The History of Chocolate
The History of Chocolate
Do you like chocolate? Who doesn’t like chocolate? Chocolate is a favorite food of many people, but only few people know about the history of chocolate. That is why I am going to ask you to explore the history of chocolate by reading this essay.
The history of chocolate begins with a plant whose scientific name is theobroma cacao which means “food of the gods”. According to the historians, the Mayan in Central America is the first who learned to plant the cacao plants around 2.000 years ago. The Maya took the cacao trees from the rainforests and plant them around home. They cooked the cacao seeds then crushed them into a soft paste. They mixed the paste with water and flavorful spices to make an unsweetened chocolate drink.
Cacao and chocolate were an important part of Maya culture. There are many images of cacao plants found on Maya buildings and art objects. Royal families drank chocolate at ceremonies. Even poor families of Mayan could enjoy the chocolate drink once in a while. Historians tell us that cacao seeds also used in marriage ceremonies as the sign of the union between a husband and wife.
The Aztec culture in Mexico also valued chocolate. Unfortunately, cacao plants could not grow in the land where the Aztec lived, so they traded to get cacao plants. They even used cacao seeds as money to pay taxes. Only the very wealthy people of Aztec that could afford to enjoy chocolate drink because cacao was very valuable. The Aztec authority, Montezuma, believed that they had to drink 50 cups of chocolate drink every day.
Some experts believe that the word “chocolate” came from the Aztec word “xocolatl”, which means “bitter water” in the Nahuatl language. It was spelled variously as “chocalatall”, “jocolatte”, “jacolatte” and “chockelet”. Others believe the word “chocolate” was formed by combining the words of Mayan and Nahuatl.
When the explorer Christopher Columbus did his fourth trip to Central America in 1502, he encountered a
Do you like chocolate? Who doesn’t like chocolate? Chocolate is a favorite food of many people, but only few people know about the history of chocolate. That is why I am going to ask you to explore the history of chocolate by reading this essay.
The history of chocolate begins with a plant whose scientific name is theobroma cacao which means “food of the gods”. According to the historians, the Mayan in Central America is the first who learned to plant the cacao plants around 2.000 years ago. The Maya took the cacao trees from the rainforests and plant them around home. They cooked the cacao seeds then crushed them into a soft paste. They mixed the paste with water and flavorful spices to make an unsweetened chocolate drink.
Cacao and chocolate were an important part of Maya culture. There are many images of cacao plants found on Maya buildings and art objects. Royal families drank chocolate at ceremonies. Even poor families of Mayan could enjoy the chocolate drink once in a while. Historians tell us that cacao seeds also used in marriage ceremonies as the sign of the union between a husband and wife.
The Aztec culture in Mexico also valued chocolate. Unfortunately, cacao plants could not grow in the land where the Aztec lived, so they traded to get cacao plants. They even used cacao seeds as money to pay taxes. Only the very wealthy people of Aztec that could afford to enjoy chocolate drink because cacao was very valuable. The Aztec authority, Montezuma, believed that they had to drink 50 cups of chocolate drink every day.
Some experts believe that the word “chocolate” came from the Aztec word “xocolatl”, which means “bitter water” in the Nahuatl language. It was spelled variously as “chocalatall”, “jocolatte”, “jacolatte” and “chockelet”. Others believe the word “chocolate” was formed by combining the words of Mayan and Nahuatl.
When the explorer Christopher Columbus did his fourth trip to Central America in 1502, he encountered a