PhytoScience - Article

The history of Chocolate

We tend to think of chocolate as a sweet candy created during modern times. But actually, chocolate dates back to the ancient peoples of Mesoamerica who drank chocolate as a bitter beverage.

For these people, chocolate wasn’t just a favorite food; it also played an important role in their religious and social lives.

The ancient Maya

The first people clearly known to have discovered the secret of cacao were the Classic Period Maya (250-900 C.E. [A.D.]). The Maya and their ancestors in Mesoamerica took the tree from the rainforest and grew it in their own backyards, where they harvested, fermented, roasted, and ground the seeds into a paste.

When mixed with water, chile peppers, cornmeal, and other ingredients, this paste made a frothy, spicy chocolate drink.

The Aztecs adopted cacao

By 1400, the Aztec empire dominated a sizeable segment of Mesoamerica. The Aztecs traded with Maya and other peoples for cacao and often required that citizens and conquered peoples pay their tribute in cacao seeds; a form of Aztec money.

Like the earlier Maya, the Aztecs also consumed their bitter chocolate drink seasoned with spices; sugar was an agricultural product unavailable to the ancient Mesoamericans.

Many people in Classic Period Maya society could drink chocolate at least on occasion, although it was a particularly favored beverage for royalty. But in Aztec society, primarily rulers, priests, decorated soldiers, and honored merchants could partake of this sacred brew.

Chocolate also played a special role in both Maya and Aztec royal and religious events. Priests presented cacao seeds as offerings to the gods and served chocolate drinks during sacred ceremonies.

Cacao Becomes an Expensive European Import

Europe’s first contact with chocolate came during the conquest of Mexico in 1521. The Spaniards recognized the value attached to cacao and observed the Aztec custom of drinking chocolate. Soon after, the Spanish began to ship cacao seeds back home. An expensive import, chocolate remained an elite beverage and a status symbol for Europe’s upper classes for the next 300 years.

When the Spanish brought cacao home, they doctored up the bitter brew with cinnamon and other spices and began sweetening it with sugar. They managed to keep their delicious drink a Spanish secret for almost 100 years before the rest of Europe discovered what they were missing. Sweetened chocolate soon became the latest and greatest fad to hit the continent.

Because cacao and sugar were expensive imports, only those with money could afford to drink chocolate. In fact, in France, chocolate was a state monopoly that could be consumed only by members of the royal court. Like the Maya and the Aztecs, Europeans developed their own special protocol for the drinking of chocolate. They even designed elaborate porcelain and silver serving pieces and cups for chocolate that acted as symbols of wealth and power.

Cacao and sugar were labor-intensive agricultural products. To keep up with the demand for chocolate, Spain and many other European nations established colonial plantations for growing these plants. A combination of wage laborers and enslaved peoples were used to create a plantation workforce.

Chocolate Meets Mass Production and Machinery

For centuries, chocolate remained a handmade luxury sipped only by society’s upper crust. But by the 1800s, mass production made solid chocolate candy affordable to a much broader public.

To meet the demands of today’s global market, chocolate manufacturing relies on both ancient techniques in the field and new technologies in the factory. The Industrial Revolution witnessed the development of an enormous number of new mechanical inventions and ushered in the era of the factory. The steam engine made it possible to grind cacao and produce large amounts of chocolate cheaply and quickly.

Later inventions like the cocoa press and the conching machine made it possible to create smooth, creamy, solid chocolate for eating—not just liquid chocolate for drinking.

Cacao growing hasn’t changed much since ancient times

New processes and machinery have improved the quality of chocolate and the speed at which it can be produced. However, cacao farming itself remains basically unaltered.

The tree is native to Central and South America and is believed to have been a cultivated crop for as many as 3,000 years. People grow cacao in equatorial climates all around the world; including West Africa where the Ivory Coast is the world’s greatest producer using traditional techniques first developed in Mesoamerica. Cacao is still harvested, fermented, dried, cleaned, and roasted mostly by hand.

The reason why it thrives in such harsh conditions is that it requires high heat and shady conditions to mature; a perfect description for the tropical rainforests of the world. In fact in some places other taller trees are planted around them to provide the shade they need.

Cocao trees grow 12 to 25 feet high and mature in five to eight years. From fertilization to harvesting takes about 5 to 6 months and they produce two crops per year with long, hard, ridged fruit that is 5 to 12 inches long and contains the beans which are called “nibs.”

The beans rattle inside the pod when shaken showing that the fruit is ripe. A pod generally produces 20 to 40 almond-shaped cocao beans. They are about 1 inch long, reddish-brown on the outside, dark-brown on the inside, and imbedded in a whitish, sweetish, buttery pulp. Rather interestingly, if they are separated from the pod they soon become infertile, but if kept inside they retain their fertility for a long time.

Once ripe, the pods are cut from the tree, cut open and allowed to mellow on the ground. The beans are allowed to ferment so that they may be more easily separated from the shell. After fermentation the beans are dried in the sun (or sometimes in a steam drying shed) at which time they change from purple to brown. Beans are then bagged and shipped. Further processing includes roasting, crushing, and separating out the kernel, grinding the nibs and extraction of about half of the fat.

Today, additional steps in the processing of cacao help create a variety of new flavors and forms for chocolate candy. But cacao is more than a source for calories and confections. The chemicals and substances in cacao can be extracted and incorporated into cosmetics and medicines. And the by-products of cacao can be used as mulch or fodder for cattle.

The Commercialization Cocao

In 1828 the “dutching” process was invented which involved heating and alkalizing the raw cocao paste and removing almost all of the fat to create the powder we are all familiar with today. After adding milk and fat back to the powder we ended up with the cocoa butter which is the basis for almost all of today’s commercial chocolate production.

Most of the world’s largest chocolate candy companies got their starts in the 1800’s after it was discovered how to turn cocoa butter into bar chocolates and candy bars after adding large amounts of sugar, nuts, coconut, etc. The most recognizable names include Hershey, Cadbury and Nestle.

Chocolate’s popularity is greater than ever. Over one billion people purchase chocolate products daily and it is considered an integral part of any special occasion, event, family gathering or seasonal celebration. Valentine’s Day, Christmas or Easter just wouldn’t be the same without boxed chocolates, Easter Bunnies, or Yule Logs. Whatever the occasion, the world continues to look for unique ways to package gifts which include some form of chocolate.

One of the worlds most craved products

Confectionary chocolate is close to a trillion dollar annual business. The average person consumes 12 pounds of chocolate annually. It's no surprise that chocolate has been so thoroughly integrated into our lives. It is estimated that there are over 6 million retail outlets that sell chocolate worldwide. If a person baked or cooked a chocolate related recipe every day, they could not make all of them in one lifetime.

Over consumption of commercialized chocolate has resulted in many adverse effects for those who cannot satisfy their cravings for this delicious treat. Confectionary chocolate contains saturated fats, the ones closely associated with heart disease. Weight gain, restlessness and the risk for diabetes can be attributed to over consumption of the commercialized product. The added fat and caffeine found in commercialized chocolates counters many of the benefits cocoa has to offer.

PhytoScience

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