Depending on where you look in the world and at what time period, the consumption of chocolate has been seen in low-class all the way to the top of the high-class. When chocolate was introduced to the new world, it was not a good quality chocolate.   Throughout time and as it traveled from country to country, people desired to make it taste good. “There was very little difference between the chocolate quaffed in the 18th century, and that of the Baroque Age… What was different, however, was the amount of chocolate that was eaten”[1]. Consumption rates were starting to increase as the sweetness and consistency of the cacao began to increase as well.

Due to this high rate of consumption, people started diving into the health side of chocolate, curious if what they were eating and drinking was actually good for them or not. Though it was deemed a medicinal value in the past, the increase in sugar and other sweeteners proved that it might not be as healthy as it once was. “As medicine it would become less uncritically prescribed in the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and its medical role steadily diminished as it was transformed into a sweetener and preservative on a mass basis”[2].

As demand for chocolate grew and relationships with the British colonial government strained, entrepreneurial New Englanders began manufacturing chocolate locally. In 1765, the first chocolate mill in what would become the United States was established along the Neponset River in the Lower Mills region of Dorchester and Milton, Massachusetts. The chocolate mill, which processed imported cacao into chocolate, went on to become the Walter Baker & Company chocolate manufacturer (still active as the now Kraft-owned Baker’s Chocolate brand)[3].

Before long, the job of a professional cacao bean grinder was gaining popularity as chocolate was now able to be used in ways they hadn’t before. It was even used to hide poisons! “In Italy… chocolate has always had a far darker side: it was ideal for disguising the taste of poison. Pope Clement XIV was murdered through poisoned chocolate by his own confectioner[4].

Sugar, on the other hand, was continuously used for baking and sweetening. It was believed to be a sufficient source of calories and the use of sugar in foods continued to sky-rocket. “The use of sugar as a sweetener for beverages grew in the company of ever more common pastries, often eaten with the beverages or in place of bread”[5]. Mintz, however, believes that it was not until it eventually was used as a preservative of fruit[6].  “New foods and beverages were incorporated into daily life with unusual paidity, and sugar had an important role in nearly all of these new items”[7] which helped to increase it’s spread across the globe. Sugar was becoming a staple in most cities as the love for it continued to grow.

Due to the rise of sugar in baking, it’s idea was transferred to increasing the sweetness of the cacao being consumed. Its popularity was higher than ever! Eventually, hand-grinding the cacao beans was too much work so a man by the name of Van Houten created a machine to do it instead. After this invention, the cacao turned to a finer powder, known as cocoa, which was eventually mixed with varieties of flavors like vanilla, and soon enough added to milk like the way sugar was added to tea in Europe. People like Henri Nestlé and Milton Hershey changed the game with their altered form of cocoa as the molded candy bar we know today.

[1] Sophia D. Coe and Michael D. Coe, The True History of Chocolate (New York: Thams and Hudson, 2013), 66.

[2] Mintz, S. W. (1985). Sweetness and Power. New York, NY: Penguin Books, 108.

[3] Martin, C. (2012). Brownies: The History of a Classic American Dessert. Retrieved from http://ushistoryscene.com/article/brownies/

[4] Sophia D. Coe and Michael D. Coe, The True History of Chocolate (New York: Thams and Hudson, 2013), 69.

[5] Mintz, S. W. (1985). Sweetness and Power. New York, NY: Penguin Books, 119.

[6] Mintz, S. W. (1985). Sweetness and Power. New York, NY: Penguin Books, 119.

[7] Mintz, S. W. (1985). Sweetness and Power. New York, NY: Penguin Books, 120.

The establishment of a reliable sugar industry was not easily acquired for western Europe. The lack of laborers and an efficient processing technique were just some of the barriers that needed to be overcame. Luckily, during the early developments of sugarcane plantations, sugar demand was low and still being met. Though, this changed very rapidly and western Europe began pouring more resources into this industry. “sugar was becoming a raw material whose supply and refining were managed more and more by European powers, as European populations consumed it in larger and larger quantities.”1 The Industry migrated west towards Spain’s settled Caribbean colonies filling the void of the decreasing mining industry. A large factor to the success of sugar plantations in these Caribbean islands was the beginning of a slave trade network that allowed more laborers to harvest and process the crop. This network of slave trading was considered the Transatlantic Slave Trade and it was a crucial resource for the boom of Caribbean sugar plantations.

