The history of chocolate begins with the discovery of the first cacao plants in Mesoamerica about 4,000 years ago. From there, chocolate had to travel to Spain, into all of Europe, and then back over to America and the rest of the world. As chocolate became more and more available it was constantly evolving, through many trials and much experimentation, to become the household staple we all know today.
Dating as far back as 1200 B.C., the Olmecs were the first to cultivate and consume cocoa, but different from how we consume chocolate today, they actually primarily drank it. However, like today, chocolate has always been highly revered regardless of how each culture chose to consume it. The Mayans would call chocolate the drink of the gods–sometimes mixed with chilis, honey, or water, and was enjoyed at every meal. The Aztecs considered chocolate more valuable than gold and used cacao beans as currency. When they crafted clay pottery with ornate designs, they even featured cocoa in a broad variety of art, tools, and valued artifacts. Even more interesting is that the Aztecs also invented and hand crafted the Molinillo, an intricate wooden tool with different style rings incorporated at the bottom. The Molinillo performed the same function as modern day milk frothers, to blend and froth the chocolate to aerate it and develop a complex flavor.
It’s not completely certain who is responsible for bringing chocolate back to the Americas, but we do know that it was introduced to Spain first. Both Christopher Columbus and Hernan Cortes have both been credited for bringing cacao beans back from their journeys of exploring the Americas in the 1500s.
The native method was too bitter for Spain and European tastes so they added cinnamon, cane sugar, and vanilla. As a result of chocolate becoming so popular, elite chocolate houses were created throughout European cities during this period as a way to serve this hot chocolate to wealthy aristocrats.
Try some chocolate recipes on YouTube