6 surprising facts from the history of chocolate you might not know
Miscellaneous / / December 24, 2021
Once upon a time, chocolate was a bitter drink, and the first bar based on cocoa beans appeared a little over 170 years ago. Collected all the most interesting about the favorite delicacy of millions of people.
1. Chocolate is the food of the gods
And it's not a joke. The scientific name of the cocoa tree is theobroma cacao, and its first part is translated from Latin as “food of the gods”. Named the plantTheobroma cacao / The University of Arizona Karl Linnaeus in 1753. However, cocoa was associated with something extraterrestrial long before that.
The Aztecs believed that the tree was given to them by the god Quetzalcoatl, who was represented as a large serpent with feathers. According to legend, it happened like this. The gods lived in a beautiful Garden of Eden, which was guarded by the first people - man and woman. They coexisted peacefully and calmly, until one day people decided to steal the secret knowledge of the gods. They were expelled for betrayal. Quetzalcoatl, on the other hand, thought that they had been ugly with the people, and decided to give them a cocoa tree stolen from the Garden of Eden. For such an offense, the feathered serpent itself was sent to live with people.
The Aztecs prepared a drink from cocoa fruits, the progenitor of modern hot chocolate. Although it tasted differently than it does now: cocoa beans were fermented, fried and ground, then mixed with water, spices and herbs, without adding sweeteners, and served cold. According to one version, the drink was calledchocolate (n.) / Online Etymology Dictionary “Bitter water” (xocolātl) for a specific taste, according to another - just “cocoa water” (cacahuatl). In any case, both words are consonant with modern - chocolate.
2. Chocolate was the currency of the Maya and Aztecs. It was even forged by counterfeiters!
The “divine” origin of cocoa and the fact that it is difficult to grow made the tree in ancient Mesoamerica a great value. Its fruits were used in religious ceremonies as an offering to the gods, used in festive rituals and endowed with the properties of money. For example, 100 beans could buyWhat We Know About the Earliest History of Chocolate / Smithsonian Magazine one turkey.
Cocoa was such a valuable currency that some people counterfeited the fruit using ordinary clay. Such counterfeit "coins" have survived to this day and were found by archaeologists during excavations.
However, the value of chocolate was recognized not only in antiquity. So, during the War of Independence, he enteredA Brief History of Chocolate / Smithsonian Magazine in the diet of the soldiers and sometimes even used as wages.
3. The first famous Russian chocolatier was a German
Chocolate as a drink appeared in our country in the 17th century. And sweets and bars are the same as in Europe, in the 19th century. And at first they were created by foreigners. The most famous was the German Ferdinand von Einem. He began his entrepreneurial path in Moscow with the production of lump sugar, and then switched to chocolate. In partnership with Julius Geis, he discoveredFrom sweets to smoke bombs: the history of the legendary Moscow factory "Einem" / Official portal of the Mayor and the Government of Moscow enterprise "Einem. The partnership of the steam factory of chocolate, sweets and tea biscuits ”, and in 1922 it was renamed“ Red October ”.
The first Russian who decided to turn chocolate into a business was the businessman Alexei Ivanovich Abrikosov. By the end of the 19th century, the factory and trade “Partnership of A. AND. Abrikosov's sons "becameTwo centuries of quality / Confectionery concern "Babaevsky" one of the largest chocolate producers in the country, at the same time Abrikosov began to be called “the chocolate king of Russia”. After the revolution, the factory was nationalized and appropriatedAbrikosovs / Get to know Moscow her name is the revolutionary Pyotr Babaev. And in 1993 the enterprise received the name "Babaevsky Confectionery Concern", under which it still exists.
Russian sweets are popular not only among domestic consumers. In 2021 our country took 10th place in the world top leaders in the export of chocolate. And this is not the only interesting fact: for the first time in the history of Russia, it was possible to overtake Switzerland in the ranking, and by almost 20 million dollars. Russia sold chocolate on the international market for 838 million, and Switzerland - for 819 million.
4. White chocolate appeared due to the First World War
During World War I, Nestlé condensed milk was includedThe Nestlé company history / Nestlé in the diet of soldiers at the front. It did not deteriorate for a long time and did not require special storage conditions, while helping to satisfy hunger. The war is over, but the supplies remain.
The shelf life of condensed milk and milk powder was coming to an end, so in order to prevent spoilage of the product, in 1936 Nestlé decidedFor those who think white chocolate isn’t ‘real’ chocolate, have we got bars for you / Chicago Tribune Experiment with recipes and make milk the base of your chocolate. At the same time, cocoa powder was removed from the composition. The result is a sweet and delicate slab of creamy color.
But this is just one of the versions. On the other hand, Nestlé's experiments were associated only with the development of the chocolate industry and increased competition. Therefore, in the 30s, the company releasedThe Nestlé company history / Nestlé not only white, but also other unusual chocolate - for example, porous milk chocolate with honey.
5. The first bar of chocolate appeared only in the 19th century.
Although cocoa beans began to be consumed more than 3.5 thousand years ago, until the middle of the 19th century, chocolate was only a drink or an ingredient in desserts. The creation of the now familiar tiles and bars became possible thanks to the inventionVan Houtens Chocolate / Grace's Guide in 1828 by the Dutchman Kasparus van Houten the method of pressing butter from cocoa beans. However, the first chocolates appeared on store shelves only 19 years later, in 1847. Making tiles inventedJ. S. Fry & Sons Cocoa Container / National Museum of American History specialists from the British company "Fry and Sons", and the recipe used cocoa powder, cocoa butter and sugar. According to the modern classification, such chocolate would be considered bitter.
Created the first bar of milk chocolateMilk Chocolate History / What’s Cooking America in 1875 the Swiss Daniel Peter. In search of a new taste, he experimented with the composition for a long time and added “milk flour” to chocolate - a dry infant formula created by his friend Henri Nestlé, the founder of Nestlé. But the product quickly deteriorated, so Peter thought that he needed to look for a creamy alternative among pasteurized products, and included concentrated milk in the recipe. The idea worked!
6. Discovery's chocolates sold for £ 470
In 1901, Robert Scott's team took 1.5 tons of chocolate with them on an Antarctic expedition. But the sailors did not finish their supplies, so some of the sweets returned to Great Britain in 1904. However, even there the delicacy remained idle.
These stocks were remembered 100 years later: in 2001, one of the chocolates was soldMost expensive chocolate bar sold at auction / Guinness World Records in London at Christie’s auction for £ 470. The buyer wished to remain anonymous, but the amount spent by him made the traveler-sweet the most valuable chocolate bar among all those sold at auctions in the world at the time of the transaction. At the same time, the delicacy contained neither gold, nor a rare variety of cocoa beans, nor any other valuable ingredients. It was a completely ordinary Cadbury bar.