CacaoHistory

Chocolates taste better if we know its history.

Cacao was an important commodity in Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica. The cacao tree originate in the foothills of the Andes in the Amazon and Orinoco basins of South America, was introduced into Central America by the ancient Mayas.

Maya

The Mayas undertook a massive migration in 600 A.D. from Central America to Yucatan where they established the cacao plantation. The Mayas would roast the beans and grind them into paste, then mix this with water and spice such as chili to make a bitter cacao drink. The people of Central America used cacao beans as a form of payment. For example, 100 cacao beans will pay for one slave.

Aztec

By 1400, the Aztec empire dominated most of Mexico. They traded with the Mayas and forced the conquered tribes to pay tribute in cacao seeds. In the Aztec society, the cacao drink was a sacred brew primarily for royalty and priests. They called this drink Xocolatl. The cacao beans also played a special role in royal and religious events.

Columbus

In 1502, Christopher Columbus on his 4th voyage to America landed in Nicaragua. He was the first European to discover cacao beans when he received them as gift from an Indian chief. But Columbus was still searching for the sea route to India was not interested in cacao.

Hernando Cortes

There was an Aztec legend about their god, Quetzalcoatl, a king and priest seeking immortality, who lost his way and finally became mad when he swallowed a potion prepared by an evil magician. Before moving eastwards he said he would return and exercise his authority again. In 1519, the year that Quetzalcoatl was due to return, Spanish explorer Hernando Cortes landed on the shores of King Montezuma. Cortes was sailing from the East and wearing feathers in his hat, and so was mistaken as the ‘Great Plumed Serpent’ by the Aztecs. This way, the Aztecs were easily invaded and conquered until they finally disappeared.

The Spanish found it difficult to pronounce xocolatl so they called it ‘chocolat’, which the English changed to ‘chocolate’. Cortes disliked the xocolatl because it was too fatty and bitter. He was much more interested in the value of cacao as a means of payment. He immediately established a cacao plantation in the name of Spain, and he brought back to Europe the first cacao and utensils necessary for its preparation.

Cacao in Europe

Because of its early colonization of the Americas, the Spanish held a monopoly on cacao for many years. Cacao drink laced with vanilla & sugar became a fashionable trend in the Spanish court. Only the wealthiest and most powerful could afford this expensive import.

The Spanish princess, Anne of Austria, introduced the drinking of cacao to the French court when she married Louis XIII in 1615.

In 1569, Pope Pius V declared that the cacao drink does not break the fast after he found the bitter drink unpleasant.

In 1662, Cardinal Brancaccio hands down the judgement of Solomon “Liquids (in the form of chocolate) do not break the fast.”