Why Do We Name It “Chocolate”?

The Origin of Chocolate

The Cacao Tree is said to have originated in the Amazon for at least 4,000 years ago and had been traded for multiple purposes among Mesoamerican culture. Early discovery was likely to have been made by animals such as monkeys, squirrels, and birds that were attracted to these brightly colored, rugby ball-shaped pods. They learned of the sweet pulp inside the thick pod and the bitterness of the seeds in the core, so they only ate the pulp and spit out the seeds. By looking at animals, ancient people became certain that cacao beans are edible, so they started to spread the words out to others.

The first people to make use of the beans were the ancient tribe called the Olmec who lived in the tropical lowlands of South Central Mexico(KING SOLAR CLICK) from approximately 1500 to 400 B.C. Cacao or Kakawa in their word played an important role in their diet and culture in which they believed that it held secrets to health and power. However, the chocolate history really began with the Mayans who inhabited near the Olmecs in Mesoamerica. They worshiped the cacao tree as they believed it to be of a divine origin and considered it highly valuable. The tree’s modern scientific name comes from a Greek word “Theobroma Cacao” meaning “Food of the Gods”. By 900 A.D., the Toltecs took over the Yucatan Peninsula where the Mayans lived to gain control of the cacao-rich lands and cacao trading rights. They believed the God Quetzalcoatl brought cacao to earth and was expelled from heaven for giving it to humans because only Gods were fit to eat/drink it. This legend continued into the age of the Aztecs where the cacao tradition was still being kept alive. 

Timeline of Chocolate

MayansMAYA were the first group of people who plant cocoa tree in the low land of south Yucatan about 600 AD. After that around 1200 AD, cocoa trees were grown by the Aztecs of Mexico and the Incas of Peru when the European discovered America. Cocoa beans were so valuable that they were used as money. “Records show that 400 cocoa beans equaled one Zontli, while 8000 beans equaled one Xiquipilli.”(O’connor, Anahad)

Why Do We Name It “Chocolate”?

The word chocolate is said to derive from the Mayan “xocolatl” which meant bitter water. Cocoa comes from the Aztec “cacahuatl”. The Mexican Indian word chocolate comes from a combination of the terms choco and atl (water) because for centuries early chocolate was only a drink.

The Use of Cacao Beans

            Since cacao beans were considered highly valuable during the old days, they were used in many important ways. However, those who were able to drink, use, or buy the beans must be as worthy as the price the beans cost.

The first real use of the beans was confirmed in Mayan historywhere the drink was used in ceremonies such as marriage and baptism as well as religious rituals and reserved for higher class/wealthy people. Not only for drinking but also for eating, the Mayans mixed corn and the beans together and added some flavorings to make porridge-like meal that was high in nutrients. 

            Cacao can do wonders as a mood enhancer or in other words, it can turn bad into good and cure everything. As valuable as they were, the beans were used as currency. 10 beans can buy a rabbit or a prostitute and 100  beans for a slave. Some sly person even came up with a way to make fake beans by craving them out of clay. The evidence that showed the importance of cacao was the vases in the burial tombs, which were covered with the scene of Mayan Gods fighting over cacao beans.

Similar to the Mayans, the Aztecs whose society was aristocratic, the cacao drink was reserved for the rich and the nobles. The fake cacao beans were also popular among these people. They were fooled by the appearance of the cacao shells filled with earth. Being used as currency, 30 cacao beans can trade for a small rabbit, 3 cacao beans for a turkey egg, and 1 cacao bean for a large tomato. In the royal storehouses, there were full of this cacao currency where some went to pay the King Montezuma’s attendants, while others went to pay for his cacao drinks, which the rumor said he drank 50 times a day!

Aphrodisiac Qualities of Chocolate

Chocolate is a very complicated food source. It has been found to contain substances called Phenyl ethylamine and Serotonin, both are mood lifting causes. These chemicals are naturally appearing in human brain when we are excited or happy. And they also cause a fast mood change, an increase in blood pressure, swelling the heart rate. This phenomenon has been scientifically observed, so it's not irrational to assume that it's probably these effects which gave rise to chocolates reputation as an aphrodisiac. Both substances can also be mildly addictive. “But most researchers believe that the amounts of these substances in chocolate are too small to have any measurable effect on desire.”(History of Chocolate, Culture of the Cocoa Bean)

How Different Places Drink Chocolate

            The Mayan xocoatl was made by roasting and pounding the cacao beans with maize (corn), capsicum (chilli peppers), and some local herbs, then let the mixture fermented into spicy and bitter beverage.

            The Aztecs also enjoyed their cacahuatl drink fermented from the raw cacao beans like the Mayans. Their process of making the beverage was similar to the Mayans’, but their cacao powder was finer.

            The Spanish explorer, Christopher Columbus, was the first one to bring cacao, changed to cocoa, beans to Europe. He discovered them in 1502 on his fourth visit to the New World when he robbed the cargo of a native Mayan trader near modern Honduras. However, his discovery was nothing big since no one knew how valuable those beans were. Later, during the conquest of the Aztec Empire, Hernan Cortez, the Spanish conquistador, noticed the significance of the cacao beans that he saw were used to prepare the Aztec royal drink. When he tried it, the taste was too bitter that he didn’t like it, so he sweetened it with cane sugar to match the liking of the Europeans. He then took the beans back to Europe along with the new recipe of the drink and got credit for it.

HOW DO GHANAIANS DRINK CHOCOLATE..