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A Brief History of Chocolate
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Chocolate is one of those great things in life that you just simply cannot do without—it’s just too good! However, the history of the coveted treat is a very interesting one, as the chocolate we know and love today is a fairly recent invention. Join us today, as we give you a brief synopsis of the story of chocolate! When you bite into chocolate and think about its history, what’s the first thing that comes to mind? Many people would answer this question with the “Aztecs,” as it is widely believed that they were the first ones to use chocolate. Despite this fact, there is evidence out there that chocolate has been around for a lot longer—traces date back to 900 B.C. in Mesoamerica! Now, that’s a long time for chocolate to be around! This “chocolate”, however, wasn’t really chocolate. People used to take the beans of the cacao tree (from which the chocolate we know now is made out of) and either eat them whole, or ground them into a paste and use in a drink. The latter was employed greatly by the Aztecs, and even had an important place in their culture, since the drink closely matched the color and consistency of blood. As we know now, the Aztecs really loves their human sacrifice in religious ceremonies, and used this chocolate drink to an substitute for real blood in ceremonies where they were short of people. How’s that for freaky? It wasn’t until the conquests of Cortes in the 16th century that chocolate was brought back to Europe. Montezuma gave Cortes some of this chocolate drink to the Spaniard, who then took it back home with him. Europe went crazy over it! Candymakers and confectioners all over the continent loved this spicy drink, but sought to make it a little sweeter and more palatable. Many failed attempts and bizarre ingredients later, Daniel Peter finally had the bright idea in 1875 of adding sugar and milk solids to the drink, and then cooling it to create a bar. Thus, the modern chocolate bar was born! So the next time you sink your teeth into your favorite piece of chocolate, whether it be pre-packaged chocolate chips or a wide array of treats from us, stop and think about all the work it took to get there, and how this fantastic treat is a fairly new creation. And then keep on eating!
