History
- Another History of Chocolate
Did you know chocolate was originated in Central America? That it
used to be a treat only to the rich? Chocolate has a fascinating
history!
The Olmecs occupied a small area south of Veracruz and were the first
cultivators of the cacao pod. The Mayans were next, just south of
present day Mexico, to elevate chocolate to status of the Gods. They
named the cacao tree Cacahuaquchtl (tree) as they were concerned no
other tree was worth naming. They believed the tree belonged to the gods
and that the pods growing from the tree were an offering from the gods
to man. They Mayans were the originators of a bitter brew made from
cacao beans. It was a luxury drink enjoyed by kings and noblemen.
Thankfully we can all enjoy chocolate now!
Christopher Columbus, in 1502, reached the island of Guanaja off the
coast of Honduras. As legend goes he was greeted by natives that gave
him a sackful of cacao beans in exchange for some of his own
merchandise. When Cortes arrived seventeen years later the cacao beans
were being used as food and a form of currency. It was reported that a
slave could be bought for one hundred cacao beans. At the time, two
hundred small cacao beans were worth one Spanish real.
The Spanish helped develop cacao plantations in Mexico, Ecuador,
Venezuela, Peru, Jamaica and Hispaniola (Haiti and the Dominican
Republic). Cacao production has since spread all over the world but the
cacao from these original regions still produce the most highly prized
variety of cacao bean. The first ever chocolate processing plant was set
up in Spain in 1580. From then on the popularity of chocolate gradually
spread to the other European countries.
The Dutch transplanted the tree to their East Indian states in the
early seventeenth century and from there it spread to the Philippines,
New Guinea, Samoa and Indonesia with a large degree of success made
possible by the exploitation of hundreds of thousands of African slaves.
In the early nineteenth century the Portuguese transplanted Brazilian
cacao saplings to the island of Sao Tome off the African coast and later
to West Africa. By the end of the nineteenth century the Germans had
settled it in Cameroon and British in Sri Lanka. Plantations have since
spread to Southeast Asia and Malaysia is now one of the world's leading
producers.
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