THE HISTORY OF COCOA AND CHOCOLATE
Chocolate as we know it today emerged in Europe, but is originally from the Americas. Some sources say the origin of the cocoa plant is to be found in tropical regions of the Americas, in the equatorial rainforests and the valleys of the Amazon region; others mention it as a tropical plant from mexico. The story goes that during the heyday of the earth moist and rotted, but once washed and bitten, their flavour changed and became much sweeter (this process would later become know as fermentation). To change the beans in this way, they were left from 5 to 10 days, long enough for the flavour to change and for fermentation to help to preserve them. The discovery of this process helped indigenous people to improve the harvest of these fruits, who rather than waiting for the fruit to fall, began to cut them from the stalk with their machetes. Harvesting is still done in the same way today. Once the seeds are rotten (fermentation), they were dried and toasted in the sun. The cocoa obtained by the indigenous people from this process, was whisked with cold water, and sometimes sweetened with honey. So, thexocolatl was born.
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Chocolate is not a recent invention. It is synonymous with pleasure and begins its life in as seeds on a tree. Before the Mayas and Aztecs used it as a drink to make offerings to the gods, coca fruits were used as currency, called cacahuatl, and were the only available way of paying taxes.
In the 3rd century, the upper class Mayas consumed a chocolate drink during ceremonies. They mixed cocoa with honey, paprika, vanilla, chilli, and other spices. The Spanish were fascinated by these drinks, but introduced a change. They made it with boiled instead of cold water and whisked it so it was very frothy. This was the drink that came to Spain and spread quickly throughout Europe. Initially, cocoa was a very expensive commodity, but its rapid spread increased trade, which brought prices down and made it more accessible. It was in Europe that began to be mixed with milk and sugar, and acquired the smooth sweet flavour we know today.
Once they had tried cocoa, the Spanish could not do without it, and therefore increased the area of land dedicated to cultivating it. This is how its cultivation spread, firstly, to Trinidad in 1525, then all throughout the tropical areas os South America, then to Asia, Oceania and Africa, and laid the foundations for the future economies of these areas. In 1879 coca was introduced into Gold Coast (today Ghana), and the end of the 19th century into Cameroon and the Congo (Leopoldville).
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Monks living in Mexico sent a consignment of coca and the recipe for the drink to the port of Barcelona, the formula was taken to the monastery of Piedra, and there the friars began to consume this tempting drink for its energy giving properties during their fasting periods.
The story goes that some nuns living in Oaxaca crated a sweet drink with cocoa, sugar cane and cinnamon; this was rapidly accepted and spread throughout Spain and Europe. According to the story, in 1728 the first chocolate factory appeared in England; and in Germany in 1756; by 1781 ther were several in France. It appears that it was the Swiss who managed to transform the cocoa paste into the chocolate that is so familiar to us today.
Some of the most famous master-chocolatiers are Cadbury, Heinrich Nestlé, Philip suchard.
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