A Brief History of Chocolate
Uncover the bittersweet story of this ancient treat and watch a VIDEO
- By Amanda Bensen
- Smithsonian.com, March 01, 2008, Subscribe
Chocolate beans and pod iStockphoto
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.
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Related topics: Chocolate Ancient Cultures: Mesoamerican
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Comments (55)
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I love chocolate and I'm doing a research paper on it!
Posted by Silver on January 17,2012 | 09:13 PM
Goodness i love chocolate! proof I just finished 1kg worth!
Posted by Jess on December 16,2011 | 01:39 PM
"xocoatl" ? it is a typo.it must be spelled as "xocolatl", and X sounds like english SH.
Posted by Martín Ponce on November 6,2011 | 08:05 PM
This is a well-written brief history, but I wished it had, at least, touched on the politics of chocolate. Unfortunately, the politics of chocolate is not such a sweet story, especially in West Africa.
Posted by ChocolateCentral on February 12,2011 | 10:57 AM
OMG!!!!! this helped me do a report on chocolate and i got a freaken A+!!!:) yay!!!!
Posted by jessica on January 25,2011 | 10:49 AM
Good information for home making chocolate!! I think i can make it easy. Try today...
Posted by Chocolate Lovers on January 14,2011 | 12:46 AM
chocolate is awesome.
im doing a whole project about chocolate(:
Posted by eyooo on January 11,2011 | 04:59 PM
i don't know why i;m crazy about chocolate
Posted by masi on November 17,2010 | 04:53 AM
I absolutely love me some chocolate. It is Amazing!!!!!
Posted by Alyssa on May 18,2010 | 01:53 PM
This Article was amazing im crazy about chocolate
Posted by Mairani S. on May 4,2010 | 04:47 PM
I hate chocolate but i find it cool to learn about it it is very interestin to learn how it is made and how people used back in the early 1400s i would have never known about the history of chocolate if i was not learnig about it in middle school it is very interresting i hope t learn more about chocolates history very soon and p.s. i love the websites i has helpped me learn alot about chocoalte these last few days i am glade i could learn such interresting things about chocolate thanks sooooooo much for these websites
Posted by Mikaela on April 15,2010 | 06:37 PM
Mexican cooks use chocolate in enchiladas and mole--very tasty!
Posted by Gloria on April 10,2010 | 01:47 PM
This morning we made chocolate truffles coated in nuts and a thin layer of white chocolate, the kids were super cooperative and the result - well!!!
Posted by Katya on April 9,2010 | 07:29 AM
I am doing a 5 minute speech on chocolate and this site really helped me! thx smithsonian!!!
Posted by Matt on April 3,2010 | 09:50 PM
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