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The beginning - Before the 16th century, chocolate only existed in Mesoamerica, but not in the form you know today.

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Cacao trees - In Mesoamerica, there were cacao trees that had beans inside the pods. In 19,000 BCE, the people of Mesoamerica figured out how to use the beans.

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Spicy drink -

There is evidence from 1500 BCE that cocoa beans were ground to a powder and then mixed with cornflour and chili peppers. By the way, cacao refers to the beans before they've been fermented, whereas cocoa means they've already been fermented.

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Original hot chocolate - The original drink was not hot chocolate, but instead a spicy energizing drink that was frothy and not creamy at all.

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God’s food - Mayans and Aztecs believed that cacao beans came from God. The Mayans thought it was from Kukulkan, and the Aztecs believed it was Quetzacoatl.

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Aztecs - The people of the Aztec Empire used cacao beans as a currency. The chocolate drink was only drunk at royal ceremonies, and soldiers were given beans for war achievements.

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Aztecs -

Chocolate was also used in rituals. It is said that priests would pierce their earlobes and cover cacao beans with their blood as a sacrifice. It was said to represent a sacrificial heart.

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Hernán Cortéz - In 1519, Hernán Cortéz sailed to Tenochtitlan from Spain. He went to Montezuma’s court.

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Montezuma -

At the feast to welcome Hernán Cortéz, Montezuma had 50 jugs of the chocolate drink poured out into large golden mugs.

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Europe -

Cortéz brought large shipments back to Europe. The missionaries on board the ship told everyone in Europe of the sensual rituals of the Aztecs. People connected this to the chocolate drink and, thus, chocolate became known as an aphrodisiac.

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Medicine -

It was very bitter in its original form, and so doctors prescribed it for upset stomachs.

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Spanish court -

In Spain, they figured out that if you add honey, sugar, or vanilla, chocolate becomes a delicious treat. However, it was still not like our modern chocolate.

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Trend -

In the early 1700s, all the aristocratic homes consumed trendy chocolate. They even had special chocolate drink pourers made from silver, gold, or bronze.

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Farming -

The problem then, and now, is that farming cocoa is very time and labor-intensive. The pods need to be picked, the beans removed and fermented, and then it has to be shipped all the way to Europe.

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Slave labor - As the demand for cacao beans grew, the farms had to keep up. In the 18th and 19th centuries, slaves were sent from Africa to Latin America as farmhands.

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Plantation economies - Many colonial landowners only produced cacao beans. The lack of diversity made it very difficult for the plantation economies to function after the colonial period ended because monocultures harm ecosystems.

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Chocolate progress - In 1828, Dutchman Casparus van Houten created a machine that enables us to make the chocolate we know today.

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The machine - The press separated the cocoa fat from the roasted cocoa beans. The fat could be collected and the leftover cocoa powder would be used as an ingredient.

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Coenraad van Houten - Coenraad van Houten, son of Casparus van Houten, then invented a method that mixed alkaline salts with cocoa mass. This made the chocolate powder less bitter and more soluble. It is called “Dutch process chocolate.”

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Modern chocolate - Either the chocolate powder could be drunk, or the fat could be added back into it and set to make a chocolate bar.

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Milk chocolate - In 1857, Swiss chocolatier Daniel Peter added milk powder to the chocolate of the day to create milk chocolate. Yum!

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Not luxury - In the 20th century, chocolate had become a treat, but not the luxury good that it was before. You could buy it at the shop for a reasonable price.

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Demand - More and more people developed a sweet tooth, and so more chocolate had to be produced. However, there were not enough farms. They had to be close to the equator for the cacao to grow.

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Africa - Instead of opening more plantations in Latin America, more people started producing cacao in East Africa. As a result, now the Ivory Coast is one of the biggest chocolate producers in the world.

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The dark side - The history of chocolate is inextricably linked to the slave trade. Even though slavery is universally banned, there is evidence to suggest that many plantations use slave labor from children and do not pay fair wages to workers.

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Child labor - It has been said that over two million children’s lives have been affected negatively by the cocoa trade. It's a complicated problem, and the solution is not as easy as just banning slavery–it has to be a coordinated effort across borders.

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Nowadays - Chocolate is more popular than it has ever been. Besides being a guilty pleasure, it plays a role in most of our religious holidays.

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Be mindful -

Despite the fact that it is not very healthy, it probably does make you a little happier. Just make sure you buy fair trade chocolate! 

Sources: (Chocolate.org) (TED-Ed)

See also: Chocolate: How good and bad is the world's favorite treat?

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