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The Bittersweet History of Chocolate
Chocolate...Mmmm...I love everything about it. Candy bars, hot chocolate, chocolate chocolate chip ice cream-you name it and I'll eat it. But I was astonished to learn just how ancient this sweet treat really is!
John Henderson, an archaeologist from Cornell University, and Rosemary Joyce, an anthropologist at University of California, have been digging up pieces of ancient pottery in Honduras, a country in Central America. The containers were dated back thousands of years ago to 1100 B.C. Stuck to the inside of the containers was cacao residue. Cacao is the main ingredient in chocolate.
But don't think this ancient stuff was anything like we have today! No, instead it was used to make a kind of beer! It was served at ceremonies like weddings and births.
Chocolate is made from the seedpod of the cacao tree. These seedpods are almost the size of a football. Originally, the seedpod was fermented and its pulp was used to make an alcoholic drink. The actual seeds were thrown away.
Three hundred years later, people discovered that the seeds themselves made a better-tasting, bitter non-alcoholic drink that is close to what we know today.
Then, in the 16th century, Spanish explorers brought the drink back to Europe where it quickly became loved. But it wouldn't be until 1894 that we'd see the first milk-chocolate bar!
I'm Adelbert and that's what happened in Science this week!
Prove your love of chocolate in this week's Just the Facts!
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