Theobroma

Food of the Gods

CHOCOLATE

It’s an ancient food with a powerful history. The ancient peoples of Mexico discovered the wonders of chocolate.  For the Mayan, only nobles and warriors were allowed to have chocolate.  The Aztec offered chocolate to their god, Quetzalcoatl.  They drank their chocolate hot and spicy, and sometimes mixed with blood (eek!).  Cacao seeds were a common currency throughout Mesoamerica and the Caribbean before the Spanish conquest. A turkey was worth a hundred seeds.  A small rabbit was worth thirty.

Once Spaniards brought this new world sensation back to Europe in the mid-1600s, chocolate quickly became the favorite new drink of both the Old World and the New.  Some folks became a little too attached—it’s rumoured that a bishop in Mexico was poisoned with a chocolate drink after he tried to keep his flock from drinking chocolate during church services!

For centuries, chocolate was always consumed as a beverage, but in 1847, the first solid chocolate appeared.  And the rest, as they say, is history.

*This post is part two in a four-part series on chocolate.  Want to know how best to enjoy chocolate in your MojaMix?  Tune in Thursday for ideas and recipes!