- The cacao tree was supposedly brought to mankind by the Aztec god, Quetzalcoatl.
Where did the word “chocolate” come from? The first lovers of chocolate; the ancient Aztecs.
- Chocolate is derived from their word, “xocolatl”, which means bitter water.
- The Aztecs made cocoa beans into a bitter tasting hot drink flavoured with chilli.
- Hernan Cortes brought the valuable secret of xocolatl back to Spain, improving the recipe with the addition of sugar from the East Indies and vanilla procured from Mexico.
- The Spanish court held the secret of chocolate for almost a century, reserving the beverage for royalty. The secret of chocolate finally leaked out and 'chocolate houses' began to appear throughout Europe, serving only the well-heeled this popular cocoa brew.
- Chocolate remained exclusive and elusive to the masses till C. J. Van Houten, a Dutch found a method to remove cocoa butter by mechanical pressure and to smoothen the cocoa's sharp flavor by 'Dutching' in 1828.
- Solid chocolate was developed by Cadbury of England in the 19 th Century while a Swiss duo, Daniel Peters & Henri Nestle refined it in 1875 by adding milk to make the first milk chocolate.
The evolution of chocolates continues, when another Swiss, Rodolphe Lindt, developed a process called 'conching' or rolling chocolate to make it soft and smooth, in 1879 to make the first really fine chocolate.
- Giving chocolates has royal approval! In 1900s, Queen Victoria sent special tins of chocolates to soldiers in the Boer war to wish them a Happy New Year.
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