout Europe

At the beginning only the Spanish knew about this delicious drink from the New World. Chocolate arrived in France only 1643, at the court of Louis XIV, and it was a great success among the French nobility. The first chocolate shop opened in London in 1657 and it was run by a Frenchman. By the beginning of the following century, the chocolate drink arrived into Belgium, Germany, Austria and Italy.

XVIII century – first mass production of chocolate

With the Industrial Revolution, the first machines that could grind cocoa automatically became available, so the price of chocolate started going down. In 1765 the first American chocolate factory opened in the USA and in 1780 the first completely machine-made chocolate was produced in Barcelona, Spain.

XIX century – chocolate becomes an industry

The XIX century saw a huge increase in the production of chocolate around the industrialised world. This was due to the improvement of chocolate making techniques and machines and to the reduction of heavy import duties on cocoa. Also, cocoa was planted in more countries around the world, such as African countries. So, in the 1800’s more and more people became able to afford chocolate.
Important dates, which marked step stones in chocolate production, are:

• 1830: the drink becomes a confection, thanks to the British chocolate maker J.S. Fry and Sons, who produced the first solid chocolate.
• 1875: the Swiss Daniel Peter makes the first milk chocolate.
• 1879: Rodolphe Lindt from Berne invents the conching process, which allows chocolate to be smoother and literally melt in your mouth.

XX century to our days – chocolate becomes an essential part of our eating habits

Nowadays chocolate has become part of our everyday lives and it would be unthinkable to live without it. Now we have a huge variety of chocolate types and chocolate products, including chocolate for vegans and health conscious people.

In the past decades chocolate had been seen as unhealthy food and cause of weight gain. Nowadays, even though we are still conscious that it is not possible to eat a large amount of chocolate without feeling guilty, chocolate benefits on body and mind have been rediscovered, especially the benefits of dark chocolate.

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