Hot chocolate, also known as hot cocoa or drinking chocolate, is a heated drink consisting of shaved or melted chocolate or cocoa powder, heated milk or water, and usually a sweetener. It is often garnished with whipped cream or marshmallows. Hot chocolate made with melted chocolate is sometimes called drinking chocolate, characterized by less sweetness and a thicker consistency. The first chocolate drink is believed to have been created at least 5,300 years ago, starting with the Mayo-Chinchipe culture in what is present-day Ecuador, and later consumed by the Maya around 2,500ā3,000 years ago. A cocoa drink was an essential part of Aztec culture by 1400 AD. The drink became popular in Europe after being introduced from Mexico in the New World and has undergone multiple changes since then. Until the 19th century, hot chocolate was used medicinally to treat ailments such as liver and stomach diseases.
The history of chocolate is long and complex, with chocolate evolving from a bitter drink to a beloved candy bar. It can be traced back to the Olmecs, one of the first civilizations in Latin America, who discovered the cacao bean around 1200 B.C.For much of its history, chocolate was a bitter drink that was often associated with royalty and deities. The Aztecs used dark chocolate medicinally to treat headaches and heart issues.
The Spanish mixed cocoa beans with sugar, vanilla, nutmeg, cloves, allspice, and cinnamon, creating a fashionable drink that was reserved for the Spanish nobility.
In 1828, Dutch chemist Conrad Van Houten invented the cocoa press, which separated cocoa butter from cocoa beans, making it easier to create chocolate drinks.
In 1847, British chocolatier Joseph Fry created the first chocolate bar by molding a mixture of cocoa butter, cocoa powder, and sugar.
The Milky Way bar was introduced in 1923, and M&M candies were introduced in 1941. Today, Africa is the source of more than two-thirds of the world's cocoa production.
In 1828, Conrad Van Houten of the Netherlands developed a mechanical extraction method for extracting the fat from cacao liquor resulting in cacao butter and the partly defatted cacao, a compacted mass of solids that could be sold as it was ārock cacaoā or ground into powder.
The processes transformed chocolate from an exclusive luxury to an inexpensive daily snack. A process for making silkier and smoother chocolate called conching was developed in 1879 by Swiss Rodolphe Lindt and made it easier to bake with chocolate as it amalgamates smoothly and completely with cake batters. Until 1890 to 1900, chocolate recipes were mostly for drinks.
The Duff Company of Pittsburgh, a molasses manufacturer, introduced Devilās food chocolate cake mixes in the mid 1930s, but introduction was put on hold during World War II. Duncan Hines introduced a āThree Star Specialā (because a white, yellow or chocolate cake could be made from the same mix) was introduced three years after cake mixes from General Mills.
In the U.S., āchocolate decadenceā cakes were popular in the 1980s; in the 1990s, single-serving molten chocolate cakes with liquid chocolate centers and infused chocolates with exotic flavors such as tea, curry, red pepper, passion fruit, and champagneā were popular. Chocolate lounges and artisinal chocolate makers were popular in the 2000s. Rich, flourless, all-but-flourless chocolate cakes are now standard in the modern pĆ¢tisserie,ā according to The New Taste of Chocolate.