History of chocolate
Soon after domestication, the tree was introduced to Mesoamerica, where cacao drinks gained significance as an elite beverage among different cultures including the Maya and the Aztecs.
From Spain, it gained popularity among the European elite over the following three centuries, was debated for its medicinal and religious merits, and was understood as an aphrodisiac.
In the 19th century, technological innovations completely changed chocolate, from a drink for the elite to a solid, milky block increasingly eaten by the public.
[6] According to anthropologist Kathryn Sampeck, chocolate originally referred to one cacao beverage among many, which included annatto and was made in what is today Guatemala.
[8] Evidence of cacao domestication exists as early as circa 3300 BC in the Amazon in present-day southeast Ecuador by the Mayo-Chinchipe culture, before it was introduced to Mesoamerica.
Archaeological evidence from the Gulf Coast of Veracruz, Mexico, demonstrates cacao preparation by pre-Olmec peoples by 1750 BC.
[19] Chocolate was used in official ceremonies and religious rituals, at feasts, weddings, and festivals, as funerary offerings and for medicinal purposes.
[24] Cocoa's social and religious significance motivated rich hobbyist gardeners to cultivate it in Yucatán, despite the challenging growing conditions.
[29] Before serving, chocolate was agitated in a small container with a whisk called molinillo, then poured from a height between vessels to create a highly sought-after brown foam.
[31] To assess the quality of the drink, the Maya observed the darkness of the foam, the color of the bubbles and the aroma, as well as the origin of beans and the flavor.
[22] After the collapse of the Mayan Empire, control over cocoa-producing regions became a source of conflict between the Toltec and rival tribes.
Chocolate was regarded as a luxurious and sensual product to be celebrated, but at the same time consumption was considered at odds with an imagined austere idealized past, being overly decadent and weakening drinkers.
Aguilar-Moreno (2006), citing Colonial Spanish sources, says chocolate was drunk exclusively by the Aztec elites, including the royal house, lords, nobility, and long-distance traders known as pochteca.
[50] Today, Aztec chocolate drinks are commonly understood to contain cinnamon, despite the spice only being introduced to Mesoamerica by the Spanish conquest.
[58] In response, more cacao was produced on the Guayaquil coast of Ecuador, as well as in Venezuela, albeit of a lower quality and using slaves from Africa.
This cacao was argued to be inferior as it was not the same variety as the Criollo type grown in Mesoamerica: this was the Forastero, which was native to South America and although it yielded more fruit and was more disease resistant, it tasted dry and bitter.
[65] Spaniards, casta and Afro-Guatemalan women who couldn't afford domestic servants likely learned to make chocolate from their neighbors.
[64] To adapt chocolate to Spanish tastes, it was often sweetened, flavored with familiar spices and served warm,[66] the last change an application of the principles of humorism.
[71] According to the earliest documented evidence, it was introduced to the Spanish court in 1544 by Qʼeqchiʼ Mayan nobles brought to Spain by Dominican friars,[55] but it was not until 1585 that the first official shipment of cacao to Europe was recorded.
Tracing the spread of chocolate in Europe is complicated by the religious wars and shifting allegiances of the time, but it is understood that it was driven by cosmopolitanism and missionaries.
"[80] Chocolate arrived in England from France around 1657,[82] around the same time as tea and coffee, and encountered an initial backlash from those with medical concerns.
The process removed cocoa butter from chocolate liquor, the result of milling, by enough to create a cake that could be pulverized into a powder.
[112] In 1879, the conching process was invented by the Swiss chocolatier Rodolphe Lindt, which heats and agitates liquid chocolate for days to change flavor and increase smoothness.
[115] In the early 19th century, the Portuguese began commercial cacao growing in West Africa after their colonies in South America gained independence.
[118] When Portugal made slavery illegal in 1869 after large international pressure, production was maintained by creating a captive workforce through "legal trickery".
[122]After receiving the attention of journalists and activists,[124] Cadbury began inquiring into labor practices in the Portuguese cacao industry in the first decade of the 20th century.
[126] Cadbury moved sourcing to the British colony of the Gold Coast, today Ghana, which became the largest producer of cacao in 1911.
[154]Slave labor among African cacao growers gained public attention after the release of the documentary Slavery: A Global Investigation in 2000.
[157][158] As of 2023, the industry's sustainability was threatened by the need for deforesting for more land, poor soil management, persistent poverty and forced labor among cacao farmers, and climate change.
[e][138] As of 2018, chocolate-makers Mars, Mondelez (owner of Cadbury), Ferrero, Nestlé and Hershey, known as the 'Big Five', comprised almost two-thirds of the global chocolate market.
