The history of chocolate
Hands up who’s feeling all chocolatey this weekend? Now hands up who knows the history of that delicious treat… Didn’t learn about it at school? Read on…
Before it arrived in your local corner shop as our favourite snack in all its different forms, chocolate began life in South America.
Former archivist at Nestlé, Alex Hutchinson, the Paddington of chocolate (she always carries it in her pockets) explains: ‘The cacao plant is an unusual tree as the pods grow out of the trunk, not on the branches. The pods are a bit like rugby balls and full of beans that are fermented, squished, roasted, then squished again to make chocolate.’
Chocolate, as we know it, began life more than 5,000 years ago in Ecuador, where the Maya people simply called it cacao.
‘It was addictive like the coffee bean, bitter and moreish,’ continues Alex. ‘They might have added a bit of honey or some chilli.’
This addictive substance was so popular that there is speculation that the Mayans used the beans as currency. ‘There is evidence that someone was making counterfeit beans to leave as offerings to the Gods,’ says Alex.
So, literally, the first chocolate coins. The love of cacao eventually spread to the Aztecs in nearby Mexico, where they preferred to drink it mixed with hot water.
When the Spanish conquered Mexico in 1519, Don Hernán Cortés realised its value and brought the magic bean to Europe. The popularity of this hot bean drink spread slowly through Europe via monks – who believed it had medicinal properties – and Royal courts.
Europeans started adding milk to their drinking beans. When it arrived in Britain around 100 years later, the Brits added the beans to their wine…
In 1795, Doctor Joseph Fry invented the first chocolate bar in Bristol, using a steam engine to grind the beans.
As a Quaker, he was seen as a trustworthy business man and the spread of the chocolate bar as we know it began.
Well done, Joseph Fry…