History of Chocolate

History says that chocolate before started out as an alcoholic beverage, fit only for a king. The process used was same with the process of making wine. Anthropologists discovered a cacao residue on a pottery which appears that the sweet pulp of cacao fruit was fermented into an alcoholic beverage date back as far as 1400 AD. It was also believed that chocolates were served before as a spicy drink, flavored with chili powder. Ancient tribes in Central America serve this drink only to the most high rank officials and important visitors of their tribe.

The etymology of the term “chocolate” came from the Aztec word “xocoatl”, which refers to the frothy and bitter drink made from the cacao beans. The Latin name of the Cacao tree has a scientific name of Theobroma Cacao, which means "food for the Gods”.

Chocolate in the ancient period was also used as a monetary unit. 1000 AD, cocoa beans are used as a form of payment. Taxes are paid using these beans. Over the centuries, only the Kings and Queens can afford to drink this and the poor cannot. Cocoa beans are also used as a unit of calculation. Like for example, 100 cocoa beans can bought a slave, 10 cocoa beans can bought the services of a prostitute and four cocoa beans got you a rabbit for dinner. After 30 years, the price of rabbit was equal to 100 cocoa beans, and one single cocoa bean could buy a ripe avocado or tomato.

When chocolate reached Spain, it was first called “the bitter drink for the pigs”. Spaniards did not like it spicy, until the Spanish Princess Anna tried drinking it with sugar. Chocolate then became a famous drink to them, and again, only the elite and royalties could enjoy.