The History of Chocolate
An Examination of the Pre-Colombian Crop that Conquered the World
When a craving for chocolate hits, nothing else will quite do - even if some other delectable sweet treat is near by. Chocolate is unique.
Both loved and vilified, chocolate has been credited with combating depression as well as being an aphrodisiac all the while being blamed for acne, migraines, obesity and tooth decay.
Origin of Chocolate
It has long been accepted that chocolate’s origin can be traced back about 2000 years. Recently, however, researchers have suggested that it may be quite a bit older. The cacao tree was discovered in the equatorial region of South America around 4000 years ago and slowly made its way up to Central America and Mexico.
In November 2007, the oldest anthropological evidence of the use of chocolate was found at a site in Puerto Escondido, Honduras. The residue of chocolate left behind in pottery was dated from around 1400 to 1100 BC. This chemical evidence - which suggests that the chocolate fruit’s sweet pulp was used and not necessarily the seed – shows that one of the first uses for chocolate was quite likely in a fermented beverage which contained about the same alcoholic value as a modern day beer.
Cacao Becomes Domesticated
The Olmecs of the southern coastal region of Mexico are believed by archeologists to have been the first to domesticate Theobroma Cacao – the cacao tree - which was a derivative from another variety of cacao plant which originated in the jungles of the Amazon.
The origin of the word “chocolate” is somewhat debated. Some scholars believe it comes from the Aztec language Nahuatl. The Nahuatl word “xocolatl” is translated to mean “bitter water”. Others think it comes from the Mayan word “xocoatl” with the same meaning as the Nahuatl word. Whether it be the Maya of southern Mexico or the Aztecs of central Mexico, both of these civilizations consumed their chocolate in the same manner: as a spiced up drink.
Early Usage
In an interview which appeared in the Sacramento Bee earlier this year, Gina Kim speaks with Louis Grivetti, a chocolate historian and professor emeritus of nutrition at the University of California, Davis. Kim relays that, according to Grivetti, the earliest usage of the cacao plant was the simple straight forward consumption of the sweet white pulp which surrounds the beans.
The beans of the cacao plant, which are extremely bitter, were initially only for medicinal use. Once it became a beverage, it was used in Aztec society only by adult males. Grivetti states in the Kim interview that the drinking of chocolate beverage “was prohibited to women and children until at least after 1519 because it was considered to be too stimulating -- it was like having three to four espressos.”
The Spanish Conquer Chocolate
The Aztecs valued chocolate so much so that they used it as a form of currency. The Spanish conquistador, Hernan Cortez, was fascinated by the possibility of cultivating fields of “money”. The taste of the frothy drink, however, didn't suit the European sweet-tooth. A Spaniard writing of his experiences during this time described the beverage as "a bitter drink for pigs".
Jose de Acosta, a Spanish missionary who moved from Peru to Mexico in the late 1500s, described the taste of chocolate as being "loathsome" to those who aren't familiar with it because of the unpleasant taste of the froth or "scum", as he called it. It took the sweetening up of the drink to truly please European palates.
The conquistadores took cacao seeds back to Spain with them where honey or sugar was added to the beverage as well as another Mexican regional bean, vanilla. This drink quickly became a favorite in the court of Carlos V, King of Spain.
From Drink to Food
The Spaniards managed to keep the New World delicacy almost exclusively to themselves for close to 100 years. It would take the French culinary genius to incorporate chocolate to food stuffs such as cakes and pies.
All though chocolate is still made in drink form, the image that initially comes to mind when one mentions "chocolate" tends to be some sort of bar, cake, candy or even ice cream. The journey and transformation of chocolate is as long and diverse as the varieties in which it comes today.
Sources:
- "All About Chocolate: History of Chocolate". Online Article. Retrieved 2009-07-02.
- Bensen, Amanda. “A Brief History of Chocolate” Smithsonian.com, March 01, 2008. Retrieved 2009-07-01
- "History of Chocolate". Thinkquest Library. Retrieved 2009-07-01.
- Kim, Gina. “Chocolate – Interview with Louis Grivetti” The Sacramento Bee. (CA); 02/11/2009
- Kuhl, Jackson. “All About Chocolate”. Dig; Jan2007, Vol. 9 Issue 1, p26-27, 2p
- University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archeology and Anthropology. "New Chemical Analyses Take Confirmation Back 500 Years and Reveal that the Impetus for Cacao Cultivation was an Alcoholic Beverage". Retrieved 2009-06-30
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