A History of Chocolate

Chocolate comes from the cocoa plant, chocolate is harvested from the seeds of this tree and has been cultivated for over three millennia in Mexico and South America. The first documented use of chocolate was in 1100BC, though there is evidence of its use as far back as 1950BC. Chocolate as a food was very popular as a drink among the Aztecs, who called it bitter water.The Mayans who came before the Aztecs also mixed the cocoa beans with chilli paste and other ingredients to produce a foamy drink. This brew was considered sacred and was drunk by soldiers, high priests, leaders and was seen as a ceremonial drink. These ceremonial origins made their way into the Aztec culture also. Chocolate was also imported by the peoples who lived in the southern area of what is now the USA between 900-1400AD, though was drank by everyone.Choc in receive from O2 or VodaFousels. easons. e to Cork, you will see taht the areaith very friendly locals - a as well as tEuropeChocolate only came to Europe in the 1600s and was initially brought back from Peru by a Jesuit missionary. Christopher Columbus also brought it back to Spain, though it was not until the Spanish conquest of the Aztecs that it became popular in Europe. Europeans added milk and sugar to counter the sweet taste of the food and created something close to what we know as chocolate today.The chocolate making process was never changed until the industrial revolution. Mills were put to the use of creating chocolate on a mass produced scale. These mills squeezed out cocoa butter and this created hard chocolate. This meant that chocolate could be produced and then eaten on a world scale.Modern ChocolateIt was the Dutch who then created chocolate as we know its modern taste by removing the bitterness through the use of alkali. The first English company to make the modern bar were J.S Fry. Milk chocolate was invented in Denmark in 1875, where water was removed from milk to prevent mildew with the help of Henri Nestle. Rodolphe Lindt then added further to chocolate production by heating chocolate solids to ensure liquid is evenly blended in a process called conching. The bar was then mass produced and made more affordable by this process and this was taken upon by Milton Hershey who made the food even more popular.21st Century ChocMost of the world’s chocolate is produced in West Africa and the food is very commonly used on the futures market. There is much call for all chocolate to be produced in Free Trade conditions to ensure that the food gives farmers in these areas a good living.Chocolate is easily produced nowadays. To get the sweet flavour the beans must be fermented then dried, roasted, cleaned and shelled. This chocolate if left unsweetened is 100 per cent bitter chocolate, though it is usually combined with other things such as sugar, cocoa solids, cocoa butter or fat to produce a variety of different foods.Different ChocThere are obviously many different types of chocolate and the quality differs massively. One of Ireland’s most famous and best quality producers is Butlers Chocolates. Butlers was founded in 1932 and like the Aztecs create chocolate drinks in their cafes as well as a wide range of different types of chocolate including truffles, dark chocolate, fudge and many others. The company which is based in Dublin produces all sorts of chocolate and ice cream and has won numerous awards in the chocolate industry and with a Butlers’ Promo Code this chocolate has never been more affordable.As you can see from the history of chocolate, it is as rich of human story in food terms as any. Chocolate has been used for everything from a treat to the centre piece in ceremonial occasions.