No matter how chocolate got to Spain, by the late 1500s it was a much-loved indulgence by the Spanish court, and Spain began importing chocolate in 1585. A third story claims that friars who presented Guatemalan Mayans to Philip II of Spain in 1544 also brought cacao beans along as a gift. After returning to Spain, cacao beans in tow, he supposedly kept his chocolate knowledge a well-guarded secret. One story says Christopher Columbus discovered cacao beans after intercepting a trade ship on a journey to America and brought the beans back to Spain with him in 1502.Īnother tale states Spanish conquistador Hernan Cortes was introduced to chocolate by the Aztecs of Montezuma’s court. There are conflicting reports about when chocolate arrived in Europe, although it’s agreed it first arrived in Spain. It’s also said he reserved some of his cacao beans for his military. Perhaps the most notorious Aztec chocolate lover of all was the Aztec ruler Montezuma II who allegedly drank gallons of xocolatl each day for energy and as an aphrodisiac. In Aztec culture, cacao beans were considered more valuable than gold.Īztec chocolate, which they called xocolatl, was mostly an upper-class extravagance, although the lower classes enjoyed it occasionally at weddings or other celebrations. Like the Maya, they enjoyed the caffeinated kick of hot or cold, spiced chocolate beverages in ornate containers, but they also used cacao beans as currency to buy food and other goods. They believed cacao was given to them by their gods. The Aztecs took chocolate admiration to another level. Mayan chocolate was thick and frothy and often combined with chili peppers, honey or water. In many Mayan households, chocolate was enjoyed with every meal. The Mayan written history mentions chocolate drinks being used in celebrations and to finalize important transactions and ceremonies.ĭespite chocolate’s importance in Mayan culture, it wasn’t reserved for the wealthy and powerful, but was readily available to almost everyone. The Olmecs undoubtedly passed their cacao knowledge on to the Central American Maya who not only consumed chocolate, they revered it. However, since they kept no written history, opinions differ on if they used cacao beans in their concoctions or just the pulp of the cacao pod. It’s thought the Olmecs used cacao to create a ceremonial drink. were discovered with traces of theobromine, the stimulant compound found in chocolate and tea. According to Hayes Lavis, cultural arts curator for the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian, ancient Olmec pots and vessels from around 1500 B.C. It’s unclear exactly when cacao came on the scene or who invented it. The beans are dried and roasted to create cocoa beans. The fruits are called pods and each pod contains around 40 cacao beans. Chocolate is made from the fruit of cacao trees, which are native to Central and South America.
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