The Delicious History of Chocolate

The Delicious History of Chocolate

Chocolate: food to some, a comforting friend to others, and a sin to a few, albeit a delightful one. It is an elixir that brings our taste buds to life, the star of many recipes, and a confectioner’s dream come true.

Though billions across the globe share a love affair with chocolate, not many are aware about its equally rich history, so on that note, here’s a dekko at the colorful past of this divine ‘Food of the Gods’.

Beginnings

The origins of chocolate can be traced back to 1900 B.C. in Central America and Mexico in what was once home to civilizations that predated the Olmec dynasty. The ancient people of the time picked, fermented, roasted, and ground the beans of the Theobroma cacao or the cocoa plant and drank the same as a spiced beverage that included various spices, chilli peppers, vanilla, and an occasional dash of sweet nectar and honey.

As opposed to modern day chocolate which is consumed as a sweet candy or beverage, chocolate back in the day was consumed mostly as a bitter drink.

The people of the time valued the cocoa plant and began cultivating and growing them in their own household gardens, apart from using the cocoa in lavish ceremonies and rituals. The Aztec people, even used cocoa as a form of tax or ‘tribute’ payments.

A Sudden Change
With the onset of the Spanish invasion of Central and Latin America, chocolate was, for the first time, traded across the Atlantic to Spain, where it quickly became a huge hit with the nobility and spread to other parts of the continent.

However, unlike the Mesoamericans, the Spanish and Europeans didn’t like their chocolate bitter, and so, they started experimenting with cocoa by heating it and adding new flavors like cinnamon and sugar to the mix.

This marked the birth of sweet chocolate. In the late 17th century, the president of the Royal College of Physicians, Sir Hans Sloane, became the first person to mix chocolate with milk.

Chocolate, the Industrial Revolution, and the End of Slavery

Europe’s affinity for chocolate grew leaps and bounds in the middle ages, but only the rich and those in the royal court could afford to have it till the Industrial Revolution made it possible for commoners to have access to this delightful food due to the advent of machines and mass production.

It was during this time that the steam-powered chocolate mill and the cocoa press were invented by Dubuisson and Coenraad Van Houten respectively. New ingredients were added to the cocoa mix, and in 1875, Henri Nestle, founder of the Nestle food empire, and Daniel Peter, added condensed milk to chocolate, thus giving rise to delicious milk chocolate. Chocolate had now gone from being a bitter, grainy drink to a smooth, sweet confectionary candy.

The rise and growth of chocolate mills in Europe and plantations in its colonies worldwide soon became the foundation for chocolate becoming the most loved ingredient in history. However, the only blemish that stayed on in its otherwise flamboyant heritage was its link to slavery.

The very first slaves who toiled in cocoa plantations owned by European colonies were Mesoamericans, after which slaves were brought in from Africa during the occupation of America by Great Britain to harvest and cultivate the cocoa plant.

All this changed in 1910, when William Cadbury, perhaps the most well-known chocolatier in the world, refused to buy cocoa from slave plantations where workers were subject to inhumane working conditions. Others followed in his footsteps, and that marked the final nail in the coffin for slavery in cocoa plantations.

Though cocoa harvesting today is still largely traditional in nature, the manufacturing and marketing of chocolate has developed at breakneck speeds and brought to the fore a food that is an integral part of global trade and cuisines the world over.