Chocolate is considered to be one of the most delicious things on planet Earth. If you’re a fan of that sweet stuff (and who’s not, right?), I bet you’ve got a bar of chocolate hidden in your desk right now :). Even if you don’t, you can’t deny the fact that a Snickers/Mars bar is just what the doctor ordered, especially after a tough day at work. Thankfully, there are tons of varieties of chocolate out there – dark, white, and everything in between, which means everybody will find something that suits his/her taste. But, we’re not here today to talk about the taste or the smell. No, this time around we’ll check out some awesome facts about chocolate. Do you want to know how it made its way onto our shelves and into our lives? Are yo ready to dive into the history of chocolate? Then let’s begin!
– Believe it or not, the Latin Americans are the ones who made it possible for the Americans and the rest of the world to enjoy chocolate. Today it’s everywhere, but back in the day it was considered luxury. Smart folks who lived in South-east Mexico 1000BC found the first cacao tree; so, are they the ones who started “cooking” chocolate? No, they’re not!
– The history books tell us that in about 300 AD the Mayans began to “capitalize” the cacao beans. No, they didn’t immediately start making chocolate bars, cakes and muffins, even though that would be a great idea :). They used it as currency, trading the beans for animals, slaves, provisions – you name it. Definitely one of the most awesome facts about chocolate. By the way, +/- 100 beans were enough to buy a slave!
– A funny fact about chocolate: the Mayans were pretty religious folks, and, naturally, they used it in all kinds of ceremonies. For example, the bride and the groom gave each other chocolate during the wedding. Oh, and there was even a cacao god!
Awesome Facts About Chocolate – No Chocolate For The Poor, No Love From Herman Cortés
– Now, given the fact that chocolate was a form of currency, the “middle-class” Mayans could never afford to eat or drink it. Come on, it would be like “eating” dollar bills! Only the wealthy people could afford to feast on it.
– A few hundred years later, in 1502, Christopher Columbus made it to this part of the globe. And, while he was hauling a huge load of supplies onto his ship, his men found a few cacao beans and kept them.
– 17 years later Hernán Cortés tasted some cacao beans while he was on his way to conquer Mexico and didn’t like the taste at all (say what?) – he even said that no human should eat them, as the beans were made for pigs. Talk about awesome facts about chocolate! Well, he did actually conquer the Aztec Empire; however, he didn’t cut all the cacao trees and continued using the beans as currency.
– A crazy fact about chocolate: Hernán Cortés was a great Spanish commander and conquered a lot of islands in the Caribbean. That’s when one smart fella found sugar on many of these islands and decided to mix it with the cacao beans, which made it so much tastier!
– Awesome facts about chocolate: by the 17th century everybody in the world had known about the delicious taste of chocolate. That’s when the first cacao plantations were developed and people started shipping large amounts of this magnificent new “food substance” across the world. The rest is history.
