History of chocolate
On August
15, 1502 the European Christopher Columbus was the first to discover cocoa
beans and to come in contact with cacao .
The cacao
tree was found in Central American rain forests. Cacao is actually a Mayan word
meaning "God Food" which is known today as chocolate and the cacao
beans were used as currency in Nicaragua and also drunk in the Aztec culture
and it was named xcolat by roasting and pounding the seeds of the Cacao tree.
Within a few years the first factories of chocolate opened in Spain to dry
fermented beans. Chocolate was treasured at that time 10 beans would buy a
rabbit and 100 beans would buy a slave. And it was used as currency until the
19th century in some parts of Latin America. The
cocoa powder was a very great idea which was produced in Spain and it got too
popular and it was exported to Europe, Netherlands, Italy, France, Germany and
England and eating chocolate was first mentioned in England in solid form in
the mid 1600’s, then in 1847 chocolate powder was mixed with sugar and milk to
be the first milk chocolate drink. The chocolate was considered as healthy food
and a cure for fever and cooling the body.
The cocoa
tree was not available in every country and so instead of importing cocoa beans
the British, the Spanish, the French, and the Dutch started to plant their own
cacao that they took out from Central America.
Chocolate
began to be manufactured in the United States in 1765. The cocoa beans were
brought by John Hanau. Chocolate quickly made its way to the rest of the
states. In 1850 the first solid chocolate was made by Joseph Fry by adding
cocoa butter to cocoa powder and sugar. In that time chocolate was very popular
in most countries but it was made for the very wealthy until 1853 when the
numbers of manufacturers were increased. A Dutch chocolate master help decrease
the price; also it came within the reach of a wider population. And then later
in 1857 Daniel Peter and Henri Nestle mixed milk and solid chocolate to produce
the milk chocolate bar. So every country had its different way of mixing
chocolate with other things like milk, vanilla, and hot water. And so each
country kept trying to find new ways of mixing and making a new product of
chocolate. It was not long before they found a way of mixing chocolate with
milk as a chocolate bar, not a drink.
In 1824 John Cadbury opened a chocolate shop
making chocolate drinks and cocoa. John Cadbury was inspired by the good taste
of chocolate so he kept doing what he liked the most and in 1831 John Cadbury
crowned his own success by opening a chocolate factory to make the most wanted
products of chocolate varieties of drinks, solids and cocoa. John Cadbury
retired leaving his business to be continued by his two sons Richard and George
and they were successful as they made good changes, making new kinds of eating
chocolate. Cadbury as we know it today is one of the biggest chocolate
companies in the world. In 1847 Fry and Sons produced a chocolate bar that we
know today. Chocolate can be healthy or a sweet vice for the young and the old
depending on what kind of chocolate you’re looking for and how much you eat
chocolate. The sweet taste of chocolate gives us all, men and women, young and
old, a good feeling. It’s even helping us to change our bad stressful mood to
normal or even happy. Chocolate nowadays is more popular than ever; there are
many factories today all over the world producing different kinds of mixed
solid cakes of chocolate, available for everyone with a satisfying price for
all.
roasting, and pounding the seeds of the Cacao tree (cocoa
beans) with maize. "History of Chocolate." Buy Easter Chocolate
Gifts Online at Aphrodite Handmade Chocolates. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Mar.
2013. http://www.aphrodite-chocolates.co.uk/history_chocolate.htm.