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A Brief History of Chocolate
Uncover the bittersweet story of this ancient treat
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When most of us hear the word chocolate, we picture a bar, a box of bonbons, or a bunny. The verb that comes to mind is probably "eat," not "drink," and the most apt adjective would seem to be "sweet." But for about 90 percent of chocolate's long history, it was strictly a beverage, and sugar didn't have anything to do with it.
"I often call chocolate the best-known food that nobody knows anything about," said Alexandra Leaf, a self-described "chocolate educator" who runs a business called Chocolate Tours of New York City.
The terminology can be a little confusing, but most experts these days use the term "cacao" to refer to the plant or its beans before processing, while the term "chocolate" refers to anything made from the beans, she explained. "Cocoa" generally refers to chocolate in a powdered form, although it can also be a British form of "cacao."
Etymologists trace the origin of the word "chocolate" to the Aztec word "xocoatl," which referred to a bitter drink brewed from cacao beans. The Latin name for the cacao tree, Theobroma cacao, means "food of the gods."
Many modern historians have estimated that chocolate has been around for about 2000 years, but recent research suggests that it may be even older.
In the book The True History of Chocolate, authors Sophie and Michael Coe make a case that the earliest linguistic evidence of chocolate consumption stretches back three or even four millennia, to pre-Columbian cultures of Mesoamerica such as the Olmec.
Last November, anthropologists from the University of Pennsylvania announced the discovery of cacao residue on pottery excavated in Honduras that could date back as far as 1400 B.C.E. It appears that the sweet pulp of the cacao fruit, which surrounds the beans, was fermented into an alcoholic beverage of the time.
"Who would have thought, looking at this, that you can eat it?" said Richard Hetzler, executive chef of the café at the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian, as he displayed a fresh cacao pod during a recent chocolate-making demonstration. "You would have to be pretty hungry, and pretty creative!"
It's hard to pin down exactly when chocolate was born, but it's clear that it was cherished from the start. For several centuries in pre-modern Latin America, cacao beans were considered valuable enough to use as currency. One bean could be traded for a tamale, while 100 beans could purchase a good turkey hen, according to a 16th-century Aztec document.
Both the Mayans and Aztecs believed the cacao bean had magical, or even divine, properties, suitable for use in the most sacred rituals of birth, marriage and death. According to Chloe Doutre-Roussel's book The Chocolate Connoisseur, Aztec sacrifice victims who felt too melancholy to join in ritual dancing before their death were often given a gourd of chocolate (tinged with the blood of previous victims) to cheer them up.
Sweetened chocolate didn't appear until Europeans discovered the Americas and sampled the native cuisine. Legend has it that the Aztec king Montezuma welcomed the Spanish explorer Hernando Cortes with a banquet that included drinking chocolate, having tragically mistaken him for a reincarnated deity instead of a conquering invader. Chocolate didn't suit the foreigners' tastebuds at first –one described it in his writings as "a bitter drink for pigs" – but once mixed with honey or cane sugar, it quickly became popular throughout Spain.
By the 17th century, chocolate was a fashionable drink throughout Europe, believed to have nutritious, medicinal and even aphrodisiac properties (it's rumored that Casanova was especially fond of the stuff). But it remained largely a privilege of the rich until the invention of the steam engine made mass production possible in the late 1700s.
I never knew I knew so little about chocolate, but I love the stuff. Chocolate does contain alkaloids (a nitrogen compound), which can have effects on the mind ... in a good way. Maybe that's why we love people who give us chocolate.
Posted by Charles F on February 14,2008 | 11:08AM
One thought -- we need to find out the strain of cacao bush that produced the mood change for the Aztec sacrifice people. Sure sounds like a more potent bean than what we're used to eating. One question -- based on my annual chocolate consumption I figure that someone out there is eating about four pounds of my chocolate. 'Fess up! Is it you?
Posted by Craig B on February 14,2008 | 05:35PM
i love chocolate
Posted by monica simon on February 18,2008 | 09:26PM
Wonderful article. I would love to see a place right under the heading telling me which museum this is in and the time peroid it will be there. Keep up the good work. T
Posted by T Huber on February 19,2008 | 08:05AM
I have been a chocoholic for most of 84 years and this was an education for me.
Posted by Clinton E. Oak on February 19,2008 | 06:13PM
lovely read for a confessed chocoholic!
Posted by Susan H. on February 19,2008 | 09:32PM
If you want to return to the original Mexican cacao, try the Ibarra chocolate which you can find in every Hispanic grocery store. Also a visit to Mexico, in the Yucatan peninsula perhaps, would help find the spicy, bitter cocoa drink. A good place to start for more info: http://chocoibarra.com.mx/espanol/chocolate/index.html
Posted by J.J. Lasne on February 23,2008 | 11:33AM
I love chocolate and eat it at least everyday. I would love to grow it in my yard, harvest it, cultivate it, turn it into commercial dark and milk chocolate, and sell it as a business but don't know how to get started since growing it, I think, is prohibited, in the US. How does one grow and where does one get a cacao plant? I would love to buy.... I will always love it and wish to be buried with some in my hand....God knows it is second to Him.... Katie
Posted by Katie Kroutter on February 24,2008 | 10:57PM
After attending 3 chocolate events in a row in February, I had my first ever chocolate hangover. Wow, never thought it would happen.
Posted by Peg Vrooman on February 25,2008 | 03:15PM
Katie, in response to your comment about wanting to grow chocolate in the US: From what I've read, cacao trees only flourish within the band of latitude roughly between 20 degrees north and 20 degrees south of the equator. Sorry to dash your dreams! However, there are many independent (or "artisanal") producers in the US who use imported cacao to make their own chocolate. I'd recommend seeking one out in your region and asking their advice if you really want to learn about making your own. (If nothing else, it might score you a free sample because they'll be so impressed with your devotion!) Thanks for reading.
