Hot Beverage
A nice cup of hot cocoa
The history of chocolate goes back thousands of years to the Olmec, Mayan and Aztec cultures of present-day Mexico and Central America.
These early chocolate makers cultivated the cacao tree, ultimately rendering the seeds of its fruit (the bean) into a drink. This drink however, bore little resemblance to the beverage we know. For starters, it wasn’t served hot, and most likely unsweetened, rather made with water and flavored with spices and flowers, then made frothy by repeatedly pouring from one vessel into another.
The beans themselves were of great value and were only enjoyed by a few, and not necessarily a part of the average person’s diet, rather used primarily for medicinal and ceremonial uses. Most culinary applications — even savory mole — appeared much later. After the Spanish conquered the birthplace of chocolate in the 1500s, it would undergo further changes as it made its way to European drinkers.
Hot Beverage
A nice cup of hot cocoa
The history of chocolate goes back thousands of years to the Olmec, Mayan and Aztec cultures of present-day Mexico and Central America.
These early chocolate makers cultivated the cacao tree, ultimately rendering the seeds of its fruit (the bean) into a drink. This drink however, bore little resemblance to the beverage we know. For starters, it wasn’t served hot, and most likely unsweetened, rather made with water and flavored with spices and flowers, then made frothy by repeatedly pouring from one vessel into another.
The beans themselves were of great value and were only enjoyed by a few, and not necessarily a part of the average person’s diet, rather used primarily for medicinal and ceremonial uses. Most culinary applications — even savory mole — appeared much later. After the Spanish conquered the birthplace of chocolate in the 1500s, it would undergo further changes as it made its way to European drinkers.