Update on this Years Festival
The History of Chocolate
Chocolate is a mysterious substance: it was a drink before it became a delicacy, a food before it became a treat, it was as currency to buy everyday commodities.
We know for sure that it was ‘born’ in the tropical forests of Mexico and northern Guatemala, where the pre-Columbian tribes ate the flesh of the fruits of the cacao tree.
Chocolate can be traced from the 14th century when the Aztec empire was formed. In 1519 Hernan Cortes discovered the drink when on an expedition in Mexico. Throughout the 16th century, dried cacao kernels were used as coin currency called testons along side official money, in 1576 the exchange rate stood at 1120 kernels to 1 Mexican peso. In the middle of the 17th century 1000 kernels were worth twelve and a half reals (currency first printed by the Dutch used during their occupation of part of the Brazil northeast) and the beginning of the 19th century 12 to 14 kernels were equivalent to 1 real. Believe it or not it was said that a way of counterfeiting the cacao had been developed and used as testons which left the heads no choice but to look at metals that had been developed for their new currency.
Chocolate although readily available in the market displays was actually very expensive and only the upper classes could afford it. When the Spanish came during the conquest they rapidly acquired a taste for chocolate at the end of the 16th Century. They consumed as much chocolate as the Creoles and Spanish Americans. It became very fashionable in high society.
Cacao was used as an aphrodisiac and an aid to beauty. Women would use the oil from the cacao to give themselves an attractive color, when the fruit came out they would eat it which would give them a pale color!
Through the years chocolate has been part of many traditions, the Spanish were the first to manufacture it, the Italians were the first to master the art of dark chocolate, making and serving it, hot or cold. The French Germans and Swiss all became enthusiasts and so chocolate’s reputation grew, the industry grew and now days chocolate has become part of our lives in one form or another…
so enjoy the journey and discover chocolate at Chocolate Rush!