The History of Chocolate & Recipes You'll Love

Are you a chocoholic? Does the thought just make your mouth water? Then you'll appreciate the history of chocolate and the importance it's played through the years. At the end of the article, try the delicious chocolate recipe. Have a recipe you want to share? Send it to us and we'll put it up on the site.

Columbus Discovers Chocolate

• The first European contact with chocolate was made by Christopher Columbus during his fourth voyage. On August 15, 1502, at a place called Guanaja on an island north of Honduras, Columbus captured two gigantic Mayan trading canoes. The goods in the canoes included cotton clothing, war clubs, copper pots, maize (corn), and some special "almonds" which the Indians apparently valued highly. Columbus apparently never ate or drank any chocolate.
  
  
• The Spanish invaded Yucatan in 1517 and Mexico in 1519. At first they found the strange drink of the country repulsive. But as the Spanish began to eat native foods--and as they began to intermarry with their conquered subjects--they added chocolate to their diet. They often sweetened it with sugar, and they also developed the wooden molinillo, a tool which looks something like a pinecone on a stick, which is used to beat chocolate and make it frothy. This replaced the Indian's custom of pouring chocolate from vessel to vessel.
  
  
• The Spanish occupiers went back and forth to their native country frequently, of course, but the earliest written report of chocolate being taken back with them comes from 1544, when a Mayan delegation accompanied some Dominican friars on a visit to Prince Philip of Spain and presented Philip with cacao beans.

Cacao Cash

• Cacao was money--literally--to the Aztecs and other Mesoamerican natives. They used the beans as currency, as well as grinding them up and using them to make drinks.
  
  
• An early Spanish visitor to what is today Nicaragua reported a rabbit could be purchased for ten beans, a slave for a hundred beans, and a visit to a house of ill repute for eight to ten beans. Naturally, counterfeiting developed.
  
  
• The Aztecs did not weigh cacao beans but measured by counting individual beans. Approximately twenty-four thousand beans would fit in one of the backpacks carried by traders. One early Spanish reporter claimed that the warehouse of the emperor Montezuma held forty thousand such loads, or 960 million cacao beans. Most of these, of course, would have been used for paying soldiers or servants, and buying supplies for the emperor's household, but the household also drank a lot of chocolate.
  
  
• On one recorded occasion, when Montezuma was a prisoner of the Spanish, servants of the foreign invaders broke into his storehouse and spent the night making off with thousands and thousands of beans. The beans were stored, it was reported, in huge wicker bins, which were coated with clay.

Chocolate—Rich and Richelieu

• By the early 1600s, the Spanish royal court was drinking chocolate--probably using recipes for a hot beverage, which the Spanish occupiers of Mexico had sent home.
  
  
• Chocolate requires quite a bit of processing--fermenting, drying, winnowing, grinding--so it's not surprising that working people rarely drank it, either in the New World or the Old World. It was not only expensive to buy, but expensive to prepare. Only the richest Spanish could afford it.
  
  
• Tradition has it that when the Spanish princess Anne of Austria was married to Louis XIII of France, she brought chocolate along as part of her dowry. However, Anne--she's the one whose troubles Alexandre Dumas described in The Three Musketeers--was only fourteen when she married and, apparently, never had much influence over her bridegroom. Other authorities believe that chocolate was introduced to France by the Cardinal of Lyon, who then passed its secrets to his younger brother. Since that younger brother was Cardinal Richelieu, also a character in The Three Musketeers and a guy with more clout than anybody else in seventeenth century France, chocolate was soon popular.
  
  
• Another report states that nuns in a Mexican convent produced delicacies of solid chocolate quite early. And they apparently made good money selling these in Europe. The Sisters of St. Godiva?

Chocolate and Politics

• Coffee, tea, and chocolate arrived in England at almost the same time, the mid-seventeenth century. Chocolate was advertised in a British newspaper as early as 1657.
  
  
• In Spain and France, chocolate had been a drink of the aristocracy, but in England it was offered to the public--along with coffee and tea—at a new institution, the coffeehouse.
  
  
• Coffee was the cheapest of the three new beverages. Chocolate cost a bit more, and tea was the most expensive of all.
  
  
• The famous diarist, Samuel Pepys (1633-1703), often recorded drinking chocolate, apparently at coffeehouses. This reflects the life of London at the time; coffeehouses were centers of discussion. Consequently, they were also focal points for development of a new social institution--the political party. This made King Charles II uneasy, and in 1675 he ordered the coffeehouses closed. Public outcry kept the order from ever going into force.
  
  
• In line with the democratization of chocolate drinking, the English developed quicker, easier ways of preparing it. Most chocolate in the seventeenth century Europe was prepared from powdered cakes. But it still had to be stirred all the time to keep it from separating. The French invented a special pot with a hole in the lid to make this easy.

Dutching Leads to Chocolate Bars

• Dutch chocolate maker Coenraad Johannes van Houten revolutionized the drinking of chocolate. Van Houten invented what the American call cocoa, patenting the process in 1826.
  
  
• Van Houten first used a hydraulic press to reduce the percentage of cacao fat in his product. This resulting powder was then treated with alkaline salts, a process known as "Dutching." This improves the ability to be mixed, though it does not make it dissolve more easily.
  
