The history of chocolate...

... began more than 1000 years B.C. in the Olmec empire.

The Olmecs

The cocoa tree originated in the Amazon region. It was brought to Central America through ingestation by wild animals. Back then this area was occupied by the Olmecs. Unfortunately not a lot is known about them. It is assumed, that it originated 1500 B.C. in the Mexcian highlands (Guerrero) and later stretched along the southern Golfcoast of Mexico. The capitals of the Olmec’s empire are assumed to be La Venta, Tres Zapotes and San Lorenzo Tenochtit in today’s states of Tabasco und Veracruz. The Olmecs are famous for the artistic and ornate ceremonial sites.
It is historicaly proven that the Olmecs were the first people to cultivate cocoa plants. The high precipation in their settlement aera allowed for the intense cultivation of many crops including cocoa. Unfortunately it is not known how the cocoa plant was used and for what purpose. Linguists discovered that the word ‘cocoa’ (originally pronounced ‘kakawa’) was used by the Olmecs around 1000 B.C. The last centres of Olmecan culture were destroyed in 400 B.C.

The Maya

About 500 B.C. cocoa was cultivated on large plantations by the Maya in the Northern Lowlands of today’s Guatemala. The Mayan settlement reached its largest extent between 900 and 250 B.C. It stretched from the highlands of Mexico to Guatemala, Belize, Honduras and El Salvador.
The Maya believed the cocoa tree to be of divine origin. They even worshipped a cocoa god, named EK Chuah, who was celebrated in April within large festivities, which also included animal sacrifices and the distribution of gifts. Similar festivities were also held in Mexico.
Remainant wall paintings, writings and drinking vessels, as well as stories by Spanish conquerors tell of the usage of cocoa. The Maya adopted the word ‘cocoa’ describing the cultivated tree as well as the chocolate drink invented by the Olmecs.
Maya and Aztecs both drank chocolate. Maya prefered the drink hot, while the Aztecs enjoyed it cold. Recipies included sweet and spicy variations. Mostly the drink was reserved for aristocrats, but also used during state receptions, ritual practices, engagments, weddings, as well as given to people being sacrificed before their execution. The cocabean was even used as a means of currency.

The Aztecs

Where we find Mexico city today, the Azteks constructed their capital Tenochtitlán at the beginning of the 14th Century.
When Spanish conquerors defeated the Aztecs in 1519, more than 11 mio. people lived in the Aztec’s territorial in Central America. Here, cocoa was regarded a luxury good and was consumed exclusively by the aristocrats and warriors. Similar to the Maya, the Aztecs used the cocoabean as currency and for ritual ceremonies. Due to an unfavorable climate in the highlands of Mexico the Aztecs did not cultivate cocoa themselves but acquired it through trade or tribute. Like the Maya, the Aztecs prepared their ‘Cacahuatl’ (cocoa water) in several flavour variations including chili, honey, vanilla or pepper. It is said that Moctezuma II. consumed about fifty cups of a vanilla-chocolate cocktail per day. The first European to taste chocolate is said to be his guest Hernán Cortés.
The word `chocolate´ is derived from the first chocolate drink, Xocóatl or Xocólatl (Nahuatl: Xócoc = ‘bitter’, atl = ‘water’; also ‘bitter water ‘ or ‘cocoawater’). Chocolate was introduced to Europe by the Spanish conquerors.

Cocoa beans as means of payment

‘MONEY grows on trees,’ the Spanish chroniclers noted with amazement after they followed the conquistadors to Mexico, when they saw that cocoa beans were used as currency.
Nevertheless cocoa was a primitive form of currency and could not perform all the functions of money. It was widely used as a medium of exchange.

Can you imagine, that 1200 A.C. the Aztecs paid 4 cocoa beans for a pumpkin and 100 beans for a slave? Information sources say that the chief of the Aztecs, Montezuma, was in possession of 1 billion cocoa beans - approximately 2,5 million kilograms – purely earned through tax revenue. He could never liquidate them, because of a possible impairment. Also consumption by the people wasn’t an option: exchange of the beans was the only way to get a cocoa drink. So he decided to bunker his cocoa beans to demonstrate his high financial status.

The use of cocoa as means of currency is nearly as old as the cocoa drink itself. Before the Aztecs, the Maya paid as well with cocoa beans.

…and they have a lot in common with coins: they are light, handly and solid. And it was easy to establish standard units through the beans: One Xiquipilli for example was worth 8.000 cocoa beans.

Just like coins, also cocoa beans were imitated. They were soaked in water or painted in colors of the finest sort. The primitive currency had also the disadvantage, that many producers could fabricate and pass them:
If too much cocoa was produced, it lost value. In 1545 you couldn’t purchase a slave for 100 cocoa beans anymore - only a rabbit.

After the Europeans landed in Mexico, the currency was more stabil, because cocoa was exported to Europe.
In the beginning of the 19th century the cocoa bean was still the currency of independent Central American states such as Nicaragua. Towards the middle of the 19th century coins from the USA displaced the beans as means of currency.

