Food of the Gods

Food of the Gods

The story of chocolate began in 600 AD in the jungles of the Yucatan, where the Mayans established the earliest know plantation for growing cocoa tress which produce cocoa beans.

At this early date, the beans where valuable commodities to which mystical and religious significance was ascribed. The beans were also used throughout Central America both as forms of payment and as units of calculation.

For culinary purposes, the Indians of Central America roasted, grounded and combined the beans with liquid. Sometimes, it was beaten until frothy and thus was born the chocolate drink. The bitter concoction, however, bore little resemblance to the sweet, milky chocolate drink we know today, yet its uniquely pleasing taste worked its magic on the early consumers.

By 1200, Aztec had conquered the Mayans and the Toltecs. In recognition of their supremacy over the rest of Central America, the Aztecs imposed delivery revenues of coca beans as tribute from conquered tribes.

In 1502, on Christopher Columbus’ journey to the New World, he landed in Nicaragua and saw coca beans being used as currency. He brought several specimens of the beans to King Ferdinand. But it was Hernando Cortez, in 1519, in successfully conquering Mexico, who was the first European to taste the chocolate. He did not like it, but he found out that it was a very important drink because of the high esteem in which the natives held it.

Meanwhile, when the Aztec Emperor Montezuma first drunk a potations of cocoa with Cortez, the bean was considered so precious that just 100 of them could buy a slave.

In fact, the cacao tree’s botanical name “theorama cacao” was translated from the Greek “theorama,” meaning “food of the gods.” The cacao is the seed from which cocoa and chocolate are made. They are fermented, then washed to remove the sticky coating , and dried. It is a small evergreen tree that belongs to the “starculia” family.

The Dutch developed the famous “dutching” process, which made chocolate easier to drink, and the Swiss developed milk chocolate, adding milk to it.

To this day, chocolate is considered a treat, a luxury. It makes one crave for more and often provides one with solace. It also, makes the best gift as in eating it, one feels good.


Rosalinda Flores -Martinez, 2010
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