Posted by Amanda Bensen on February 26,2008 | 12:01PM
Sally and I (aka Mr. & Mrs. Chocolate)have given fun talks and tastings around the country on "Chocolate - Food of the Gods" for the past 4 years. Check it out: http://www.howard-peters.com.
Posted by Howard Peters, Ph.D. J.D. on February 26,2008 | 07:51PM
What? No mention of the intense almost slave-labor conditions using youth in western Africa?
Posted by Valena Dismukes on February 28,2008 | 06:36PM
If you want some of the best REAL chocolate in the country (U.S.), check out Theo Chocolate in the Ballard neighbourhood of Seattle, WA (the name Theo comes from theobroma). As they proudly say on their website (http://www.theochocolate.com/), "We are proud to be the first roaster of Fair Trade Certified™ cocoa beans and the only roaster of organic cocoa beans in the United States." (And, no, I don't work for them.) All their chocolate is high-cacao - 65 to 91% - and their nib brittle is to die for. These folks do the whole shooting match: they import the raw beans and roast, grind, blend and finish the chocolate right down to printing the wrappers.
Posted by Andrea Aldridge on March 4,2008 | 11:50AM
According to some articles, the Aztecs drank the juice of the cacao fruit and discarded(?) the beans. It was described as sweet and fermentable into an alcoholic drink. Has anyone tasted the juice? In which form? Do you think that people who like cocoa would like the juice? Curious
Posted by Harry E. Moses on March 5,2008 | 03:55PM
The above comments pretty well say it all. Wonderful, sometimes gooey, sometimes brittle, sometimes biteable and, most always, satisfying to the mouth and the mind. Let it melt in your mouth. Down with milk choclate!
Posted by Samuel Dean on March 6,2008 | 10:01AM
i don't eat chocolate very much but after reading i thought of having it.
Posted by upul on March 7,2008 | 08:52PM
My daughter and I firmly believe Choclate is the answer to world peace!! : )
Posted by Susan Livesey on March 9,2008 | 07:13AM
What a wonderful article. However, the BEST chocolate on our planet is currently to be found in Belgium. Once you've tried the white, the milk chocolate, and/or the dark, you'll be hooked. My wife, Naomi, is a chocolate maven, and swears by this.
Posted by TONY HOROWITZ on March 12,2008 | 11:28PM
The Latin name for the cacao tree, Theobroma cacao, means "food of the gods." Not so. Theobroma is GREEK.
Posted by Kandeda Trefil on March 14,2008 | 06:00PM
i love chocolate!..just cant stop having it
Posted by kida hadfyna on March 18,2008 | 05:34PM
i'm fat because I LOOOVE CHOCOLATE!!!!
Posted by marie on March 24,2008 | 01:15PM
I LOVE HOT CHOCOLATE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Posted by Gabrielle Brister on April 25,2008 | 11:14AM
Before Nestle there were: Peter Kholer, Cailler, Suchard and company who developed the smooth and creamy milk chocolate in Switzerland. The BEST chocolate is made with only cocoa butter and no vulgar vegitable fats!
Posted by Mary Croisier on April 28,2008 | 07:05AM
my favorite chocolate is GODIVA
Posted by Kagan on May 4,2008 | 12:19PM
when did chocolate start to get paired with things like chili powder? thanks for the very interesting history!
Posted by Bryn on July 11,2008 | 07:31AM
My husband and I also love chocolate and I'd been searching for a "healthy chocolate". Most chocolates have been overheated and/or paired with not-so-good ingredients. Finally, through a friend, I was introduced to Xocai Chocolate (pronounced "show-sigh"). It is a delicious, dark chocolate, processed correctly to maintain the maximum antioxidents and we consider it an important food supplement to our daily diets. PLUS, it's great chocolate.
Posted by Peggy on September 16,2008 | 10:21AM
i love chocolate i get really grouchy if i don't have my chocolate. so back off my chocolate!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Posted by JORDYN on October 30,2008 | 09:56AM
great for school report!!!!
Posted by Shay on December 1,2008 | 06:37PM
Great article! I've read the book mentioned, "The True History of Chocolate" A good read... Yes, I am a chocaholic, and proud of it!
Posted by Arvin Chaikin on December 14,2008 | 04:41PM
thanks for providing me w/ all this wonderful info!!!
Posted by Qwert Y. Uiop on March 16,2009 | 04:32PM
Chocolate as we know it comes from the coco tree, Theobroma Cacao. Theobroma translates from Greek into food of the gods. The coco pods are harvested from the trees and the coco beans that are contained from within them are removed and fermented witch gives the beans their flavor. Then the beans gets dried, roasted, and shelled finally the coco nib is removed from the bean and is ground into a paste to known as chocolate liquor. Then the chocolate liquor gets separated into relatively equal amounts of coco powder and coco butter or fat this is the part we like. coco butter and chocolate liquor is mixed with sugar and some times vanilla to make dark chocolate. Milk is added to make milk chocolate and to make white chocolate, the chocolate liquor gets removed completely “witch according to me hardly counts as chocolate”
Posted by Matthew Tran on March 31,2009 | 09:07PM
Chocolate the affordable SIN!!!
Posted by Brenda D. Colby on May 6,2009 | 01:30PM
i am a CHOCOHOLIC person!!!!
Posted by jenn mary ariston on June 26,2009 | 04:45AM
I've never had chocolate but I have heard of it. Is it good? Where can I get some? Will it make me fat?
Posted by Smoke Murphy on June 30,2009 | 12:56PM