Chocolate. The extraordinary gift of nature has been lighting our palates for ages.
Everybody who would like to understand the phenomenon of the cocoa miracle is invited to take a quick tour in time and space.
Let us start out journeyabout 3000 years ago, to the times of the ancient Olmecs who inhabited the land of today’s Mexico. The warm and humid land was ideal to grow the sensitive cocoa trees and it was the Olmecs who discovered and appreciated the wonderful taste of cocoa. Linguists have found the roots of the word ‘cocoa’ in the local language of those days. This means that cocoa trees were grown as early as about 10th century BC. There are also other studies showing that the history of chocolates dates back to olden times. Archaeological research in the area found cocoa in the pots that the Mayas were putting in the graves. The pots date back to about 600 years BC which suggests that a potion of crushed cocoa beans was popular then. When the Olmecs were followed by the Mayas and the Aztecs afterwards – they received an invaluable heritage – cocoa plantations and a tradition of making chocolate.

It was the Aztecs who adapted and continued the tradition of the holy potion which they called “xocoatl” (bitter water). Most probably we would not like the cocoa potion the ancient Aztecs made. However, for them the bitter sharp potion became a source of wisdom and energy, an aphrodisiac and a soothing balsam. The potion was made of cocoa beans and mixed with warm or cold water and such spices as chilli, corn or honey were added. Indeed it is hard to imagine the resultant taste.
When Herman Cortez arrived with his army to the land of the Aztecs, he was surprised with the worship for the potion by the natives. They had a custom related to the growing ceremony of the holy trees which was combined with sexual abstinence of thirteen days ended with a love orgy where the … cocoa potion was drunk in abundance. When king Montezuma II told the Spanish soldiers that he would never make love without having drunk chocolate, all the Spaniards extended their cups to get some. Most of them drank it with grimaces and tears in their eyes.
If was Herman Cortez who was the first to try the cocoa potion when in 1519-24 he invaded the Aztec territory. However, it was Christopher Columbus who was recognised as the one who brought the cocoa miracle to Europe. It was him who on his fourth voyage to the New World reached the island of Guanaja, about 50 km off Honduras coast and there he picked seeds of an unknown plant which the Indians called ‘cocoa’. Cocoa was known in Spain as early as at the beginning of 15th century and for about a hundred years the recipe of brewing the Mexican potion was kept strictly confidential. With time the recipe was somewhat modified. Warm water and sugar was added to ground beans instead of chilli, pepper, cinnamon and anise. Additionally, the Spaniards made chocolate fluffy by mixing it with wooden spoons until bubbles were produced.
Despite the secrecy attached to the recipe, the admiration of chocolate has spread all over Europe in no time. Cocoa found its way to France thanks to Anne of Austria who in 1615 married Louis XIV of France. In mid-17th century the scientist Johann Georg took it to Nuremberg. It was at that time that the Dutch popularised cocoa seedlings in their colonies in Java and Sumatra and afterwards in the Philippines, New Guinea and Indonesia. At the beginning of 19th century the Portuguese carried the seedlings to Africa, to the island of Fernando Pó and the western part of the continent.

There is much historical evidence that cocoa beans used to be an official tender for many years. For instance, about A.D. 1500 the average wage of a carrier in Mexico was 100 beans. It could buy a good lunch, e.g. a turkey plus 100 nice tomatoes or avocado fruits.
It is not very well known that the only the rich could afford cocoa potion due to the very fact that it was used as a currency. Drinking cocoa in those days was equivalent to lighting a cigar with a hundred dollar bill. Cocoa beans were also an element of wedding ceremonies when the newlyweds gave each other five cocoa beans each as a gift.

A new era for chocolate started in 1828 when Coenraad Johannes van Houten of the Netherlands developed a method to produce cocoa powder which was a beginning to the production of chocolate bars and made the Netherlands the leader in chocolate production. Another breakthrough event was the invention in 1819 of a crushing mill by François - Luis Cailler of Switzerland. Since that time on, chocolate industry has been developing very fats and in 1875 Daniel Peter invented milk chocolate.

The 19th century proved a real ‘golden age’ for chocolate products when confectionery shops sprang up in great numbers and which offered various chocolate specialties. The Italians were bold enough to develop such specialties like chocolate pasta or chocolate soup. Chocolate recipes were developed in large numbers only in 20th century. Until today chocolate is the object of admiration of millions of people all over the world.
Being aware how many lovers of the extraordinary product there are worldwide, each day we do our best to meet their expectations. We keep developing new recipes so that they enrapture everybody’s palate, even a most sophisticated chocolate lover.