In 2017, two members of a Russian crime syndicate were charged with the
transport and sale of 10,000 pounds of “stolen chocolate confections.” The indictment didn’t
mention whether the thieves took a few bites for themselves, but if they did have a sweet
tooth they’d hardly be alone. Napoleon Bonaparte was a fan of chocolate, which was said to
be his drink of choice when working late. Thomas Jefferson fell in love with it while
serving as minister to France, and proclaimed that it might soon be more popular than tea
or coffee. And though she probably never said “let
them eat cake,” Marie Antoinette was known to enjoy hot chocolate, which was served at
the Palace of Versailles. Mmm. History!
Hi, I’m Justin Dodd. Welcome to Food History, and thanks to Laura McKinlay for suggesting
this topic back on our first episode of the series. Chocolate’s worldwide popularity
streak has lasted centuries, but it wasn’t always the sweet, easily accessible treat
we know today. So what is chocolate, and how did it transform from sacred beverage to sweet snack.
Every chocolate product starts with the cacao tree. The plants were originally native to
the Americas, but today they’re grown worldwide, primarily in tropical regions. The fruits
of cacao trees are called pods. One pod is roughly the size of a football, and it contains
around 40 almond-sized cacao beans—which are actually seeds. When fermented and roasted,
cacao beans develop a rich, complex flavor. They’re the key to making chocolate taste
… chocolatey. The word cacao, by the way, usually refers to the plant and its seeds
before they’re processed, while chocolate describes products made from processed cacao
beans. And if you’re wondering what the difference between cacao and cocoa is, there
really isn’t one. Both versions of the plant name are technically correct, but in modern
usage cacao is increasingly applied to things closer to the plant while cocoa is used for
the more processed stages. Cacao is definitely more fun to say, though.
There’s some debate over who first decided to turn raw cacao beans into processed chocolate.
One long standing theory posits that humans were first drawn to the pulp of the cacao
pod, which they used to make an alcoholic beverage. The oldest evidence we have for
consumption of cacao products comes from 5000 years ago in what is now Ecuador. At some
point chocolate migrated north. Evidence of cacao residue has been found in vessels from
the Olmec people, in what is now southern Mexico. It’s still unclear if this cacao
was the result of beer-like fermented beverages made from cacao pods or some kind of chocolate
that would be more recognizable to us today.
According to art and hieroglyphs from Central America and southern Mexico, chocolate
was a big part of Maya culture. That chocolate didn’t look or taste anything like a Hershey’s
bar, though. Back then, chocolate was sipped rather than eaten, and to make these chocolate
drinks, the Maya harvested beans from cacao pods and fermented them.
As I described in our episode on ketchup and mustard, fermentation is basically controlled
rot. Microorganisms like yeast and bacteria break down the organic substances in food,
changing the taste on a biochemical level without making the food go bad. Fermentation
also generates heat. When a pile of cacao beans ferments, it can exceed 120 degrees
Fahrenheit. This heat is essential in developing chocolate’s signature flavor and aroma.
It unlocks flavor compounds we associate with chocolate and activates enzymes that mellow
the cacao beans’ natural bitterness. It’s also what kills the germ, or embyro in the
middle of a bean that would cause it to sprout, and dissolves any leftover pulp from the cacao
pod surrounding the beans. Woo man, that was a lot of science all at once. I think we deserve
a little reward. Yum.
After they’re fermented for several days, cacao beans are dried, roasted, shelled, and
ground into a paste called chocolate liquor. Roasting is an important step. It creates
new flavor compounds, and concentrates other flavors that were already there. It also burns
off acetic acid, a natural byproduct of fermentation which can give chocolate an undesirable, vinegary
flavor. And while I do love salt and vinegar chips, I don't think I would like it in my
chocolate.
These early steps in the chocolate-making process haven’t changed much over the centuries.
The main difference in the Maya preparation came after the beans were processed. Instead
of using the ground cacao beans to make candy or desserts, they mixed the paste with water,
cornmeal, and spices like chili peppers to make a thick, savory beverage. By pouring
the liquid from one container to another a few times, they were able to give it a frothy
head, which was a big part of the drink’s appeal, apparently.
