how did it diffuse around the world? Heirarchical diffusion? Contagious diffusion? Where did it go first, second, etc. and how did it affect the world?
2006-10-29 03:16:03 · 4 answers · asked by michielev 2 in Arts & Humanities ➔ History
Chocolate originated in Central American. The Aztecs and Mayans were the first to cultivate the cacao tree and use the beans from the tree as a food. When the Spanish explorers came to Central America they were fascinated with ( and almost addicted to) a beverage the Aztecs made from the ground cacao beans: a bitter and spicy drink called xocoatl, often seasoned with vanilla, chile pepper, and achiote and they sent some back to Spain for the enjoyment of the Spanish royal house. In the Aztec and Mayan cultures only the very rice noble people could afford to drink or use chocolate.
Fast forward some years and Europe is crazy for cocoa and there is a burgeoning clamor for cocoa beans to meet the demand. Prices for cocoa beans are reaching the sky and the cocoa trading business enjoys an escalation of price that can only be compared to the European Tulip Bulb Craze of 1636-37.
It was the Swiss who invented milk chocolate in 1875, and then the technique of 'conching' or rolling chocolate to make it soft and smooth.
In the early 1900's an American man named, Milton Hershey, devised a way to make chocolate more palatable and smoother by developing a way to process chocolate with milk ( because the Swiss were holding their formula secret).
Today, we take chocolate for granted and every child or adult can easily afford a bit of chocolate candy from the grocery store but chocolate was not always so readily available and inexpensive.
Interesting side note: The ladies of Mexico were so fond of their chocolate drink (which they mixed with ground almonds, water, crude sugar and cocoa) that they took it to church and were drinking it during the mass; which caused a high ranking church official to ban chocolate consumption in church.
2006-10-29 03:40:39 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Go to any search engine, and type in the words "history of chocolate" and you will come up with many sites that address this, such as:
http://www.fieldmuseum.org/Chocolate/history.html
2006-10-29 11:21:03 · answer #2 · answered by finaldx 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Check out this site:
http://www.cadbury.co.uk/EN/CTB2003/about_chocolate/history_chocolate/
... as described by the makers of yummy chocolates worldwide... (I'd been to their Tasmanian factory and the whole place is heavenly!!!)
2006-10-29 11:23:28 · answer #3 · answered by timtan123 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
you should do your own research and not trust the answers given here in Yahoo.
2006-10-29 11:17:41 · answer #4 · answered by Eldude 6 · 2⤊ 0⤋