Mmmm… chocolate

The origins of the solid, sensuous and to some, addictive substance we know as chocolate are rooted in New World prehistory in the mysterious realm of the Olmec and the Maya.

The botanical name for this tree is Theobroma Cacao, meaning “drink of the gods” from the Greek theos (god) and broma (drink). When the cacoa pods have been processed, it is then called cocoa.

To the Aztecs, chocolate was a source of spiritual wisdom, tremendous energy and enhanced sexual powers. The Emperor Montezuma was reputed to get through fifty flagons of chocolate a day, always fortifying himself with a cup before entering his harem. The Spanish colonists were infatuated by the chocolate mystique. The explorer Hernan Cortes convinced Carlos I of Spain of the enormous potential of this divine drink. “A cup of this precious drink enables a man to walk for a whole day without food”.

“A cup of this precious drink enables a man to walk for a whole day without food”

During the sixteenth century chocolate began its journey into Europe and arrived in Britain at the same time as tea from Asia and coffee from Africa. Documentary evidence of the first chocolate house in London appeared in 1657, and soon the coffee and chocolate houses were the place to be seen for the wealthy upper classes. The diarist Samuel Pepys was an ardent fan of chocolate or “Jocolatte” and a regular frequenter of chocolate houses strongly believing in the restorative powers of chocolate.

The manufacture of drinking chocolate in Britain was transformed by the Industrial Revolution and the cultural, social and economic changes that followed in its wake. It was during this era that several eminent Quaker families - the Frys, Cadburys, Rowntrees and the Terrys - became involved in chocolate manufacturing.

The first “eating chocolate” was marketed by the Fry family in 1849 at a trade fair in Birmingham and was an immediate success. Not to be outdone Cadbury’s introduced the first box of individual chocolates followed by a Valentine’s Day presentation box. The rest, as they say, is history….

Did you know…?

• 17,000 people in Belgium - that’s 1 in every 200 workers - are involved in the making, selling and promotion of chocolate.
• It takes the whole of one year’s crop from one tree to make half a kilo of cocoa.
• Terrys of York will produce more than 350 million segments of chocolate orange a year.
• During the Aztec reign, a slave could be bought for 100 cocoa beans and a rabbit for 10.
• 1 in 7 15-24 year-olds claim life without chocolate is not worth living.
• If the number of Toblerones sold in one year were laid end to end, they would reach 62,000 Km – equivalent to the circumference of the Earth.
• Africa now produces over 66% of the world’s supply of chocolate.
• Nine out of ten people like chocolate.
• Chocolate contains high levels of phenol, which is a chemical that can help reduce heart disease.