Brown gold conquers Europe

When Columbus landed in America he did not realise the importance of the cocoa tree. Not until 1528 Spanish conquerors brought cocoa to Europe under the guidance of Hernán Cortés. Chocolate was first drunk in 1544 at the Spanish court. Originally Europeans rejected chocolate, but the drink soon gained popularity through the addition of honey and raw sugar and the use of milk instead of water. During the 17th Century it quickly spread from Spain to the courts of Paris and London, as well as the Viennese imperial court, where it became a status drink for aristocrats. Porcellain and silver service are proofs of the luxurious life at European courts. Often people drank not only from cups but also from the saucer: the drink was poured from the cup onto the saucer to cool it down to a drinkable temperature.

1673 the Dutch Jan Jantz von Huesden first traded chocolate in Bremen; but only in the 18th and 19th Centrury larger quantities of cocoabeans were traded in Bremen. Since it was still expensive, only aristocrats could afford chocolate. Two factors contributed to the mass production of chocolate: the establishment of plantations in the colonies and the invention of suitable machines for the processing of the cocoa beans. The invention of pressing and grinding the beans goes back to the Dutch Coenraad Johannes van Houten. The pressing seperates cocoa butter and cocoa powder, a common practice today.
It is proven that cocao and especially chocolate was used as food and medicine in Latinamerica and Europe. Chocolate was believed to be generally strengthening, easy to digest, and was also recommended as an aphrodisiac. Even until the 19th Century chocolate was sold in pharmacies as a ´strengthening remedy`, and was primarily consumed as a drink: grated chocolate was heated in milk and mixed with eggnog, sugar and starch. Later chocolate was seen as a vital food source, for example as an alternative to beer.

Cocoa: Colonial and merchandise

After the `discovery´ of cocoa by the Spanish, Hernán Cortez instructed the plantation of the first cocoa farms in 1519 in Mexico. However the indigeous workers suffered from the bad life and work conditions as well as the bad treatment and diseases introduced by the Europeans. Substitues for badly needed workers came from Westafrica: this was the origin of slavery. Only at the end of the 19th century slavery was despised and cocoa could not be produced as cheaply anymore. Hence the production of cocoa was moved to Africa.
Cocoa was part of a whole range of products including tea, coffee, tabacco, cottonwool, spices, tropical woods and mineral resources which could not be sourced from the European continent. It was understood that new sources of raw materials had to be found to maintain the curent lifestyle regardless of population growth, independent of crises and bottlenecks.

Industrialisation

During the 19th Century, the continuing industrialisation and systematic plantation of cocoa, allowed for `chocolate´ to develop from a luxury produce to a product available to the masses. Dresden was the first city to produce the first milkchocolate in 1839. In 1846 chocolate bars were first produced by machines with an even weight. France was the leading `chocolate-country´ by means of processing and production, but was overtaken by Switzerland by the end of the 19th century. This was due to the invention of `conchiering´ by Rudolphe Lindt in 1879. During this process the chocolate mass is stirred for several hours at an even temperature, which refines the chocolate’s taste. Originally the ingredients of chocolate were quite different and varied from manufacturer to manufacturer. Only towards the end of the 19th century quality standards were established, which are very similar to the chocolate we know today.

Chocolate in the 20th century

Until the end of the 19th century chocolate was a treat only to be enjoyed at special occasions. Germany was the world´s leader of cocoa processing countries, with a total volume of 19.242 tons of cocoa beans per year. The per capita consumption was about 380 g per year. 80 years later it already increased to 2.5 kg, which equates to approximately 6.5 kg of the end-product `chocolate´. In 2002 the Germans nibbled on approximately 9.9 kg chocolate per capita per year. This makes the Germans – followed by the Swiss with 10.8 kg – the world-leaders in consuming chocolate.

The increased consumption caused a significant price-drop and the abolishment of resale price maintainance induced a further significant price drop in the 60s. A 100 g bar was sold for Euro 0,30. At present this trend seems to reverse: quality is required and customers are prepared to pay extra for good quality products. Most preferred are chocolates made from extra fine cocoa.
In its colourful history cocoa saw many uses: food for gods, drink for kids, luxury goods to consumer goods, exquisite snacking at many occasions. We are looking forward what future will bring …

Trade of cocoa today

Most cocoa is traded as cocoa beans on markets across London, Paris and New York. Here is where representatives of the producing countries, tradesman and producers meet. Here is where next year’s crops are traded and their price is set. The producers aim to lock a minimum price in conclusing a ‘Commodity future’ to make their profit. The buyer tries to agree on the lowest possible price to resell at his profit. This is especially benefical for crop failures caused by natural disasters or plant diseases, and thereby creates bottlenecks and higher costs of the raw material. That’s when the producer misses out on selling his product at the current – and often higher – market price, since he has already agreed on a price.