History of Chocolate 1500-400 BC 900 - 250 BC 1200 - 1500 First recorded use of cacao The Ancient Maya of Mexico and Central America made chocolate into a spicy drink The Aztecs used cacao for trade and the bean - Olmec Indians, Mexico. (cacao paste mixed with chili peppers, vanilla and other ingredients) used in ceremonies. cacao seeds as a form of money.
1500 BC AD 0 1200 1300
1519 1671 1753 Spanish Conquistador, Hernán Cortés, arrives in Central America. He Pralines are invented when an accident The cocoa tree was given an official latin botanical name sees Moctezuma II, Aztec Emperor, drinking ‘Xocalatl,’ the earliest occurs that combined pecans, chocolate from Linnaeus: Theobroma cacao. The name refers to the known hot chocolate and realises its great value. and burnt sugar. mythical background of the tree and means literally: “cocoa, food of the gods”.
1400 1500 1600 1700
1502 1528 1540 1657 Christopher Columbus is the first European explorer to Hernán Cortés establishes a When the Spanish brought The first chocolate house was opened in London. Cacao was an expensive come into contact with cacao in Nicaragua. cacao plantation for trading. cacao home, they added import only those with money could afford. In France, chocolate could be He takes the beans back to cinnamon and other spices drunk only by the royal family! Spain with him along with to the bitter brew and began the chocolate drink recipe. sweetening it with sugar.
1830 1861 1875 1941-45 ‘Eating Chocolate’, the first Introduction of the first After eight years of experimentation, The American military decided to include three real, moulded chocolate bar, mass marketed boxes of Daniel Peter from Switzerland puts chocolate bars, in a soldier’s “D-Ration,” to is produced by J.S Fry and chocolates by the Cadbury the first milk chocolate on the market. sustain and nourish the men. The chocolate is Sons of England. brothers, England. still a standard issue in the military. 1800 1900
1765 1789 1894 Chocolate was introduced to the United During the Industrial Revolution, the Milton S. Hershey built a chocolate States when Irish chocolate maker John steam engine was invented, which factory and started to produce milk Hanan and Dr. James Baker built the made it possible to grind cacao and chocolate using modern, mass-production first American chocolate mill. produce large amounts of chocolate techniques that made the product more cheaply and quickly. affordable to all.