The history of chocolate

Hi neighbors. The ever quoted “they” say that spring turns a young man’s fancy to love and we all know what is demanded of love — chocolate!

I did some research and ran across a 2008 article in the Smithsonian.com website about the history of chocolate. On comparing this article by Amanda Fiegl with several others on the Internet, I’ve compiled this research to share with you. I hope you enjoy learning all about chocolate, and use it to express spring fancy you may be afflicted with.

The word chocolate is derived from the name of a Mesoamerican god, Quetzalcoatl, the god of wisdom. The Aztecs believed that cacao seeds were a gift from this god. A fermented drink made of chocolate dates back to 1900 BC. Some date its use back to pre-Columbian cultures such as the Olmec. Although most of us now think of chocolate in its edible state, for 90 percent of its history, it was a beverage only.

Fiegl said in her above-mentioned article, “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.” The beans and the drink brewed from them were also given magical properties by ancient cultures.

The name Theobroma cacao means food of the gods and the word chocolate traces back to the Aztec word xocoatl — the bitter drink made from the beans. Today cacao refers to the plant or the beans of the plant before processing while chocolate refers to anything made from the beans. Cocoa usually means the powdered form most of us keep in our cupboards for making cakes, puddings and hot cocoa.

In the American Revolutionary War chocolate was included in soldiers’ rations and intended as his wages.

By the 17th century, chocolate was a fashionable drink throughout Europe, believed to have nutritious, medicinal and even aphrodisiac properties (remember those young men and their spring time fancies!)

In 1828, a Dutch chemist found a way to make powdered chocolate by removing about half the natural fat (cacao butter) from chocolate liquor, pulverizing what remained and treating the mixture with alkaline salts to cut the bitter taste. His product became known as “Dutch cocoa,” and it soon led to the creation of solid chocolate.

In 1847 Joseph Fry discovered that he could make a chocolate paste by adding melted cacao butter back into Dutch cocoa and formed his creations into chocolate bars, still popular today.

By 1868, a little company called Cadbury started marketing boxes of chocolate candies in England. Milk chocolate, invented by the Nestle Company, hit the market a few years later.

Chocolate hasn’t lost its popularity, if anything the market for chocolate candies, drinks, liquors, powders, flavorings, etc. is more popular each year. The average American eats at least half a pound of chocolate each month.

Although chocolate is now loved around the world, what would the world be like without it? I hate to think how many adults and happy children would never know that marvelous taste experience.

Some of my favorite memories are walking to the corner grocery store (remember those?) and getting a huge candy bar for a nickel. If I had collected enough pop bottles to trade in, I also bought a soda (usually strawberry flavored.)

Hot cocoa was always a treat at home when I was a child, and it still is, although now I use the instant packages and just add hot water. I’m glad cocoa stays current!

What would a cookout be without the ever popular s’mores. Melting marshmallows, graham crackers and milk chocolate all smooched together round a campfire is a memory in almost every American’s history.

Like coffee, chocolate flavoring is a part of our culture and our histories. Most of us already know how good that mixture of coffee and chocolate tastes. You owe it to yourself to try it out.

Until the next time friends remember, chocolate fills the need for comfort food in any season. And it helps those young spring dandies show their intentions toward the young ladies!