Jamaica was a newly conquered British territory that was being utilized for sugar but more importantly cacao. Cacao was very popular in western Europe and processing it was a function of Britain’s cutting-edge factory system. Unfortunately, sugar production migrating from European territories towards Caribbean land introduced new problems. Along with struggling to access reliable laborers and processing techniques, the new weather patterns of the Caribbean were harsher and damaging of plantations. Tropical storms were frequent in this string of islands and it proved difficult to have steady sugar plantations. However, the sugar industry still flourished both locally and exported. “Jamaican cacao soon reached the London market, but was also enjoyed locally in the island.”2 As cacao and sugar imports from Caribbean colonies increased, the need to be processed and sold more rapidly was important. This was accomplished with the more organized and efficient factory system that had sprung up in Europe. Investing in new ways to efficiently process different materials was a sweeping trend for wealthy and royal European families which ultimately led to the boom of the sugar industry in a relatively short amount of time. “Within only a century, the French, and even more the British, became the western world’s great sugar makers and exporters.”3

 

As far back at 1502, cacao was of high-value. Ferdinand Colombus was interacting with people in the “New World” when he saw them trading these strange seeds that he called almonds. His translator was unaware that they were actually cacao beans. “They seemed to hold these almonds at a great price; for when they were brought on board ship together with their goods, I observed that when any of these almonds fell, they all stooped to pick it up, as if an eye had fallen”1. He never tasted them and continued on his journey.

Not long after this, in the New World, Spaniard Giralamo Benzoni writes “It [chocolate] seemed more a drink for pigs, than a drink for humanity…The taste is somewhat bitter, it satisfies and refreshes the body, but does not inebriate, and it is the best and most expensive merchandise, according to the Indians of that country” 2 going to show that it’s value was not worldly reciprocated as money, but purely for consumption. Cacao butter/oils were also tested successful for medicinal value in healing.

Initially, Spaniards could not stomach the idea of consuming, let along drinking, chocolate. The traditional diet of the Spaniards was that of oils, fats, meats, and frying. The Mesoamerican culture was far from this, thus forcing the Spaniards to import most of the items they were to eat. Eventually, though, the two colonies began to merge into one another (Spanish Creoles and the old Aztec realm) and “this was the context in which chocolate was taken into the Colonial cuisine of New Spain, eventually transplanted to Old Spain and the rest of Europe3. Through festivals and banquets, the tastes of chocolate spread from group to group, creating a new-found sweet-tooth in those who tasted it. The Spaniards grew fond of it as “this was the manufacture of the finished beverage from a wafer or tablet of ground cacao to which hot water and sugar could be added” 4 to ease transport of the liquid as a dried product. New recipes were being tested to improve the taste of the chocolate to include the addition of sugar to make it sweeter. Different temperatures were tried to also increase it’s popularity and acceptance.

Where the term “cacao” comes from has a long lineage. “The caca of cacahuatl [is] in most Romance languages, and in the Latin from which they descend, this is a vulgar or nursery word for feces, and is often compounded to make other words and even verbs describing defecation. Spanish is definitely one of these languages (we can even find the term cacafuego, “shitfire,” in an early 18th-century Spanish–English dictionary). It is hard to believe that the Spaniards were not thoroughly uncomfortable with a noun beginning with caca to describe a thick, dark-brown drink which they had begun to appreciate. They desperately needed some other word, and we would not be at all surprised if it was the learned friars who came up with chocolatl and chocolate5.”

Soon after, chocolate was tested for its medical benefits in curing fevers, minimizing headaches, reducing body fatigue, and aiding in digestion. Many positive results were displayed, thus continuing cacao’s use in the world. The “theory was taken up by Galen, an ancient Greek born about AD 130, who expanded it by adding the notion that humors, diseases, and the drugs to cure disease could also be hot or cold, and moist or dry. Blood, for instance, is hot and moist, while phlegm is cold and moist6.” This went on to suggest that chocolate could be manipulated to cure many different types of medical cases. Juan de Cárdenas decided to test another there and, according to him,

“Chocolate has three parts:

(1)A “cold,” “dry,” and “earthy” part.

(2)An oily part which is “warm and humid,” and associated with air. There is more of this part in chocolate made from old cacao; oil is likewise increased with more toasting.

(3)A very “hot” part, with a bitter taste; this gives one headaches [perhaps not so far off the mark, as this is a symptom of caffeine, and possibly theobromine, withdrawal]7.

This theory was long held and further practiced by Spaniards and those they lived among.

