Origin and Past : Europe

From the New World’s bitter chocolate beverage, did you ever wonder how it came up to be the sweet, delectable solid bar of chocolate most of us are enjoying today with its different forms?

"from chocolate beverage to
a solid bar chocolate"

Tracing back from the Mesoamericans, whose first record of chocolate’s origin was accounted, it reached the land of Europe during the Spanish conquest. The first person who was known to bring cocoa beans in Europe was Christopher Columbus. But he was not able to realize the value of the cocoa beans during that time and didn’t give much attention to it. This paved the way for the Spanish conquistador, Hernan Cortez to ship these tasty cacao beans back to their country.

By this time, the bitter beverage of Mesoamericans had improved to be more suitable for the taste of the Europeans by adding sugar. The addition of other ingredients like vanilla and cinnamon made the chocolate more appealing to the Europeans. This new discovery of a delicious drink remained to be unrevealed for almost 100 years. Like the Mesoamericans, only a few of Europe’s population were able to afford this luxurious beverage wherein the majority who drank was the wealthy number.

"steam engine for production of
chocolates"

But throughout the course of time, the source of this sweet delectable leaked out and eventually spread all over Europe. As the drink gained popularity over the public, the production of chocolate became rampant and the Spaniards planted more and more cocoa beans on its colonies. The development in the production of chocolate made this delectable treat affordable for almost everyone including the majority of the masses which churned out many improvements for chocolate lovers. Also, the once bitter drink evolved to be the solid bar of chocolate through the addition of cocoa powder.

Chocolate is not only known for its heavenly taste. It is also used for medicinal purposes because it is known to give health benefits to the people eating it. Up to this day, chocolate is still known all over the world and highly enjoyed by each and every one of us.  Chocolate may seem to be simple, but it went through a long run before reaching its present form , before being sweetly chewed and digested buy us today.

"In 657, the first chocolate house was opened in London, England"

Reference: http://www.chocolatesource.com