Thread by @fortelabs

1/ Just finished reading The True History of Chocolate by Sophie and Michael Coe. Riveting story of the incredible history of the “food of the gods.” Not going to try and summarize but here’s some of the most interesting factoids amazon.com/True-History-C…

2/ We think of chocolate as a solid food eaten by modern people. But for 9/10 of its history it was a beverage, and 4/5 of that history took place before the conquest of the New World that started in 1521

3/ Cacao is really difficult to grow. Will only bear fruit within 20 degrees of equator, also can’t be too high or get colder than 16 deg, demands year-round moisture, susceptible to numerous diseases & animals, takes 3-4 years after sprouting to bear fruit

4/ Small, five-petaled flowers are pollinated by midges in the wild, which thrive in dense, messy undergrowth full of leaf trash, dead animals, rotting pods. Modern plantations that removed messy undergrowth saw only 1-3% of flowers bearing fruit, because midges didn’t thrive

5/ Each flower takes 4-5 months to becomes a pod with 30-40 beans, encased in sweet, white pulp. It has no way of distributing these seeds itself. Relies on humans or monkeys seeking the pulp to distribute beans

6/ It takes 4 steps to make the cacao nibs that are ground into cacao liquor: fermentation (where they must briefly germinate & die to produce correct flavor) drying (in the sun), roasting, winnowing (removing useless shell)

7/ Genus contains 22 species, of which only 2 are cultivated. Seems to have evolved on eastern slopes of Andes in South America far before human habitation. Theobroma bicolor is used as kitchen garden crop throughout S. America, and theobroma cacao makes chocolate

8/ Current theory is that cultivated cacao was passed from northwest Amazon to Mayo-Chinchepe ppl on Amazonian headwaters of southern Ecuadorean coast. Could have been traded northward from there along the Pacific coast to Mesoamerica

9/ 2 main strands of theobroma cacao are criollo (lower yield, less hardy, but more fat and flavor) & forastero (hardier, higher yield, but less flavorful). They’ve been hybridized, with trinitario being the most popular example. 5%, 80%, 15% shares of world market respectively

10/ Over half the weight of cacao nibs is fat, which can be removed and sold separately as cacao butter. What’s left over is cocoa (a and o get switched). High quality chocolate has more of these, lower quality has other things like milk solids, lecithin, sugar, and vegetable fat

11/ Less than 10% is protein and starch. Remaining 30-40% includes 500-700 of compounds that aren’t fully understood even today, which is why it’s never been synthesized and give it tremendous complexity

12/ 2 of these compounds are known to have psychological effects on humans: theobromine and caffeine. These alkaloids are also found in coffee and tea but chocolate was actually the first drink to introduce them to Europe and the West

13/ Chocolate does no harm. Contains little caffeine, and although cacao butter is mostly saturated fat it is stearic triglycerides, which have no impact on heart disease. Weight gain and cavities come from adding sugar

14/ Theobromine (also found in tea, coffee, yerba mate) is a mood-enhancing stimulant, diuretic, and vasodilator. It is not poisonous in any quantity to humans (but it is to dogs and cats). Cacao also contains anti-inflammatory antioxidants

15/ “Cacao” comes from “kakaw” of Mixe-Zoquean language of Olmecs, dating to at least 1k BC. They had thriving civilization throughout fertile cultural plains of the Mexican gulf coast, but no solid evidence of cacao cultivation remains

16/ The unique chemical signature of cacao allows it to be positively identified even after thousands of years via traces in pottery and other vessels

17/ Based on this the origin of cultivated cacao in mesoamerica seems to be Soconusco region in Pacific coastal plain of Chiapas, and adjacent Guatemala, where advanced “Barra” culture used delicate, neckless jars to store valuable chocolate drink 1800-1400 BC

18/ Cacao cultivation was probably brought north from Soconusco to Olmec heartland, where it became part of all subsequent Mesoamerican civilizations, including Maya

