About Chocolate

Chocolate is a fascinating subject and here chocolate evangelist and author Sara-Jayne Stanes gives us her educational guide to the intruiging history of this luxury ingredient worshipped by the Maya, as well taking us through the chocolate making process and tips on how to recognise top quality chocolate.

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The history of chocolate

Three to four thousand years ago, the Olmecs are the first known people to use cacao which grew wild in Central America - followed by other peoples like the Maya and then the Aztecs from the 10th century AD to the 1520s. At this time, and for many years afterwards, chocolate was purely a drink.

They all knew that a cup of 'XOCO - ATL' (meaning 'bitter water') was great for fatigue and it was supposed to stimulate brain power. Chocolate was always drunk, and not eaten until relatively recently in the middle of the last century. Beans were also used as money - making it even more valuable. 100 beans could buy a slave; 4 beans a rabbit etc. Who says that 'money doesn’t grow on trees'?!

In 1502, Christopher Columbus landed on the island of Guanaja off coast of Honduras, on his 4th and final voyage to 'discover India'. However, 1519 was probably the most crucial moment in the history of chocolate when Hernan Cortes - Spanish explorer and one of Columbus' ambassadors - met flamboyant emperor Montezuma in Tenochtitlan, the capital of the Aztec Empire. Montezuma's name has become immortalised for the vast quantities of foaming 'xoco latl' he used to drink before visiting his harem of wives - this started the legend of chocolate and sex! Chocolate was Montezuma's Viagra!

Montezuma was convinced that the fair skinned bearded man, Cortes, was their god and savour Quetzalcoatl returning from the wilderness, so Cortes was showered with gifts - including cocoa. This misjudgement was Montezuma's downfall. His own people turned against him and he was killed. Cortes and the Spanish went on to destroy most of the Aztec nation. Mexico City was born.

Cortes took cocoa 'home' to the Spanish court in 1527. The Spanish kept it secret for over a century - taxing it so highly that, like the ancient Mexicans, only the rich can afford it.
In 1615, chocolate crossed to the French court through the marriage of Anne of Austria, daughter of Philip II of Spain, to Louis X111. Based on its perceived medicinal properties the use of chocolate - still as a drink - is spread by missionaries across Central and South America and across Europe.

Around 1650, chocolate came to England and the Chocolate Houses of London were born and provided a focus for broadcasting the news of the drink. It was still taxed so highly that, like Mexico and the rest of Europe, it was exclusive to the rich.
For the next 200 years, chocolate was mostly drunk for its physical and mood enhancing qualities. Consequently it became one of the most important medicines in the apothecaries’ medicine chest and was the foundation for the great interest taken by the Quakers.