Chocolate was especially popular among elite members of society. It was enjoyed by Maya
rulers, and cacao beans and chocolate paraphernalia have been found in royal tombs. Priests drank
chocolate and used it in religious ceremonies. Cacao was considered a gift from the gods,
and it was featured in Maya weddings, where the bride and groom would exchange sips of
the beverage to seal their union. In addition, after important transactions were agreed to, the two parties
would share a drink of chocolate to make it official. Cute!
The Aztecs, who dominated central Mexico from around 1300 to 1521, were just as enamored
with chocolate. They used cacao beans as currency. One bean was worth a tamale, while 100 beans
was enough to get you a quality female turkey. And chocolate played a role in Aztec religious
ceremonies, too. In their book The True History of Chocolate, Sophie and Michael Coe mention
a Spanish chronicler who wrote that sacrifice victims who weren’t in the mood to participate
in the ritual dances leading up to their deaths were given chocolate to boost their spirits.
I guess there are worse things you could be subjected to right before your own ritual
sacrifice, but the fact that the chocolate was mixed with blood from previous human sacrifice
victims probably didn’t do wonders for morale.
This is probably as good a place as any to mention that I have an aunt whose entire bathroom
is decked out in chocolate décor. Chocolate towels, chocolate wall art with little sassy
chocolate phrases on them…I’ve never seen her eat or talk about chocolate, and yet we’ve
all accepted that this is just what her bathroom looks like.
According to Aztec legend, the emperor Montezuma II could’ve given my aunt Carol a run for
her money. (…I mean, they didn’t mention Carol, but you know what I mean.) Montezuma
II, who, incidentally, is increasingly referred to as Moctezuma in English because it more
closely resembles the original Aztec, was rumored to have drunk a gallon of chocolate
a day, but he didn’t just like it for the taste. Chocolate was believed to be an aphrodisiac,
and he purportedly binged the drink to fuel his affairs.
Chocolate never lost its romantic reputation, but the scientific evidence for its amorous
abilities is actually pretty limited.
Chocolate contains the compounds tryptophan and phenylethylamine, and tryptophan does
help the body make seratonin, which is associated with feelings of happiness and well-being.
Phenylethylamine releases dopamine, otherwise known as the “feel-good” neurotransmitter.
I wouldn’t know personally, but I’ve heard that it’s nice to have higher levels of
dopamine. Tryptophan and phenylethylamine may qualify as aphrodisiacs, but there probably
aren’t enough of them in cacao beans to produce any noticeable effects.
The word chocolate originated in Mesoamerica. Like the Aztecs and Maya, the Pipil people
of what-is-today El Salvador brewed drinks from cacao beans, and they called these beverages
chocola-tl. It’s thought that when the first Spaniards to visit the region heard the word,
they basically kept it. The name still persists today, largely unchanged from its original
language.
A number of European explorers, from Christopher Columbus to Hernan Cortes
have been credited with bringing chocolate back home after traveling to the Americas.
But the first chocolate to land in Europe may not have come from a famous explorer at
all. Some historians say Spanish missionaries were instrumental in getting cacao across
the Atlantic. Upon returning from an overseas trip, Catholic friars presented a group of
Maya dignitaries to the court of Prince Philip in 1544. The Maya brought with them gifts
from the New World, including...you guessed it: The Sports Illustrated Football Phone.
Just kidding. Chocolate. This offering marks the first recorded evidence of chocolate in Spain.
Soon enough, chocolate spread to the rest of Europe, where it underwent its next big
transformation. The drink was too bitter for European palates, so people started adding
more sweeteners to the mix. Different countries added their own spices—the Spanish liked
cinnamon and vanilla in their chocolate, while the French flavored their chocolate with cloves.
In Europe, as in Mesoamerica, chocolate was mostly enjoyed by the upper classes. In 17th
century Britain, a pound of chocolate cost 15 shillings, which was about 10 days worth
of wages for a skilled tradesman. In 1657, London opened its first chocolate house, a
place where men could gather to gamble, do business, and discuss politics over a nice
cup of cocoa.
