What is the history of chocolate?
The history of one of the most popular foods in the world is full of intrigue, political maneuvering and innovation. The journey from the fermented alcoholic beverage to the candy in the corner shop was marked by numerous twists and turns, and even today the world of chocolate is filled with mystery, ethical controversy and constant new development. Chocolate is an industry with more billions of dollars and should not be surprised to learn that the history of chocolate is closely linked to the history of colonial expansion, the industrial revolution and even wars. The first proof of the use of chocolate for culinary purposes comes from approximately 1400 BCE, when the Mayans apparently ferment the pulp that surrounds the cocoa beans to create an alcoholic beverage. In the first century, the Mayans used beans, ferment them, and then grind them with ingredients such as corn meal, vanilla beans and chili on metate to form a spicy, bitter paste that could be taken with water to form a drink known as xolotatl .
Mayan xcocolatl would not be the taste of most modern consumers. The Mayans only drank chocolate, mixed their cocoa beans with water, and then poured the drink back and forth between two cups to develop a densely foamy drink. Chocolate was so honored in Mayan culture that it was used in religious ceremonies. Most of the Mayans had a growing cocoa tree in their courts, and made chocolate accessible to all members of the Mayan society. Of course, the rich had special chocolate dishes, complemented by complicated decorations, which included a depiction of cultivation, harvent and preparation of cocoa beans.
TheMayans founded a lively chocolate store and exchanged beans with other indigenous American people who lived in regions where cocoa trees could not be grown. When the Aztec culture began to rise in the 12th century, the Aztecs raised the habit of drinking chocolate and became a drink for AztecLook an elite, the only ones who could afford awarded beans. In fact, cocoa beans were even used as a currency of Aztecs who would trade beans for everything from fruit to slaves.
After Columbus traveled to the New World in 1492, he returned with a boat loaded with various commercial goods, including some cocoa beans, describing chocolate as a "divine drink that creates resistance and struggles with fatigue". However, the Spanish court did not realize the value of chocolate until another conqueror, Herman Cortez, conquered the Aztec Empire and did not establish cocoa plantations, and sent beans back to Spain. In Spain, chocolate has become a drink of elite and high -ranking church officials, and Spain held a monopoly for chocolate for more than 100 years.
Spain was dissatisfied with chocolate because it was prepared in South America. They found that the drink was too bitter and did not like foaming textures. As a result, Spanish came up with a brilliant idea to add sugar and cinnamon to their chocolateLáda. They also developed special dishes, Molilinlo , for mixing chocolate. Spanish explorers have expanded their shares in South America specifically in order to maintain chocolate monopoly, create large plantations for cocoa growing and by slavery work to produce a crop.
chocolate remained a little secret of Spain for some time. Other Europeans did not know about the value of chocolate that when Spanish ships were attacked by English pirates, the pirates routinely destroyed the cost of cocoa beans and thought they were worthless. While Europeans certainly realized that Spain came across a number of treasures in the New World, until the 16th century, that the madness of chocolate hit the rest of Europe.
with an increased desire for chocolate in places such as France, England and the Netherlands, came increased demand for chocolate production. Numerous countries colonized regions that would be suitable for cocoa production and set up large plantations of cocoa, sugar and other South American crops that could be grown OTROKy and sold for a huge profit. Even with increased production, chocolate was still extremely expensive and its consumption was primarily limited to the elite that consumed it in fashion chocolate houses.
When chocolate spread throughout Europe, different countries have created their own wording and added ingredients such as milk to make the drink tastier. Chocolate, however, remained firmly in liquid form, served in exotic and complicated chocolate pots, which combine China adapted to the service of chocolate.
Chocolate history turned dramatically into the industrial revolution when the development of mass production techniques made available to the once elite drink to a much larger segment of the company. In 1828, the inventors developed the technique for pressing cocoa beans to separate cocoa solids and cocoa butter using hydraulic press, and this quite changed the nature of chocolate production quite radically. Before the development of hydraulic press, chocolate was sold in the form of crumbly, very high -fat SMa lot that was difficult to use and spend. With the development of the printing, consumers could buy cocoa powder, a cheap, easily handled alternative.
