Did you know about chocolate?

The word ‘Chocolate’ comes from the Aztec word, ‘cacahuatl’ or ‘xocolatl’. This means ‘bitter water’.

Cocoa trees require warm, moist climates and are largely found in West Africa. The ancient Greek term for the Cocoa Tree is ‘Theobroma Cacao’ meaning ‘Food for the Gods’.

The Mayans and Aztecs believed that the Cocoa Beans originated from Paradise and would bring wisdom and power to anyone consuming them.

The Maya people prepared chocolate strictly for drinking. Chocolate history doesn’t include solid chocolate until the 1850s

The traditional recipe for drinking chocolate consisted of the beans being fermented, and dried. They were then roasted and the shells removed and the rest was ground into a paste. The paste was mixed with hot water and spices, such as chili, vanilla, annatto, allspice, honey, and flowers. Then the mixture was frothed by pouring it back and forth between two containers.

Cocoa Trees produce pods and each pod contains about 20 to 50 coco beans.  Different varieties of bean produce different flavours and are used to make different types of chocolate.

Emperor Montezuma of Mexico drank a Chocolate drink before entering his harem. This gave rise to the notion of Chocolate having aphrodisiac properties.

There is some truth to this myth, since Chocolate contains numerous chemicals including the feel-good stimulants - Caffeine, Theobromine, and Phenyethylamine.

Cocoa Beans were first brought to Europe by the Spanish Conquistadors in 1528

Henri Nestle of Switzerland was the first to create milk chocolate by adding condensed milk to the mixture when making chocolate bars.

Rudolphe Lindt of Switzerland in 1879 was the first to develop a method to give Chocolate a smooth consistency.