We have all grown up enjoying chocolate whether it be between a graham cracker and marshmallow around the fire or baked into Grandma’s cookies, but how did this sweet treat become a sweet-tooth favorite? To understand this let us first take a look at the origins of chocolate in early Mesoamerica.

Lab results show that chocolate dates as far back as 1900 B.C.  where it was used by those living in present-day Mexico[1]. Chocolate, which is derived from cacao plants, has not always been as sweet as it is today. Early consumption of cacao was in the form of a beverage that was mixed with various natural flavorings such as honey, water, and chili peppers[2]. The Aztecs coined this drink as “xocoatl” which is where we have eventually gotten today’s name, chocolate[3]. Ancient civilizations believed that consumption of chocolate would expand their life spans and, therefore, was consumed in vast quantities by royals and rulers[4].

Use of cacao goes beyond being a prestigious beverage for ancient leaders. Throughout various Mesoamerican societies cacao was used as a currency and payment for labor[5]. During this time period, one could trade 100 cacao beans for an entire turkey hen, or three beans for one turkey egg[6]. It is said that cacao beans were more valuable than gold for the Aztecs[7].

Chocolate admiration goes even further, “Both the Mayans and Aztecs believed the cacao bean had magical, or even divine, properties, suitable for use in the most sacred rituals of birth, marriage and death”[8]. Within these sacred rituals chocolate had also been used as an alternative to human blood as a sacrifice for the gods. Archeologists have found drawings of these ancient gods holding the pods of cacao as well as other parts of the plant, displaying the significance of the fruit in these cultures[9].

 

[1] Christopher  Klein, ”The Sweet History of Chocolate,” last modified February 3, 2014, https://www.history.com/news/the-sweet-history-of-chocolate .

[2] Christopher  Klein, ”The Sweet History of Chocolate,” last modified February 3, 2014, https://www.history.com/news/the-sweet-history-of-chocolate .

[3] Amanda Fiegl, ”A Brief History of Chocolate,” last modified March 1, 2008, https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/a-brief-history-of-chocolate-21860917/ .

[4] Sophia D. Coe and Michael D. Coe, The True History of Chocolate (New York: Thams and Hudson, 2013), 64.

[5] Sophia D. Coe and Michael D. Coe, The True History of Chocolate (New York: Thams and Hudson, 2013), 137.

[6] “When Money Grew On Trees,” Cornell University, accessed September 25, 2018, http://exhibits.mannlib.cornell.edu/chocolate/moneygrewontrees.php

[7]  “History of Chocolate,” History, A&E Television Networks, last modified August 21, 2018, https://www.history.com/topics/ancient-americas/history-of-chocolate .

[8] Amanda Fiegl, ”A Brief History of Chocolate,” last modified March 1, 2008, https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/a-brief-history-of-chocolate-21860917/

[9] Sophia D. Coe and Michael D. Coe, The True History of Chocolate (New York: Thams and Hudson, 2013), 62.

You may know of some chocolate lovers, or even be one yourself. Chocolate is a well-known treat enjoyed by many all over the world, used as an ingredient or a snack all in itself, it is safe to say you have most likely come across chocolate at some point in your life. However, for some, chocolate is more than just a sweet snack. For people like Maricel Presilla, the author of “The New Taste of Chocolate,” and her family, chocolate was, and continues to be a way of life. She emphasized through her passion and fascination with chocolate, in all of its forms, the importance of having knowledge of the history of chocolate. From when she was first introduced to the seed, which didn’t resemble the chocolate she knew and loved, her fascination sprouted and continued growing. Her father’s family farmed and transformed the plant into chocolate, using it for far more than just snacking. In her book, she states, “Later I would always remember that I belonged to those who live with cacao and know it personally, as a tree, a fruit, an ordinary household preparation.”[1]

Further on in life, Presilla found herself working as a marketing consultant for Chocolate El Rey where she was able to share her knowledge and love of chocolate with others.“I wanted them to understand the many factors – genetic, chemical, environmental – that determine the quality of chocolate at all stages, from the fertilized flower to the foil-wrapped bar.”[2]She established the idea that a love for chocolate can go further than just including it in your diet, but can land you a job, or become a part of your lifestyle as it did for Presilla and her family. Presilla emphasized the importance of truly understanding the origins of chocolate when indulging in the sweet, in order to get the full experience chocolate has to offer.

[1]Maricel Presilla, The New Taste of Chocolate(New York: Ten Speed Press, 2009), 3.

[2]Presilla, The New Taste of Chocolate, 5.