Chocolate is one of the favourite sweets of young and old alike all around the world. However, very few people know about the history of chocolate, which has become a very popular sweet in almost every country. Chocolate in the past, however, barely resembles the sweet chocolate one sees today. Throughout history, chocolate has been revered as a drink with a bitter taste, not as an edible sweet.
Cocoa beans are the basic ingredient needed to make chocolate. The cocoa tree is native to Central and South America and a cocoa usually contains about 40 seeds. Well-dried and roasted cocoa beans are used to make chocolate. Although it is not possible to say exactly when the ancient people began to consume cocoa, Theobromine (a bitter compound found in cocoa beans) has been found in Olmec vessels belonging to 1500 BC.
Historians believe that cocoa may have been used by the Olmecs to make traditional drinks. However, since the Olmecs have no written history, it is not possible to conclude whether they mixed cocoa into beverages or ate cocoa beans.
Maya
The Maya, who began to consume cocoa beans using the knowledge gained from the Olmecs, considered chocolate to be one of the most revered and appreciated foods. Evidence of their use of chocolate drinks at festive occasions and in concluding important transactions can be found in the written history of the Maya.
Although chocolate was highly regarded and valued in Mayan culture, it was not limited to the affluent and powerful class, and chocolate was used in almost every home for food preparation. Produced by the Maya, chocolate was thick, and foamy, and was often eaten mixed with honey, water, or chilli peppers.
The Aztecs believed that cocoa was a gift from the gods. Like the Mayans, they also enjoyed seasoned and served hot or cold chocolate drinks, and used cocoa beans as a currency in purchasing food and other items.
In Aztec civilisation, cocoa beans were considered more valuable than gold. Similarly, in Aztec culture, the ability to taste chocolate was always restricted to the upper class, while the lower class Aztecs were allowed to taste chocolate only at festive occasions such as weddings.
Spain
Although there is no definite reference to the year in which chocolate was first introduced to the European continent, it is undeniable that Spain was the first European country to introduce chocolate.
According to some sources, cocoa beans were found on a merchant ship seized by Christopher Columbus during a voyage to America.
In 1502 he returned to Spain with the seized cocoa beans.
According to another source, chocolate was introduced to a Spanish militant, at the royal court of Montesuma. But after returning to Spain, he kept his knowledge of cocoa and chocolate a secret for a long time.
According to a third source, Catholic priests who visited King Philip II of Spain in 1544 presented the king with gifts of Guatemalan Maya and cocoa beans.
However, chocolate arrived in Spain as a popular dish of the Spanish royal family in the late 16th century, and by 1585, Spain had begun to export chocolate.
Europeans soon became accustomed to drinking chocolate by adding sugar, cinnamon, and other flavours.
In 1641, a Spanish ship transported chocolate to the state of Florida in the United States, and in 1682 the first American chocolate business was started in Boston. Also, during the American Revolution, chocolate was given to soldiers as food as well as in some cases as salaries.
In the early days of chocolate on the Dutch
European continent, it was restricted to the affluent class due to the high price of cocoa beans. But in 1828, the Dutch chemist Conrad Johannes van Houten developed water-soluble chocolate powder by crushing cocoa beans mixed with alkaline salt.
He also developed a chocolate squeezer that can separate the cocoa butter from the roasted cocoa beans, opening the door for everyone to buy chocolate at an affordable price.