19/ Maya were the true masters of cacao, with earliest evidence dating to 600 BC in N Belize. They used long spouts not only to pour, but to blow air to produce foam that they prized the most

20/ Cacao drink appears in many paintings and hieroglyphics from Mayan sites. Here’s a rule with a cylindrical container underneath his throne

21/ Rulers were found buried with reserves of the drink to see them through their underworld journey

22/ Copán, the “New World Pompeii” that was buried in a volcanic eruption, had preserved evidence

23/ This is the earliest know painting of chocolate actually being made, from 750 AD. It’s poured from a height to produce the prized yom cacao, or chocolate foam

24/ Chocolate drink was more like a gruel than something we would drink today

25/ Cacao beans were used as currency, which means there were attempts to falsify them

26/ The origin of the famous cenotes (humid, soil-filled sinkholes used to grow crops in inhospitable conditions) could have been partly because of their obsession with cacao. They were determined to grow it even in the unfavorable Yucatán region

27/ To give an idea how valuable beans were, 16th century European chronicler notes that a rabbit cost 10 beans, a slave about a hundred, and a night with a prostitute 8-10

28/ Aztecs made drinking chocolate central to their state ideology, but were also weirdly ambivalent about indulging too much in such luxuries

29/ The upper classes loved chocolate but also associated it with decline and dissipation, at odds with their view of themselves as rugged warriors from the northern deserts

30/ We know the daily budget of the royal household in cacao beans, which was staggering

31/ And that pales in comparison to the budget for Tenochtitlan, ruled by Motecuhzoma Xocoyotzin (“Motecuhzoma the Younger,” the familiar “Montezuma” of popular histories)

32/ Chocolatl was a drink of the elite, only drunk at the end of a meal like a ceremony, not used to wash down one’s food

33/ It had a metaphysical and spiritual significance, to be used at meaningful times

34/ It was used by the pochteca, wealthy long distance traders, to ascend the societal ladder

35/ Average wage in Central Mexico in 1545 was 100 beans, which gives us an idea of their grocery list prospects

36/ There were strong symbolic parallels between the human heart and the cacao pod

37/ Europeans thought they invented instant chocolate, but Aztec warriors were given chocolate wafers during military campaigns for a quick burst of energy on the go

38/ Origin of the word “chocolate” is actually unclear, but here’s a reasonable theory. Also, cacahuatl (the Mayan word) was probably embarrassing to say because it started with caca

39/ As chocolate spread through Europe, innovations like the chocolate pot were made. These pots appeared in hundreds of European paintings over the next couple hundred years

40/ Here’s what it looks like

41/ Both coffee and chocolate were first introduced to Europe as medicines. Former as a remedy for gall bladder problems & choleric temperament, imported from Egypt and sold at exorbitant prices. Like opium & cocaine later, new substances needed strong justification for use

42/ In 17th to 18th century, coffeehouses (which also sold chocolate) became institutions throughout Europe, serving as public meeting places for intellectuals, writers, and political activists. Charles II tried to ban them but failed

43/ Interestingly, between the three alkaloid beverages, tea was the most expensive (until British started cultivating in India/Ceylon), chocolate was next (had to be imported from Americas), and coffee was cheapest, which is why they were coffeehouses

44/ Incredibly, cacao beans were being used as small currency as late as the mid 19th century, when they were worth about half a US cent

45/ Cacao has always had built in scarcity due to difficulty of cultivation, inherent value, & uniformity. 3 centuries after conquest, tribute was still being collected from Soconusco region in cacao beans

46/ Debates raged in the church for centuries over whether chocolate was a food, and therefore was disallowed during fasts.

