| The story begins some two millennia ago in the | | | | wildfire among the French aristocracy.The English |
| tropical rainforests of the Americas. Although the | | | | were introduced to the cacao bean through British |
| cacao tree had been around for some time, the | | | | pirates who targeted Spanish ships in the last half of |
| natives had never used the beans inside the pods for | | | | the 1500s. They saw no use for the odd looking |
| food. Upon discovering that the seeds could be | | | | cargo and even burned several shipments before |
| processed and used as a drink, it quickly caught on | | | | someone found out what the beans were good for |
| with these primitive people. The first people known | | | | making. It took about a hundred years for the |
| to make chocolate from the cacao beans were the | | | | chocolate to start making its mark in British history. |
| ancient cultures of Central America and Mexico. They | | | | Once it did though, it was not just reserved for the |
| would grind the beans and mix them with different | | | | aristocracy. Anyone in England who could afford it |
| seasonings and spices and then whip the beverage | | | | was able to indulge. While it was more expensive |
| by hand until it was both frothy and spicy.The Olmec | | | | than coffee, it was less costly that tea. "Chocolate |
| Indians are believed to be the first culture to grow | | | | houses" began to sprout up, with the first one being |
| the beans as a domestic crop, between 1500 and | | | | opened by a Frenchman in 1657. At that time, |
| 400 B.C. From 250 to 900 C.E., the consumption of | | | | chocolate was 10 to 15 shillings per pound. So it was |
| the beans was restricted to the elite class of the | | | | rather costly.During the 16th and 17th centuries, the |
| Mayan culture. Throughout these years, the drink | | | | demand for chocolate grew so large that the cacao |
| was consumed unsweetened. Apparently the Mayan | | | | plantations had enslaved Mesoamericans to plant, |
| people valued the beans so highly that they planted | | | | grow, harvest and process the cocoa beans. By the |
| them in their personal gardens so that they had easy | | | | end of the 17th century, only ten percent of the |
| access to them.Around 600 A.D., the Mayans | | | | Native Indian population survived. It was then that |
| migrated into the northern regions of South America | | | | slaves were transported from Africa to Ecuador, |
| and began the earliest recorded plantations of cacao | | | | Venezuela, Paraguay and Brazil. For over two |
| trees in the Yucatan. They used the beverage that | | | | centuries, enslaved people and wage laborers were |
| they made in betrothal and marriage ceremonies.Once | | | | used to meet the demand for the all-enticing |
| the Aztec culture was able to abscond with some of | | | | cocoa.Around 1730, the price of cocoa has dropped |
| the beans and learn how to make the beverage | | | | to around $3 per pound. This made it more |
| from them, they used them for medicinal purposes | | | | affordable to others besides the very wealthy. In |
| and in ceremonies such as weddings and religious | | | | 1732, a French inventor developed a table mill for |
| rites. They believed that the beans were a gift from | | | | grinding the chocolate. This simplified the process and |
| their gods. They are also the first known culture to | | | | made it possible to churn out larger quantities at |
| tax the beans. Their name for the beverage that | | | | lower cost. So production naturally grew.In 1765, Irish |
| they made was "xocalatl", translated to warm or | | | | chocolate maker John Hanan imported cocoa beans |
| bitter drink. The beans also began, at that time, to | | | | from the West Indies to Massachusetts in the |
| be used as currency by the Mesoamerican cultures. | | | | American colonies. He teamed up with Dr. James |
| They were not used to make chocolate until they | | | | Baker. They built the first chocolate mill in the |
| were too worn to be used as currency.The first | | | | Colonies and by 1780, that mill was producing the |
| European to learn of chocolate was Christopher | | | | famous Baker's chocolate which is still widely used |
| Columbus. He encountered a huge Mayan trading | | | | today.Another revolution in production occurred in |
| canoe piled high with the valuable beans. When the | | | | 1795 when Dr. Joseph Fry of Bristol, England used a |
| Spaniards invaded the Yucatan in 1517 and Mexico in | | | | steam engine to power the grinding wheel used to |
| 1519, they quickly caught on to the monetary value | | | | make chocolate. This catapulted the manufacturing |
| of the precious beans. They were not fond, | | | | process forward tremendously.The man who is |
| however, of the warm, bitter and unsweetened drink | | | | considered the pioneer of Swiss chocolate making, |
| which they received from the local people. It took | | | | Francois Callier, opened the first Swiss chocolate |
| some time, but they learned to adapt their taste | | | | factory in 1819. And in 1828, a Dutchman named |
| buds to the drink and began to enjoy it.The most | | | | Conrad Van Houton invented the cocoa press. His |
| popular story of the introduction of chocolate to | | | | invention helped more with cutting the price of |
| Europe is that which credits Dominican friars with | | | | chocolate and by improving the quality of it by |
| taking a delegation of Mayan nobles to the court of | | | | squeezing out cocoa butter thus making the |
| Prince Philip of Spain. As one of the many gifts which | | | | consistency of the beverage smoother. Mr. Van |
| the nobles presented to the Prince, they gave him | | | | Houton patented his invention in Amsterdam and his |
| several jars of already processed cocoa which was | | | | process became known as "Dutching".In 1847, |
| ready to drink. The Spaniards did not, however, | | | | another innovation was made by Joseph Fry & Son |
| share this much loved beverage with the rest of | | | | when they discovered a way to add some of the |
| Europe for nearly a century!Sometime during the 16th | | | | cocoa butter back to the Dutch chocolate, add sugar |
| century, the Spanish people began adding flavoring | | | | and make a paste which could be molded into a bar |
| like vanilla and sugar cane to the chocolate drinks. | | | | and...Voila! the modern chocolate bar was born. Dr. Fry |
| Thus, sweetened chocolate was invented. And | | | | and his son teamed up with the Cadbury Brothers to |
| recorded history shows that the popularity of the | | | | display chocolates for eating at an exhibition in |
| beverage grew to the point that regular shipments | | | | Birmingham, England in 1849. In 1851 Americans got |
| began from Veracruz, Mexico to Seville, Spain in | | | | their first taste of bonbons, chocolate creams, |
| 1582.The records are not completely clear on how | | | | caramels and "boiled sweets" (hard candies) at Prince |
| chocolate was introduced to the rest of Europe. It's | | | | Albert's Exposition in London.In 1861 Richard Cadbury |
| thought that quite possibly it was distributed through | | | | created the very first known heart shaped box for |
| monasteries and convents which were linked with | | | | Valentine's Day and seven years later in 1868, John |
| Latin America. Jesuit Society members were major | | | | Cadbury mass produced and marketed the first |
| consumers of the drink and had become cocoa | | | | boxes of chocolate candy. In 1876 Daniel Peter, of |
| traders as well. A French Cardinal popularized the | | | | Switzerland, introduced milk chocolate for drinking - a |
| beverage in France and when Louis XIV married | | | | project that he worked on for eight years before he |
| Maria Theresa of Spain in 1615 she, chocolate lover | | | | perfected it. |
| that she was, began a custom that spread like | | | | |