, however, chocolate was consumed primarily in liquid form until the 18th century, because no one has been able to create an edible form of solid chocolate and chocolate biscuits have not yet been very popular. Eating chocolate was introduced in the 1930s. The 20th century to be grainy, a bitter matter until the age of 20, when chocolate manufacturers finally came up with crossing.
6 Conching made it possible to explode the food market because consumers - for the first time - could eat quality chocolate bars. It also allowed chocolate companies to create various chocolate coatings and decreases, allowing the production of candies covered with chocolate, permanent favorite. However, theindustrialization of the chocolate industry also drew attention to its dark side. Many chocolate companies have been accused of using childhood and slave work in their plantations and factoriesAnd the growing working movement began for reform at home and abroad. In response to the public concerns, Chocolatiers also began to speak of working conditions involved in chocolate production, with some compilations such as Cadbury, who have committed themselves to remove ethically unhealthy chocolate production as early as 1910.
At the end of the 18th century, many manufacturers have launched their diet of chocolate as a healthy supplement to the diet, especially focused on mothers and children. Chocolate and human health have been made various statements, with chocolate packaging, including detailed descriptions of all the benefits that are awarded chocolate. The idea of chocolate as a healthy food was so firmly rooted that manufacturers sold "chocolate breakfast", ate chocolate designed to be consumed at breakfast, and chocolate was considered an essential part of the ration for soldiers during the civil war in the United States.
The history of chocolate and the army continues to this day. Many major military conflicts stimulated JEdinous development in the world of chocolate in an effort to produce chocolate that could be integrated into war nose. For example, in World War II, Mars Incorporated introduced M & MS to American Gis, and in the first war in the Persian Gulf of confectioners they fought for the production of chocolate that would not be caught in the Middle East.
In addition to the world wars, the 20th century also appeared an explosion of confectionery. In particular, Mars and Hershey have fought for the superiority of chocolate since the age of 40 in the United States, with counterparts like Rowantree and Cadbury's Dukeing It Out -out -out. Industrial espionage was such a huge problem in the chocolate industry in the 1960s that it was parodied in Charlie and The Chocolate Factory . In the 1980s, the Chief Chocolate producers saw other expansion opportunities, involved in the extravagant advertising campaigns focused on chocolate, with Hmuch and Eastern Europe.
Today, two thirds of world chocolate come fromWestern Africa. The chocolate industry continues to fight ethical problems such as child labor, fair conditions and the environment. Several chocolate companies were even accused of manipulating national governments in finding a stable supply of chocolate, similar to United Fruit in South America with bananas. In response to chocolate, such as Certified Fair Trade Chocolate, and many chocolate companies have social responsibility programs that are designed to alleviate consumer concerns the source of their chocolate.
Consumers were also affected by fear of a number of cocoa diseases that regularly threatened the world's chocolate supply. Diseases that affect cocoa plants tend to spread rapidly and decimate chocolate crops throughout the area. In addition to potentially influencing the total chocolate reserves, such diseases could have a serious impact on the flavors that consumers have grown and loved. Chocolate companies each produce its own unique mixtureFor products they produce, and small deviations are often very noticeable. For this reason, several manufacturers have large experimental plantations, where they work on breeding plants and develop new trunks of cocoa beans.
confectionery producers are still very careful when they reveal their production secrets. Many chocolate factories are closed to the public and access to the factory floor is firmly inspected, even the executives admit that they do not know exactly how their products are produced. Innovations in the area of chocolate also continue, while confectionery producers release a number of new chocolate products every year, from gourmet truffles to new candies. The competition among the main manufacturers is wild and companies compete for the production of another great feeling of chocolate, to the pleasure of many consumers.
The opening of the 21st century also revealed new horizons in the history of chocolate, with Gourmet Chocolatiers creating Unique and distinctive chocolate mixtures. MemorialChocolates could also choose from a wide range of chocolate from regionally focused on rare and unusual beans. Many smaller chocolate companies also specialize in regional delicacies that have become cult favorites.