On the occasion of #WorldChocolateDay , a brief thread on history and evolution of the modern 'chocolate' which has become an incredibly important aspect of people's lives across the world! (1/10)
When most of us hear the word chocolate, we picture a bar or a box of candies. The verb that comes to mind is probably "eat," not "drink," and the most apt adjective is "sweet." But for about 90 percent of chocolate's long history, it was strictly a beverage (2/)
Chocolate originated in Mesoamerica (modern day South america) by the Mayans and Aztecs using the cacao beans to create a bitter drink often mixed with chillies. The Aztecs believed that chocolate was gift from god of wisdom and used the drink in all major rituals (3/)
Aztecs were so crazy about cacao beans that they started using it as currency and valued it more than even gold. The Aztec word for the bitter drink made from cacao beans was ' xocolatl' which is believed to be the origin of word 'chocolate' (4/)
It was only in 16th century that chocolate travelled outside of South America and was taken to Spain by a Spanish explorer Hernan Cortes who was presented a cup of cacao beans by the Aztec emperor (5/)
When Cortés returned home, he introduced cocoa seeds to the Spanish. Though still served as a drink, Spanish chocolate was mixed with sugar and honey to sweeten the naturally bitter taste. Chocolate quickly became popular among the rich and wealthy (6/)
It was nearly after a century that Spanish introduced chocolate to their French neigbours and from there on it traveled across Europe. It remained immensely popular among European aristocracy and upper classes consumed chocolate for its health benefits as well as its decadence(7/
It was in 1828, after the invention of the chocolate press in Amsterdam that led to extraction of fine cacao powder from the beans which when mixed with liquid, sugar and poured into a mold, resulted into an edible bar of chocolate and thats how modern day chocolate was born!(8/)
Fast forward to today, globally chocolate is over a 100 Bn USD indudtry and is growing at healthy CAGR of over 4% with annual consumption of chocolate being over 7 Mn tons and is ever increasing! (9/)
Some interesting facts to wrap-up: 70% of the total chocolate sales happen in Europe and US alone, 70% of worlds cacao(cocoa) beans come from Africa but only 3% of chocolate sales happens there, Milk chocolate has largest share followed by dark and white chocolate (10/10)
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