Once again, Valentine's Day is here, an occasion to express love and affection to those near and dear to one's heart. One of the most popular ways to show love and affection is through gifts, cards, flowers, and chocolates.

Chocolates have conquered palates worldwide since centuries ago. The exact origins of cacao are uncertain. Hayes Lavis, a cultural arts curator for the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian, states that ancient Olmec pots and vessels dating back to around 1500 BC were found to contain theobromine, a compound present in chocolate and tea.

Michael Coe, Professor Emeritus of Anthropology at Yale University and well-known archaeologist and epigrapher, agrees. A paper published in Antiquity, "Oldest chocolate in the New World," co-written by Coe and Hurst, details evidence of cacao utilization by early Mesoamerican civilizations in Mexico, including the Olmec, located along the Gulf Coast and the Mokaya on the Pacific Coast. The Mokaya were one of the first groups to settle in Mesoamerica and lived along the Pacific Coast during the Barra ceramic phase (1900-170 BCE), a period marked by the introduction of pottery. Michael Coe and his wife Sophie Coe, an anthropologist and food historian, claim that with radiocarbon dates lying between 1880 and 1400 BC, Barra people had already mastered chocolate processing, something that was confirmed by the detection of theobromine in a fragment from a Barra necklace jar (1996: 36). The findings of cacao from chemical analysis in Olmec artifacts and linguistic evidence, on the other hand, strongly suggest that the Olmecs were the first to domesticate the cacao plant and potentially discovered the process of making chocolate.

Linguistic data suggests that the word "cacao" (initially pronounced kakawa) was borrowed from the Mixe-Zoquean language, spoken by the Olmecs, and was in use as early as 1000 BCE during the peak of the Olmec civilization at San Lorenzo.

Ancient as well as modern chocolate is made from dried and ground cacao beans. In ancient Mesoamerica, it was a bitter liquid beverage, often thickened with ground maize and flavored with chili, vanilla, and cinnamon. It was not sweetened and was considered a nutritious drink. Soldiers would drink it as a replacement for food.

The Aztecs -who called it "xocolatl," which means "bitter water" - and Mayas undeniably learned about cacao from the Olmecs. They developed successful methods for cultivating it and used the cocoa beans as a form of currency and a unit of measurement. These cultures used chocolate as a ceremonial drink, and cacao symbolized abundance.

As people migrated throughout Mesoamerica, cacao production spread. Still, its consumption remained a privilege for the upper classes and soldiers during battle, particularly in the Aztec culture, who revered chocolate, believing it was a gift from their gods. In Aztec society, cacao beans were more valuable than gold. Lower classes enjoyed it occasionally at weddings or other celebrations. Moctezuma II, the Aztec ruler, was known to love chocolate and consumed large quantities of it daily. For the Mayas, chocolate was also highly regarded, and its written history mentions chocolate drinks used in celebrations, ceremonies, and to finalize important transactions. However, unlike other cultures of the time, chocolate was accessible to nearly everyone. It was part of daily meals, usually thick and bubbly and sometimes combined with chili peppers, honey, or water.

When chocolate arrived in Europe is a matter of debate, but it is widely accepted that it was first introduced to Spain. One account claims that Christopher Columbus discovered cacao beans when he intercepted a trade ship on his journey to America and took them back to Spain in 1502. A second story says that the Aztecs of Moctezuma’s court introduced chocolate to the Spanish Conquistador, Hernán Cortés, who brought the cacao beans back to Spain, keeping his knowledge of chocolate a closely guarded secret. A third theory suggests that friars who introduced Guatemalan Mayas to Philip II of Spain in 1544 also gave him cacao beans as a gift.

Regardless of how chocolate first arrived in Spain, by the late 1500s, it had become highly recognized and popular not only in Spain but throughout Europe. Spain began importing chocolate in 1585, and other European countries, such as Italy and France, also brought it to their countries. However, Europeans did not find the Aztec chocolate drink recipe satisfactory, so they created their own versions of hot chocolate, adding ingredients such as cane sugar, cinnamon, and other common spices.

In 1641, chocolate finally got to Florida on a Spanish ship. By 1773, cocoa beans had become a significant import in the American colonies, and chocolate was common among people of all social classes. It is believed that the first American chocolate house opened in Boston in 1682.

Chocolate has come a long way up to our present day. The nutritional, re-energizing, and restorative aphrodisiac properties of chocolate are widely recognized and embraced, and it can be found in a wide range of varieties, presentations, and textures. When will you drink your next hot chocolate or eat a tasty chocolate bar?

References:

“What we Know about the Earliest History of Chocolate”:

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/archaeology-chocolate-180954243/

“History of Chocolate”:

https://www.history.com/topics/ancient-americas/history-of-chocolate#:~:text=The%20history%20of%20chocolate%2C%20and,ancient%20Olmecs%20of%20southern%20Mexico.

“The Mesoamerican history of chocolate featuring eHRAF Archaeology”:

https://hraf.yale.edu/the-mesoamerican-origins-of-chocolate-featuring-ehraf-archaeology/