Chocolate: Food of the Gods
There are few foods with such a rich and fascinating history, such as cocoa and chocolate. Many people a love affair with chocolate, yet few of us know the origins of this unique treat popular. We tend, as sweet as chocolate candy the modern era were thinking. But actually, chocolate dates back to the ancient peoples of Mesoamerica who drank chocolate as a bitter drink.
The history of chocolate contains more than 3,000 years and began in the tropical rain forests of Central and South America where cacao trees, whose seeds are grown in chocolate first. This tropical evergreen trees are native Central and South America.
The botanical name of the tree gives us chocolate is Theobroma Cacao, which literally means "food of the gods." The tree modern generic Latin name (Theobrama Cacao) actually the Mayan word "cocoa" means "God food."
Cocoa trees produce large leathery fruit with large seeds surrounded by a sweet-sour, cream-colored flesh. Fruits sometimes can get as sleeves, the size of soccer balls and can take up to 50 seeds. Chocolate is made from the large Seeds. It takes about 400 seeds to make 1 pound of chocolate.
The earliest known use is evidence of cacao from about 1100 BC. The researchers identified Residue of a chemical compound that comes exclusively from the cacao plant – the source of chocolate – in pottery at an archaeological site in Puerto Escondido, Honduras.
The earliest cacao beverages consumed at Puerto Escondido were likely produced by fermentation of the sweet flesh surrounds the seeds produced – and it was drinking this beer as the chocolate started enthusiasm
The chocolate of later Mesoamerican cultures such as enjoyed the Maya and Aztecs was made of ground cacao beans with added spices, producing a spicy, frothy drink.
Both the Maya and Aztec cocoa estimated, with the beans not only for culinary purposes but also for trade and as currency. Before the conquest was almost always a chocolate drink the many forms and flavors had. The Maya brewed a spicy, bitter sweet drink by roasting and pounding the seeds of the cacao tree (cocoa beans) with maize and Peppers (chile) peppers and let the mixture ferment. The Aztecs, like the Mayans enjoyed, and cocoa as a beverage fermented from the raw beans. The Aztecs called this drink Xocolatl found the Spanish conquistadors, this almost impossible to pronounce, and it will damage the lighter "chocolat", the English continued to change this chocolate.
Chocolate was of great importance to the ceremonial Maya and Aztecs. It was served at festive banquets, buried with the dead and anoint newborns. The Aztecs and chocolate as an aphrodisiac and considered their emperor, Montezuma drank fifty times a day supposedly from a golden cup.
In fact, the Aztecs Xocolatl so high, estimated that when Montezuma was defeated by Cortez in 1519 and the victorious 'conquistadors' searched his palace for The Aztec Treasury expects gold and silver were all found they found huge quantities of cocoa beans!
The Spanish brought cacao back to Europe in 16. Century. Finally, the drinks popularity spread throughout the continent. Since then, new technologies and innovations changed the texture and taste of chocolate, but it remains one of the worlds most popular flavors.
Today, per capita consumption of chocolate in the United States and Western Europe doubled since 1945. The Swiss and British eating the most chocolate. The Norwegians and Austrians drink most chocolate.
If all chocolate lovers need justification indulge in their sweet addiction, the good news is that chocolate contains minerals such as potassium and calcium. Research also shows that cocoa consumption produces a marijuana-like Effect, with a harmless euphoria. Chocoholics everywhere testify to at least a slightly ecstatic mental state made of chocolate.
Remember for Fair Trade labels look for when buying chocolate cocoa plantations are often criticized for poor working conditions and the destruction of rain forests.
About the Author
Stephen Knight is the webmaster of Volunteer Latin America and the main contributor to the Latin Lounge
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