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Chocolate |
last update: 28 Mar 2012 |
Although there is a rich history of native chocolate usage by the Olmec, Maya, Toltec & Aztec cultures prior to the 16th century and Christoforo Colombo took some cacao beans back to Spain after his fourth (& final) voyage in 1502, it wasn't until after Hernán Cortés' return to Spain in 1521 after conquering the Aztec empire that Europeans ever heard of this wonderful foodstuff. While the usual native recipe called for additions of achiotte (annato), maize, chilis, & aniseed to the water-based, frothy, cacao drink, by the time the Spanish began writing down recipe notes, cinnamon, allspice, cloves, vanilla, some type of black pepper, and various flower petals & nuts were also being added. In about 1522, sugar came to be added to the drink and , between the sweetening and the decision to try serving it hot (the Aztecs had drunk it cold), it quickly became a favorite indulgence of the Spanish court with consumption restricted to the nobility by royal decree. (Other major New World imports included corn, chile peppers, vanilla, tomatoes, potatoes & tobacco .....) To keep up with the high demand for this new drink, Spanish armies began enslaving Mesoamericans to produce cacao. Even with cacao harvesting becoming a regular business, only royalty and the well-connected could afford to drink this expensive import. Before long, to increase both profits & the market, the Spanish established cacao plantations in Mexico, Ecuador, Venezuela, Peru, Jamaica, and Hispaniola (now Haiti & the Dominican Republic) and using an enslaved African workforce to help manage them. In 1580, the first European chocolate-processing manufactory was established in Spain. They didn't manage to keep the growing & processing methods secret for long... By the end of the century, the situation was completely different. The French court became enamored of the chocolate drink when Anne of Austria (daughter of Philip III of Spain) married Louis XIII in 1615. Again, by decree, none but the nobility could drink it.In the early 1600s, the Dutch planted cacao plantations in their East Indian holdings in Java & Sumatra and with increased African slave trade, expanded into the Philipines, New Guinea, Samoa, and Indonesia. Others were busy, too. The French settled Martinique in 1660 and the Portugese, as well as the French, settled in Brazil in 1677. Prime cacao-growing real estate was sought after with France, the Netherlands, & Britain 'fighting' over Trinidad for years. There was even an attempt to grow it in southern Louisina, southern Georgia, and western Florida. Chocolate plantations were springing up everywhere! Soon, anyone with money could buy it.  The first chocolate house opened in London in 1657 (name currently unknown). The young nobles who frequented these were soon known for their betting habits. People had to pay a cover charge to get in, (chocolate) drinks were expensive and heavily taxed, and guests were entertained with cards or other gaming ventures. It was not uncommon for some wine or other liquor to be mixed in with the chocolate drinks, which were served by women called "Chocolate Girls". As you can imagine, chocolate houses were quite merry places, some more civilized than others. Politics of the day, as well as horse-races, were a favorite topic of conversation.  The most famous chocolate house was "White's Chocolate House" in London founded in 1693. As time went on, it became more of a 'gentlemen's club and from 1783, it was the unofficial headquarters of the Tory party. (The Whigs preferred "Brook's" founded in 1764 as a gentlemen's club. More information regarding the English gentlemen's clubs can be found here)In 1698, "The Cocoa Tree" opened at No. 64, St. James's Street, London. Its frequenters were Tories of the strictest school. De Foe tells us in his "Journey through England," that "a Whig will no more go to the 'Cocoa Tree' ... than a Tory will be seen at the coffee-house of St. James's." Like the other chocolate houses, in course of time, "The Cocoa Tree" developed into a gaming-house and a club.  In 1689, noted physician and collector Hans Sloane developed a milk & chocolate drink in Jamaica which was initially used by apothecaries for the treatment of diarrhea, insomnia, as a digestive aid, & as an aphrodisiac. Chocolate was first brought to the North American colonies as early as the 17th century by the Dutch, but the first time colonists began selling hot chocolate was around 1755.(offsite scalable version of the painting to the right - 'La Chocolatiere'.) and Project Gutenberg's edition of 'The Food of the Gods' Also consulted was The Ultimate Encyclopaedia of Chocolate by Christine McFadden & Christine Franceavailable at 
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