As near as historians can tell, people living in Mexico and Central America were using chocolate almost 2,000 years ago. These people enjoyed a drink made from chocolate. It was a very bitter-tasting drink—kind of like coffee.
Christopher Columbus brought some cacao beans back from the New World to show to the king and queen of Spain. But Europeans did not know what to do with the beans, so they mostly ignored them.
A Spanish explorer by the name of Hernan Cortes helped Europeans begin to see that there was value in cacao beans. The great Aztec ruler Montezuma had served Cortes a drink made from cacao beans. The Aztecs told Cortes that it was the drink of the gods. They believed that cacao bean gave them added wisdom and strength. They placed so much value on cacao beans that they used the beans as a form of money. Cortes saw much more value in the beans as money than as a drink. He planted cacao trees so that he could use the beans, not for chocolate, but as money. It was his way of growing money on trees.
Cortes brought back knowledge of how to make the chocolate drink, but it still was not popular outside the New World. Not until the Spanish began mixing sugar with the drink did chocolate begin spreading in popularity.
Until the 1600s and 1700s, chocolate was a luxury food for royalty and powerful church officials. But during the 1600s, people began grinding large amounts of cacao beans in mills, producing much more chocolate and lowering the cost. The invention of smooth milk chocolate also increased the treat’s popularity. The first chocolate shop in London, England, was opened in 1657. In the 1700s, a steam-driven chocolate grinder was invented, allowing factories to quickly make tons of affordable chocolate. Today, chocolate is a favorite and affordable treat in many countries.
Activities:
1. How was Hernan Cortes able to grow money on trees? Illustrate with pictures.
2. Suppose the full cost of farmer operations is $25 per kilogram of cacao. If the mass production lowers the cost of cacao by 80%, how much does it cost to produce one gram of cacao?
3. According to this passage, how does chocolate become popular? Briefly explain to your pals. To learn more about the history of chocolate, watch the video below.
