Chocolate has been a favorite of many of us for hundreds of years, but it wasn’t always a sweet snack: when the Mayans and Aztecs first discovered it, it was actually consumed as a bitter beverage. Now, this beloved treat has gone through millennia of evolution: from bean to bitter beverage to the sweet, delicious form we know today.
Dating back to the Mayans and Aztecs, chocolate was first consumed by drinking it as a thick, bitter froth. The Mayan culture, which dates back to 300BC, is the earliest known civilization in Central America where cacao beans were used, and where the chocolate drink originates. The Mayans and Aztecs believed that chocolate was a drink of the gods, and consumed it in sacred rituals.
Artifacts of this time have shown that the Mayans and Aztecs used a ‘metate’ to grind the beans down, then mix it with spices like chilli, achiote, cornmeal and honey. This made a much thicker drink than a chocolate cup or bar, but it was just as important and revered by their culture.
Although the exact recipe has been lost to time, it’s likely that the cacao beans used were more bitter than the ones used to make sweetened chocolate today: the beans were naturally bitter, which was balanced out with the additional spices and honey. The drink was said to be both sweet and aromatic, with a spicy kick and a bright reddish complexion.
How Sweetened Chocolate Came to Europe
Sweetened chocolate as we know it was first brought to Europe from Central America by Hernán Cortés in 1519. According to legend, Cortés encountered the Aztecs drinking a bitter beverage made with cacao beans and was so taken aback by its flavor that he asked for the recipe. The Aztecs gave it to him, thinking he could take it back to Spain and use it to make an Elixir of Gold. As it turns out, Cortés was able to make a sweet, delicious drink out of the recipe — and he began to spread it throughout Europe.
However, sweetened chocolate wasn’t widely accepted in Europe at first. The Europeans found the drink too bitter and unappetizing, and it wasn’t until the Spanish started adding sugar and spices to it that it began to gain in popularity. From that point onward, chocolate was consumed sweetened with vanilla, clove, and cinnamon—all flavors that remain popular today.
The Spread of Sweetened Chocolate Across the Globe
As European nations began to explore and conquer the New World, they brought chocolate with them. The Spanish taught the rest of Europe how to make sweetened chocolate, and soon it had spread to the rest of the world.
In the 1500s, chocolate slowly began to be adopted across the globe, from Europe all the way to the Far East. It was even drunk in the courts of France and England, and eventually it became fashionable for all social classes.
It was in the 1700s that chocolate trade began to boom across Europe, as manufacturers started running massive production lines to keep up with demand. Chocolate factories sprung up in countries like England, Germany, and Switzerland, churning out sweetened bars and confections for a growing market of chocolate-lovers. By the 1800s, confectionery was a booming industry in Europe, and the sweetened forms of chocolate we know today had made a permanent place in the hearts (and stomachs) of people everywhere.
Sweetened Chocolate: A Crowd Favorite
Today, chocolate has taken on many forms: from bars to melts, to hot and cold drinks, and even to savory dishes. It’s been used in desserts, breakfast recipes, ice cream, and much more. Sweetened chocolate was the force that drove this love of chocolate around the world, and it’s still the most popular form of chocolate consumed today.
“From its first appearance in Europe in the 16th century, chocolate has become one of the most loved and widely eaten foods in the world. There’s something about the combination of ingredients that can’t help but make people happy.”
Alilamacchiato.com
So, next time you take a bite out of your chocolate bar or down your hot chocolate, remember where it all began: with the Mayans and Aztecs, and their thick, complex cacao-based drink. It’s a flavorful history lesson in a sweet little package, and we can all be thankful that it ended up being a much sweeter treat than it started.
Conclusion
At first, chocolate was unappealing to Europeans due to its bitter taste. But thanks to Spanish explorations and a sweet tooth, sweetened chocolate eventually made its way across the globe and has been a beloved treat for centuries. While the exact recipe of Mayans and Aztecs remains unknown, we can certainly appreciate the origins of this amazing treat and its remarkable journey through the ages.
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