47/ As cacao production in Soconusco & Guatemala plunged in 17th century, cultivation expanded in Guayaquil region of Ecuador and Venezuela. There the hardier (though less tasty) forastero variety produced huge quantities. By end of 18th century 41% of cacao imports to New Spain

48/ Ecuadorean cacao was considered “chocolate for the poor,” because forastero beans are large, dry, bitter and need a lot of sugar added. It was also cheap because of slave labor brought in to work plantations

49/ Venezuela was Ecuador’s chief rival as source of high quality cacao. It was grown along narrow coastal plain, and Caribbean port of La Guaira was top exporter of cacao to the Old World

50/ Venezuelan cacao was the higher quality criollo variety, and was known as Caracas. It must have grown naturally along the coast before the arrival of Europeans

51/ Philip V gave a monopoly on Venezuelan cacao to a Basque company. Their brutality in suppressing piracy and competing trade was a possible reason for the independence movement

52/ Jesuits controlled vast labor forces of indigenous peoples in Brazil and Paraguay, which they used to cultivate cacao, among other things

53/ They would send their captives on expeditions to harvest cacao along Amazon river and its tributaries, where forastero variety grew plentifully

54/ Much of this cacao was spoiled because there were no large scale processing facilities, but because they paid no duty, it was profitable for Jesuits, and continued to be dominant export from Amazon until native populations were decimated by measles/smallpox in mid-18th

55/ Amazng story of chocolate being used to disguise smuggled gold!

56/ Third major variety of cacao emerged in Trinidad in 1727, when a plague devastated criollo plants brought in by Capuchin friars. 30 yrs later they brought stronger forastero plants, which hybridized with remaining criollo to form new trinitario variety, combining best of both

57/ Current status of world cacao production. Mexico, origin of cacao cultivation, only produces 1.5%! Criollo, the finest variety, only makes up 5-10%

58/ Hilariously, coffee and tea came to be fashionable among progressives in Europe, because chocolate was associated with royal/papal absolutism for some reason

59/ Ok now I get it. The longest Vatican conclave of modern times to elect a new pope, which took 6 months, was fueled by chocolate

60/ Italians were most adventurous culinary experimenters with chocolate, putting it in all sorts of dishes

61/ Marie Antoinette may have been a fan

62/ Chocolate making process hardly advanced technologically from Olmecs and Mayas to Enlightenment France

63/ Voltaire loved chocolate apparently more than coffee or tea. Ironic that the drink that fueled his writing on personal liberation was cultivated by slaves in Venezuela

64/ Oldest chocolate maker in US was also one of first to use hydraulic machines. Still in operation today

65/ Marquis de Sade was a huge fan of chocolate, consuming it in such large quantities that he became obese during years of imprisonment

66/ A typical 18th century French chocolatière

67/ By 19th century chocolate innovation moved from Southern European, Catholic countries to northern, Protestant countries. Although some of the ancient ways remained as novelties

68/ As late as 1989 in Italy, Romanengo company in Genoa still used stones to grind their beans. Italy never disappoints

69/ 1828 was turning point in modern chocolate history, with invention of...COCOA POWDER!

70/ Van Houten’s invention of the defatting and alkalizing processes made possible the large-scale manufacture of cheap chocolate for the masses, in both powdered and solid form

71/ In 1847 pioneering British Fry brothers found a way to mix blend of cocoa powder and sugar with melted cacao butter, instead of with warm water, producing a thinner, less viscous paste which could be cast into a mold. This was the first true eating chocolate

72/ Rival Cadbury family became official provider of chocolate to royal family, and invented chocolate box for Valentine’s Day

73/ But when Switzerland came on the scene, very late, it dominated the chocolate industry. Swiss eat more than twice as much chocolate as Americans!

74/ Nestlé and Peter invented evaporated milk and milk chocolate bar

75/ Rudolphe Lindt in 1879 invented conching, in which heavy granite rollers attached to robust steel arms move back and forth grinding beans (instead of humans grinding by hand on curved stone metates). After 72 hrs chocolate is flavorful and smooth, instead of gritty

76/ In 1899 Jean Tobler started marketing his Toblerone bar, a chocolate shell filled with almond and honey nougat. Tempering was introduced by raising & then lowering temp of chocolate to destroy fat crystals, which caused discoloration