  
• Van Houten's new process meant the old thick beverage, which required frequent stirring, was not much easier to prepare and only needed to be stirred now and then. His process also meant that cocoa and chocolate could now be produced on a large scale. Chocolate was no longer the elite, expensive drink and food it had been.
  
  
• In 1847, the British firm of J.S. Fry & Sons developed a method of mixing cocoa powder, sugar, and melted cacao butter into a product that could be cast in a mold.
  
  
• The chocolate bar was born, and the taste buds of chocoholics have been grateful ever since.

Health Benefits of Chocolate

• For centuries, chocolate has been used to treat diseases and maladies such as depression. Civilizations from Mexico to Europe have hailed chocolate as an aphrodisiac. The U.S. government officially recognized its virtues in World War II, making the chocolate candy bar standard issue for the military.
  
  
• Chocolate's scientific name, theobroma cacao, is literally translated as "food of the gods," and we chocolate cravers don’t need any studies to tell us the power of chocolate in mood alteration. Its "feel good" chemicals have long been associated with feelings of love, safety, and comfort. Maybe that is why Americans eat an average of 12 pounds of chocolate per year.
  
  
• Chocolate contains vitamins A, B1, C, D, and E, as well as potassium, sodium, iron, and fluorine. Now, researchers say those creamy chocolate confections may actually help us live longer, too.
  
  
• Harvard researchers tracked nearly 8,000 males, with an average age of 65. Those men who enjoyed chocolate and candy lived almost a year longer than those who did not. Those who ate one to three candy bars per month had a 36 percent lower risk of death (compared to the people who ate no candy), while those who ate three or more candy bars per week had a 16 percent lower risk.
  
  
• Why? The researchers say they don’t know for sure, but that it might have something to do with antioxidants. Chocolate contains the same antioxidant chemicals as wine (phenols). In the chocolate bar, phenols help preserve the fat. In our bodies, phenol can help prevent atherosclerosis.
  
  
• Like anything…chocolate is best enjoyed in moderation. Just one ounce of solid chocolate packs about 150 calories and can be as much as 50 percent fat. So, for your next chocolate fix, consider reduced fat alternatives, such as chocolate covered foods or chocolate syrup.

Almond Joy Bars

Ingredients (26 servings)

4 c (8 1/2-oz) shredded coconut
1/4 c Light corn syrup
1 pk (11 1/2-oz) milk chocolate pieces
1/4 c Vegetable shortening
26 Whole natural almonds (1-oz)

Line two large cookie sheets with waxed paper. Set large wire cooling rack on paper; set aside.

Place coconut in large bowl; set aside.

Place corn syrup in a 1-cup glass measure. Microwave on high (100%) 1 minute or until syrup boils. Immediately pour over coconut. Work warm syrup into coconut using the back of a wooden spoon until coconut is thoroughly coated. This takes a little time, and yes, there is enough syrup.

Ben & Jerry's Giant Chocolate Chip Cookies

1/2 cup Butter, room temperature
1/4 cup Granulated sugar
1/3 cup Brown sugar
1 Large egg
1/2 teas Vanilla extract
1 cup (+ 2 teas) All Purpose Flour
1/2 teas Salt
1/2 teas Baking Soda
1 cup Semisweet Chocolate Chips
1/2 cup Coarsely Chopped Walnuts

1. Preheat the oven to 350F.

2. Beat the butter and both sugars in a large mixing bowl until light and fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla extract and mix well.

3. Mix the flour, salt, and baking soda in another bowl. Add the dry ingredients to the batter and mix until well blended. Stir in the chocolate chips and walnuts.

4. Drop the dough by small scoops 2 to 3 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Flatten each scoop with the back of a spoon to about 3 inches in diameter.

5. Bake until the centers are still slightly soft to the touch, 11 to 14 minutes. Let cool on the cookie sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer to racks to cool completely.

Makes 12 to 15 cookies.

Ben & Jerry's NY Super Fudge Chunk

1/4 cup White chocolate; chop coarse
1/4 cup Semisweet chocolate; chop
1/4 cup Pecan halves; chopped
1/4 cup Walnuts; chop coarse
1/4 cup Chocolate covered almonds; cut in half
4 oz Unsweetened chocolate
1 cup Milk
2 Large Eggs
1 cup Sugar
1 cup Heavy or whipping cream
1 tsp Vanilla extract
1/2 tsp Salt

Combine the coarsely chopped chocolate, pecans, walnuts and chocolate covered almonds in a bowl, cover and refrigerate. Melt the unsweetened chocolate in the top of a double boiler over hot, not boiling water.

Whisk in the milk, a little at a time, and heat, stirring constantly,
until smooth. Remove from the heat and let cool. Whisk the eggs in a mixing bowl until light and fluffy, 1-2 minutes. Whisk in the sugar, a little at a time, then continue whisking until completely blended, about 1 minute more.

Add the cream, vanilla and salt and whisk to blend. Pour the chocolate mixture into the cream mixture and blend. Cover and refrigerate until cold, about 1-3 hours, depending on your refrigerator. Transfer the cream mixture to an ice cream maker and freeze following the manufacturer's instructions.

After the ice cream stiffens (about 2 minutes before it is done), add the chocolate and nuts, then continue freezing until the ice cream is ready.

Makes one Quart.

Want more chocolate recipes or have some you want to share? Check out our Chocolate Lover's page at http://www.laceyville.com/chocolate.htm.

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