Coco History
Chocolate is a food made form the seed of a tropical
tree called Cacao. The word chocolatl or xocolatl
(chocolate) comes from two Mayan words meaning
bitter juice.
The Native People of Central America were the first
to enjoy chocolate. It is believed that they grew
cacao trees as early as the seventh century. Christopher
Columbus was the first European to drink chocolate
in 1502, but Hernando Cortes introduced the
beverage to the Europeans. Hernando Cortes arrived
in Mexico in 1519. He was treated kindly by the Aztec
people, because they believed him to be Quetzalcoatl,
the god of wisdom and knowledge who came down
from the land of gold every 52 years. He was honored
at a great feast and served Chocolatl by King Montezuma II
in golden goblets.
The xocolatl served by the early Aztecs was not at all
like the chocolate today. It was made from roasted
ground seeds of the cacao tree and mixed with fermented
corn mash and either wine or water. The mixture was then
flavored with vanilla. The drink was very peppery, spicy and
bitter. In preparing the xocolatl the Aztecs first roasted the
beans in clay pots. Then they ground the beans on a stone
called a melate with a mona. The process produced a paste
which was then formed into cakes and stored. The
xocolatl drink was made by breaking off a piece of the
hardened cake and dissolving it in water or wine by mixing
it with a molinet. The drink was served cold.
It is not known if Cortes liked the drink but he was intrigued
by the fact that the Aztecs used the cacao beans as money.
The idea of money growing on trees prompted him into
planting cacao beans all over Central America and as far
away as Africa.
Cortes, who was so warmly welcomed by Montezuma
and his people conquered the flourishing Aztec Empire
before returning to Spain nine years later. He took back
to Spain all the treasures that he could carry and the cacao bean.
The Xocolatl drink became very popular in the Spanish
Court. Spices and sugar were added to improve its taste.
Monks were entrusted with the task of roasting, grinding
and forming the cacao beans into chocolate rods or tablets
that could be dissolved in hot water. Elegant pots with a
hole in the lid to accommodate a molinet were used to
serve the beverage hot instead of cold. The Spanish kept
chocolate a secret for 80 years before it was slowly leaked
out.
During the 1600s and 1700s chocolate grew in popularity
and economic importance. Doctors prescribed it, the
wealthy craved it, and it was heavily taxed by the
government.
Now everyone, of all walks of life, can enjoy this sacred food.
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