The
earliest record of chocolate was over fifteen hundred
years ago in the South American rain forests, where
the tropical mix of high rain fall combined with high
year round temperatures and humidity provide the ideal
climate for cultivation of the plant from which chocolate
is derived - the Cacao Tree.
The Cacao Tree was worshipped by the Mayan civilisation
who believed it to be of divine origin, Cacao is a
Mayan word meaning "God Food" hence the
tree's modern generic Latin name 'Theobrama Cacao'
meaning ‘Food of the Gods’.
The Aztecs also prized the beans, but because the
Aztec's lived further north in more arid regions,
where the climate was not suitable for cultivation
of the tree, they acquired the beans through trade
and the spoils of war. The Aztecs prized the beans
so highly they used them as currency - 100 beans bought
a Turkey or a slave - and tribute or Taxes were paid
in cocoa beans to Aztec emperors. The Aztecs, like
the Mayans, also enjoyed Cacao only as a beverage
made from the raw beans which also featured prominently
in ritual and as a luxury available only to the very
wealthy. The Aztecs called this drink Xocolatl, the
Spanish conquistadors found this almost impossible
to pronounce and so corrupted it, to the easier to
pronounce 'Chocolat', the English further changed
this to Chocolate.
The Aztec's regarded chocolate as an aphrodisiac and
their Emperor, Montezuma - who is quoted as saying
of Xocolatl: "The divine drink, which builds
up resistance and fights fatigue. A cup of this precious
drink permits a man to walk for a whole day without
food" - reputedly drank it fifty times a day
from a golden goblet.
In fact, the Aztec's prized Xocolatl well above Gold
and Silver so much so, that when Montezuma was defeated
by Cortez in 1519 and the victorious 'conquistadors'
searched his palace for the Aztec treasury expecting
to find Gold & Silver, all they found were huge
quantities of cocoa beans. The Aztec Treasury consisted,
not of precious metals, but Cocoa Beans.