Chocolate was already a global success story by the 19th century, but it might never have
become the nearly ubiquitous treat we know today if it wasn’t for a Dutch chemist named
Coenraad Johannes van Houten. In 1828, he discovered that by removing some of the
fat, or cocoa butter, from chocolate liquor and treating it with alkaline salt, he could
turn the ingredient into a new kind of powder. Alkaline substances, as I explained in our
ramen episode, are basically the opposite of acidic substances. Adding the alkaline
salts to chocolate created a product that had a more mellow, earthier taste. If you
see natural cocoa powder and Dutch process cocoa powder next to each other at the grocery
store, know that the natural stuff will generally be more acidic than van Houten’s “Dutch”
version.
Dutch cocoa powder was easier to mix with water than ground-up beans, but the invention
had implications far beyond that. His work eventually helped give us the first modern
chocolate bars. A British candy maker named J.S. Fry & Sons created solid chocolate in
1847 after mixing melted cocoa butter back into cocoa powder and letting it harden. If
you’re not familiar with his company J. S. Fry & Sons, you’ve likely heard of Cadbury,
which pioneered the heart-shaped chocolate box in the 1860s.
In the 1900s, the two companies worked together to import South American cacao beans to England,
but The Cadburys eventually made a series of deals with farmers to cut their partner-rivals
out of the supply chain. This led to some good old fashioned Chocolate Beef. Which,
I believe, now takes the top spot for most disgusting combination of words uttered on
this show. The beef doesn't stop there,
in his book, Chocolate: A Bittersweet Saga of Dark and Light, Mort Rosenblum tells the
story of Cecil Fry’s funeral at Westminster Abbey. When Fry’s widow saw the patriarch
of the Cadbury family file into the ceremony late, she apparently rose to her feet and
shouted, “Get out, Devil.”
Swiss chemist Henri Nestlé created a powdered milk product in the mid-19th century, which
a countryman by the name of Daniel Peter decided to add to chocolate. This was the debut of
a new product called milk chocolate. Today, the FDA defines milk chocolate as having at
least 10 percent chocolate liquor and 12 percent milk solids. These standards are far from
universal. In Europe, milk chocolate must contain at least 25 percent dry cocoa solids
and 14 percent dry milk solids.
When it comes to white chocolate, on the other hand, the only product derived from cacao
beans is cocoa butter. There’s some debate over whether it should be considered chocolate
at all. I personally could leave white chocolate at the door, but that’s just me. If there’s
any strong white chocolate fans out there, please leave a comment trying to convince
me otherwise.
The company many Americans associate with chocolate today didn’t arrive on the scene
until fairly recently. Milton Hershey got his start in the candy business selling caramels, or... caramels.
Not chocolate bars. The entrepreneur fell in love with chocolate at the 1893 World’s
Fair. He was so impressed by Germany’s chocolate production display that he bought their machinery
when the exposition was over and started making chocolate professionally the next year. By
the way, speaking of chocolate beef, an early slogan for Hershey’s was “Our Milk Chocolates
are highly nutritious, easily digested, and far more sustaining than meat.”
Uhh. OK. Sure!
In 1900, Milton sold his caramel business for $1 million and fully devoted himself to
the Hershey Chocolate Company. The company got so big that Milton Hershey built an entire
town for his employees to live in. Now, people can visit Hershey, Pennsylvania to ride candy-themed
rides at Hersheypark, see how chocolate is made at Hershey’s Chocolate World, or take
a bath in real chocolate at the Hotel Hershey.
Some of our international viewers would probably turn their noses up at a Hershey’s bar,
although I have to say: try one in a s’more and then thank the good old U S of A and the
Girl Scouts of America, who published what is debatably the first known recipe for “Some
Mores” in the 1927 guidebook “Tramping and Trailing with the Girl Scouts.” I can’t
say whether the sweet snobbery is well-founded or not, but I can say that the situation was
almost worse. Back in 2007, a group of lobbyists sought to change the FDA’s definition of
chocolate to allow for the removal of cocoa butter entirely, in exchange for more affordable,
accessible alternatives like vegetable oils. It seems this effort failed, so you can rest
assured: the next time a pair of former-Soviet-bloc gangsters steal a few tons of chocolate here
in the United States, cocoa butter will be part of the haul.
Drop your favorite chocolate bar in the comments, but be nice! There are no wrong answers. Except
Almond Joy. That is wrong. It's just wrong. Get out.