wtf did i click on i came here for the choacalt

Swiss chocolatier Daniel Peter is generally credited for adding dried milk powder to chocolate to create milk chocolate in 1876. Fry and Sons created the first chocolate bar molded from a paste made of sugar, chocolate liquor and cocoa butter. Nestle Chocolate Barsįor much of the 19th century, chocolate was enjoyed as a beverage milk was often added instead of water. It also opened the door for chocolate to be mass-produced. The process became known as “Dutch processing” and the chocolate produced called cacao powder or “Dutch cocoa.”īoth Dutch processing and the chocolate press helped make chocolate affordable for everyone. But in 1828, Dutch chemist Coenraad Johannes van Houten discovered a way to treat cacao beans with alkaline salts to make a powdered chocolate that was easier to mix with water. When chocolate first came on the scene in Europe, it was a luxury only the rich could enjoy. (Chocolate was also provided as rations to soldiers during World War II.) Cacao Powder By 1773, cocoa beans were a major American colony import and chocolate was enjoyed by people of all classes.ĭuring the Revolutionary War, chocolate was provided to the military as rations and sometimes given to soldiers as payment instead of money. It’s thought the first American chocolate house opened in Boston in 1682. Chocolate in the American ColoniesĬhocolate arrived in Florida on a Spanish ship in 1641. Soon, fashionable chocolate houses for the wealthy cropped up throughout London, Amsterdam and other European cities. They made their own varieties of hot chocolate with cane sugar, cinnamon and other common spices and flavorings.Ģ021 FDA fully approves the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine With the high demand for chocolate came chocolate plantations, which were worked by thousands of slaves.Įuropean palates weren’t satisfied with the traditional Aztec chocolate drink recipe. Soon, chocolate mania spread throughout Europe. As other European countries such as Italy and France visited parts of Central America, they also learned about cacao and brought chocolate back to their respective countries. No matter how chocolate got to Spain, by the late 1500s it was a much-loved indulgence by the Spanish court, and Spain began importing chocolate in 1585. A third story claims that friars who presented Guatemalan Mayans to Philip II of Spain in 1544 also brought cacao beans along as a gift.

After returning to Spain, cacao beans in tow, he supposedly kept his chocolate knowledge a well-guarded secret. One story says Christopher Columbus discovered cacao beans after intercepting a trade ship on a journey to America and brought the beans back to Spain with him in 1502.Īnother tale states Spanish conquistador Hernan Cortes was introduced to chocolate by the Aztecs of Montezuma’s court. There are conflicting reports about when chocolate arrived in Europe, although it’s agreed it first arrived in Spain. It’s also said he reserved some of his cacao beans for his military. Perhaps the most notorious Aztec chocolate lover of all was the mighty Aztec ruler Montezuma II who supposedly drank gallons of chocolate each day for energy and as an aphrodisiac. In Aztec culture, cacao beans were considered more valuable than gold.Īztec chocolate was mostly an upper-class extravagance, although the lower classes enjoyed it occasionally at weddings or other celebrations. Like the Mayans, they enjoyed the caffeinated kick of hot or cold, spiced chocolate beverages in ornate containers, but they also used cacao beans as currency to buy food and other goods. They believed cacao was given to them by their gods. The Aztecs took chocolate admiration to another level. Mayan chocolate was thick and frothy and often combined with chili peppers, honey or water. In many Mayan households, chocolate was enjoyed with every meal. The Mayan written history mentions chocolate drinks being used in celebrations and to finalize important transactions.ĭespite chocolate’s importance in Mayan culture, it wasn’t reserved for the wealthy and powerful but readily available to almost everyone. The Olmecs undoubtedly passed their cacao knowledge on to the Central American Mayans who not only consumed chocolate, they revered it.

Wtf did i click on i came here for the choacalt