The History of Chocolate: An Adventure Through the Past

I was interested in this topic because of my love of chocolate. Coming here to Hershey, PA was like a dream come true. I love Hershey Bars, Reeses Cups, and, Kit Kat. The second I arrived at Hershey from Buenos Aires, Argentina, I loved the smell of chocolate and peanuts in the air! Chocolate was an important part of life for the Classic Period Maya and the Aztecs. It wasnt sweet back then though; Xocoatl, as it was called, was a bitter and frothy beverage. Many anthropologists, people who study the origin and development of humans, considered the Maya to be the first people to have made a food out of the cacao trees beans. Evidence came from actual remains of the drink in ancient vessels from the height of the Mayan civilization (250-900 A.D.). For the Maya, chocolate was a treasured treat. It was painted on vessels and other materials: people pouring and enjoying their Xocoatl drink. In 1976, a bulldozer unearthed an ancient Maya village in El Salvador. There, archaeologists found remains of cacao gardens and clay dishes with preserved cacaos seeds. Apparently, the Maya people valued chocolate so much that they gathered and grew cacao seeds in their own backyards! By the 1400s, the Aztecs were gradually gaining control over a huge part of Mesoamerica. Their territory ranged from northern Mexico to Maya lands in Honduras. Cacao quickly became key to the Aztecs vast trade empire, not only as a luxury drink but also as currency, offerings to gods, and payment to the rulers.
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The History of Chocolate: An Adventure Through the Past

The Aztecs couldnt grow cacao in the dry highlands of Mexico, so they traded for it. In Maya lands south of their own, Aztec traders filled woven backpacks with cacao. These men then hauled their precious cargo to the Aztec capital city, Tenochtitlan, the site of modern-day Mexico City. Cacao was so valuable, that conquered peoples who lived in cacao-growing areas paid tribute with cacao seeds. Until the 1500s, no one in Europe knew anything at all about this delicious drink that would soon shock the world. Spains search for a route to riches led its explorers to the Americas and introduced them to chocolates delicious flavor. When Christopher Columbus sailed to the Americas in the Santa Maria, he brought back many new foods and riches, one of which was the cacao bean. He brought back the new treasures and introduced them to the king and queen of Spain. The two rulers were delighted with all of the items except for the cacao beans. They found them of no use, and so threw the beans away. After Cortz and his soldiers returned to Spain from their conquests (yet again, with cacao beans), he showed the usefulness of this food and the Spanish loved the drink. There was one problem though: they didnt like the bitter flavor of the drink. Someone eventually got the idea to mix sugar, cinnamon, and other spices into the cacao drink, and sweet, hot chocolate was born. The Spanish also introduced a new tool to make the job of whipping the chocolate into a smooth foam much easier: the molinillo.

The History of Chocolate: An Adventure Through the Past

Nearly 100 years passed before other European countries caught on to the delicious new chocolate drink. Did the Spaniards want to keep it to themselves, and who spilled the secret of hot chocolate? Historians are not sure. Well, someone let the secret slip and chocolate became the greatest fad to hit the royal courts all over Europe, a trend that lasted until the Industrial Revolution made chocolate drinks available to a much broader public. As with the Spanish, most European countries like their hot chocolate sweetened with sugar, which at the time was expensive and exotic. In the late 1600s, Sir Hans Sloane, president of the Royal College of Physicians, introduced another custom: mixing the popular drink with milk for a lighter, smoother flavor. For hundreds of years, the chocolate-making process remained relatively unaltered. But by the mid 1700s, the blossoming Industrial Revolution saw the emergence of innovations that changed the future of chocolate. A steady stream of new inventions and advertising helped set the stage for solid chocolate candy to become the globally favored sweet it is today. New machinery of the industrial age made it possible to create solid chocolate treats and mass-produce this candy in enormous quantities at a fraction of the original cost. For the first time, most of the general public was able to afford this very tasty treat. For more than two centuries, enslaved people had labored to produce crops in lands colonized by European nations.

The History of Chocolate: An Adventure Through the Past

In 1815, the Dutch chemist, Coenraad Van Houten, added alkaline salts to powdered chocolate, which helped it to mix better with water and gave it a darker color and milder flavor. One very important invention was the cocoa press, created in 1828 by Van Houten. It squeezed out cocoa butter (leaving cocoa powder) and made cocoa both more consistent and cheaper to produce. And in 1875, Daniel Peter and Henri Nestl teamed up to introduce condensed milk to chocolate. Their smooth, creamy milk chocolate rapidly became a popular favorite. Although slavery was abolished in all countries by 1888, the need for labor to meet the demand for products like sugar and cacao continued. In some tropical countries, harsh labor conditions prevailed long after the end of slavery. In 1910, William Cadbury (one famous chocolate manufacturer) invited English and American chocolate companies to join him in refusing to buy cacao from plantations characterized by harsh working conditions until things improved. That same year, a United States Congressional hearing resulted in a formal U.S. ban on any cocoa shown to be the product of slave labor from these plantations. Today, chocolate has evolved to be more than just a sweet or bitter drink; it is mixed with strawberry, peanuts, caramel, pretzels, and even green tea! Some great chocolate-making companies of today are M&M-Mars, Hersheys, and Nestl. This, ladies and gentlemen, is the History of Chocolate.
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Bibliography 1) Web Site C & H Clubs. "Chocolate History Timeline." The Gourmet Chocolate of the Month Club. 3 Feb. 2009 <http://www.chocolatemonthclub.com/chocolatehistory.htm>. 2) Web Site Kerr, Justin. "All About Chocolate: The History of Chocolate." All About Chocolate. 3 Feb. 2009 <http://www.fieldmuseum.org/Chocolate/history.html>. 3) Book Rosenblum, Mort. Chocolate: A Bittersweet Saga of Dark and Light. 1st ed. New York City, New York: North Point P, 2005. (Pages 3-66)