Have you ever watched the movie “Chocolat” with Johnny Depp and Julia Ormond? Somehow that movie takes chocolate candy’s seductive qualities up a notch to the point where you’re clutching your pearls and punching directions into Google Maps for the nearest chocolatier. Chocolate and chocolate candies have a long history in more ways than just the romantic sphere. With National Chocolate Candy Day right around the corner (December 28th – in case you want to celebrate this year), you might be wondering about chocolate’s history and evolution. Today we will dive open-mouthed into the world of chocolate history.
(Pixabay / pixel2013)
The Earliest Chocolate
As much as we do know about chocolate, there is almost as much that we don’t know. Two things that historians can’t agree on is when and where chocolate first showed up in the world. Some experts believe that it made its first appearance in Central America, while other historians think it may have cropped up in South America. Many people agree that chocolate became popular about 2,000 years ago, but some recent archeological finds suggest that it’s been around for almost twice that long.
However long it has graced our planet, chocolate back then was not the indulgent, sweet solid that we know and love today. Far from it, in fact. Believe it or not, chocolate didn’t take on its familiar bar shape until the mid-19th century. Before then, people drank their chocolate or used in the powdered cocoa form.
The earliest civilizations only used chocolate in beverage form, and it wasn’t sweet at all. One of the early European explorers even called it “a bitter drink for pigs” because at that time, it was a drink made of unsweetened chocolate, cornmeal, and water. To make it frothy (since there weren’t any milk frothers available), the preparer would repeatedly pour it from one container to another to encourage lots of bubbles.
While chocolate was available to all classes within the early civilizations, imbibing was most common among the wealthy. Early chocolatiers used it to celebrate births, marriages, deaths, and business deals. It was also used as an aphrodisiac, medicine, and currency and for ritual sacrifice.
Chocolate as Currency
Early civilizations valued cacao beans so much that they used them as currency. Depending on the culture, early cacao beans could buy you water, food, a slave, and even a spouse.
Fun Fact: Chocolate was included in soldiers’ rations (and sometimes in place of wages) during the Revolutionary War. That wasn’t a new trend, however, because some records show that the Aztecs included chocolate in soldiers’ rations, too!
Chocolate Makes Its Way to Europe
Again, historians aren’t sure exactly who introduced chocolate to Europe first, but it was either Christopher Columbus or Hernan Cortez in the 1500s. After bringing it back to Spain, the Spanish courts kept the new confection fairly hush-hush, and it didn’t break out into the rest of the European market until almost a century later.
Initially, the Spaniards stuck with using cacao for medicinal purposes, but they soon figured out that adding sugar or honey to the concoction made it infinitely more palatable. Other countries in Europe caught onto the confection, and soon it was difficult to keep up with the demand for chocolate. Slave labor became the norm, and inventors got to work to make the process faster and more efficient.
Chocolate Undergoes a Change
In 1828, a Dutch chemist named Coenraad van Houten developed a method to turn cacao into a powder, which we now call “Dutch cocoa.” Then in 1847, Joseph Fry discovered that by adding some of the cocoa butter back into the powdered chocolate, he could create a bar of chocolate. Later, in 1875, milk was added back into the chocolate mixture, and milk chocolate was born.
Other companies and chocolatiers – Cadbury, Lindt, Nestle, and Hershey’s being the most famous – have further refined the process to make the solid chocolate treats we know and love today.
How do Modern Chocolatiers Make Chocolate Candy?
Just like thousands of years ago, chocolate today starts with the cacao bean. Left to grow in its natural environment, the cacao tree can grow over 60 feet tall, though cultivated trees only grow about 20 feet tall. The cacao pods are about 20 inches long, and they have somewhere between 30 and 40 beans per pod. These little beans look a little bit like almonds, and the pulp that they reside in is sweet.
When the cacao pod is harvested, the beans are removed, roasted, and broken into nibs. The manufacturer then grinds the nibs into a powder and adds cocoa butter and sugar (and milk, if it’s milk chocolate). From there the mixture is processed, flavored, heated, and cooled to precise temperatures (to give it the desired shine, texture, and flavor) and molded into the appropriate shape.
Chocolate has come a long way since the ancient Central/South American civilizations first discovered it, but I think we can all agree that we are glad someone looked at that strange-looking cacao pod and decided to crack it open and give it a taste.
If you want to celebrate chocolate in style on December 28, try it in one of its most beloved forms: the chocolate chip cookie. We can ship chocolate chip cookie gifts to your loved ones. Those chocolate morsels inside will be a fine reminder of National Chocolate Candy Day and can let your loved one know that you’re thinking of them fondly this holiday season.