Chocolate

The Earliest history

The earliest record of chocolate was over 1500 years ago in the South American rain forests, where the tropical mix of high rain fall combined with high year round temperatures and humidity provide the ideal climate for cultivation of the plant from which chocolate is derived – the cocoa tree.

The cocoa tree was worshiped by the Mayan civilization

who believed it to be of divine origin, Cacao is a Mayan word meaning “God Food”. The Maya brewed a bitter sweet drink by roasting and pounding the seeds letting the mixture ferment. This drink was reserved for use in ceremonies as well as for drinking by the wealthy and religious elite, they also ate a Cocoa porridge.

The Aztecs who came later also prized the beans, but because the Aztecs lived at higher altitudes in the Andes, where the climate was not suitable for cultivation of the tree, they acquired the beans through trade and the spoils of war. The Aztecs prized the beans so much they used them as currency – 100 beans bought a slave. The tribute and taxes were paid in cocoa beans to Aztec emperors. The Aztecs, like the Mayans, also enjoyed cocoa only as a beverage made from the raw beans which also featured ritual and as a luxury available only to the very wealthy. The Aztecs called this drink Xocolatl.

The Aztecs regarded chocolate as an aristocratic and their emperor, Montezuma, said: “A cup of this precious drink permits a man to walk for a whole day without food”. He drank it fifty times a day from a golden goblet.

In fact, the Aztecs prized Xocolatl well above Gold and Silver so much that when Montezuma was defeated by Cortez in 1519 and the victorious conquistadors searched his palace for the Aztec treasury expecting to find Gold and Silver, all they found were huge quantities of cocoa beans. The Aztec treasury consisted not of precious metals, but of cocoa beans.

Who loves chocolate?

It’s a well established fact that most people love chocolate, last year chocolate lovers in the UK alone, spent over $4.5 billion and consumed over half a million metric tons of chocolate products! US consumers spent more than $7 billion and ate 1.27 billion kilos of chocolate alone, representing nearly half of the world’s entire chocolate production.

The average US citizen eats 5.45 kg of chocolate annually, second only to the Swiss who consume a staggering 11 kg per person per year, unfortunately the bulk of the money spent by the average Briton and American is wasted on mass produced, low-grade high sugar products. The Swiss however spent their money more wisely as anyone who has tasted Swiss chocolate will testify.

Notes

Worship − поклоняться, почитать; благоговеть, боготворить, обожать, преклоняться

Goblet − бокал; кубок