History of Cocoa Beans

How long have humans been enjoying the tasty treats made from the cocoa bean? Who started the great chocolate craze? When did the world’s love of chocolate begin?

Researchers have been finding evidence of cocoa based foods dating back several thousand years!

Around 600 AD, the Mayan civilization established the earliest known cocoa plantations in the Yucatan. By the 14th century, the Aztecs stole the hot chocolate drink recipe used by Mayan society’s social elite. Aztec sellers were the first to tax the bean and called their drink “xocalatl,” which means warm or bitter liquid.

Cocoa Goes to Europe

In 1544, Dominican friars brought Mayan nobles to the court of Prince Philip of Spain. They brought jars of beaten cocoa, ready to be mixed, as a gift to the sovereign. The Spanish loved it so much, they didn’t share the recipe with the rest of Europe for almost a century. By the 16th century, sugar cane and vanilla were being added to sweeten the famous bitter drink.

Cocoa was first used as a medicine and aphrodisiac in 1570, but the bean wouldn’t be available to anyone but the wealthy classes for another 160 years. In 1730, the price for cocoa beans dropped significantly and made chocolate available for everyone. Chocolate became even more convenient with the invention of a table mill for grinding cocoa beans at home in 1732.

Cocoa Arrives in USA

Chocolate finally makes it way to the United States in 1765 when an Irish chocolate maker named John Hana imported cocoa beans to Massachusettes for refining. He partnered with a man named Dr.

James Baker and they would go on to establish America’s first chocolate mill in 1780. They would sell their product under the name of BAKER’S Chocolate.

In 1795, a steam engine was used to grind cocoa beans for the first time. This opened up the opportunity to mass produce ground chocolate and in 1819 the first chocolate factory would be opened in Switzerland by Francois Louis Callier.

Chocolate became even easier to produce with the invention of the chocolate press in 1828 by Conrad Van Houten. His method would become known as “dutching” and would lead to a smoother and easier method of mixing chocolate.

1830 saw the first recorded form of eating solid chocolate. The candy was developed by Joseph Fry & Sons, a British chocolate maker. They would develop a way to sweeten the Dutch method and create the first ever chocolate bar.

Since then we have seen the first valentine’s chocolate box, the first chocolate bunny, chocolate cream, and many of the other delicious treats we enjoy today.

In the words of the late, great Willy Wonka, “Everything in this room is edible. Even I’m edible. But, that would be called cannibalism. It is looked down upon in most societies.”