Monday, March 9, 2020

Columbus and the Chocolate Craze

So History has shown us that Christopher Columbus wasn't quite exactly the great guy we thought him to be. But he did help in making chocolate as we know it today.

If it weren't for explorers like Columbus, Cortes, and missionaries like Jose de Acosta, we would all be grinding our beans and frothing it into a bitter, spicy drink, and not into the delicious, melt in your mouth delight it is today.

Columbus brought cacao beans back to Spain, but it didn't gain traction until Spanish friars introduced it to the royal courts, where it quickly became a favorite.  It was still consumed as a drink, but sugar and honey was added to it to combat the bitterness.

(It is rumored that the word cacao is derived from the Spanish word "caca" or poo. And if you ever have eaten unsweetened, high cacao percentage chocolate, you can probably identify with these early chocolate consumers.)

Vanilla was added and other spices which sometimes gave the illusion of a more potent vanilla flavor. It became known that chocolate without the vanilla was called "healthy chocolate."

Jose de Acosta, a Spanish Jesuit who lived in Mexico and Peru in the late 16th century, wrote of the medicinal qualities of the chocolate drink with chili. "... they say is good for the stomach and against catarrh." Catarrh is a medical condition involving excess mucus in the sinuses and throat. And recently it was found that chocolate can help with sore throats.

So Chocolate was gaining popularity across Europe in the 1600's. So popular that in 1662, Pope Alexander VII declared that religious fasts were NOT broken by consuming chocolate drinks.

You hear that, the church wants you to consume chocolate!



So here is where we come to our first controversy!
Chocolate had become so popular, and the demand so great, it brought with it a massive slave market as Cacao plantations began to crop up all over. And with all the conquering Europeans coming over to the Americas, they brought with them diseases which wiped out the Mesoamerican workers. So the production of chocolate fell on African slaves, and low-wage workers.

The industrial revolution brought on quicker ways to produce chocolate (a process that will be discussed in a future blog). It began with Dutch chemist Coenraad van Houten, who introduced alkaline salts to reduce the bitterness, and then he created a press to separate the cacao butter from the the liquor. This made the chocolate cheaper to produce and kept the product consistent.  This is known as "Dutch Cocoa."

In 1847, Joseph Fry discovered a way to make chocolate moldable, and began launching chocolate bars.



Then in 1875, Daniel Peter added powdered milk (produced by Henri Nestle) to the chocolate liquor, and invented Milk Chocolate.

Finally, in 1879, Rudolphe Lindt invented the conching machine which further improved the texture and taste of chocolate.



Cadbury began manufacturing boxed chocolates in England by 1868, and created the first Easter egg in 1875, by developing a pure cocoa butter, which produced smooth shapes.


Chocolate came to the United States in 1765, when James Baker and John Hannon founded the Baker Chocolate Company, using the cocoa beans they brought back from the West Indies.

In 1893, Milton Hershey began his career with chocolate coated caramels... and that is another fight we will save for another blog, my sweet Barn Animals.


What do you want to know more of? Leave a comment!



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