This is not quite literary news, but what the heck. Chocolate, a Mexican drink, is generally considered to be introduced to Europe in 1550, with July 7 declared Chocolate Day, the day the new world conquered the old. Cacao cultivation in Mexico, Central and South America dates back to at least 1250 BC according to archaeologists. The Mayans grew cacao trees in their backyards and brewed ceremonial drinks with it. In the fifth century, Aztecs drank xocoatl (bitter water) flavored with vanilla and chili pepper. (So the new fangled chili flavoured ones, one buys in Europe these days is nothing new!) The bean also served as legal currency in Aztec society. For example, one could buy a turkey for 100 cacao beans.
Then in 1504, Christopher Columbus (may have) brought cacao beans to Spain during his fourth and final voyage to the Americas. Hernan Cortes, the Spanish conquistador who subdued Mexico (with guns, germs and steel), wrote in 1519 that chocolate is “the divine drink which builds up resistance and fights fatigue. A cup of this precious drink permits a man to walk for a whole day without food.” (Surely, many will agree with that.) He brought the cacao beans and chocolate-brewing apparatus back to Spain when he returned in 1528.
Hot chocolate became very popular with the French royalty after Marie Therese married Louis XIV in 1660. Courtiers at the Palace of Versailles, regarded the drink as an aphrodisiac. London’s first chocolate house opened in 1657. British confectioners figured out how to add sugar and cocoa butter to create a paste that could be packaged as “eating chocolate.”
The rest is history.
Wired.com
