There is an interesting moral legend about the origin of the cocoa tree. Legend has it that the cocoa tree was a gift from Quetzalcoatl to the Aztecs in recognition of the courage and loyalty of an Aztec princess. The princess's husband was killed by the enemy because he refused to reveal the location of the treasure. Quetzalcoaths let cacao trees grow where her husband's blood spattered. The fruit of cocoa tree is rich in many seeds, especially cocoa beans. It tastes as bitter as her husband's pain, as strong as his noble sentiment, as bright red as his bleeding blood.
It can be recognized as a refreshing and aphrodisiac effect, and it is also a sacred product that the ancients have always used in religious ceremonies. Due to the limited cocoa production and the fact that cocoa fields are far inland, only Aztec nobles have the opportunity to enjoy them. Maya were the first people to grow cocoa trees. They used cocoa beans as money for business transactions, taxes or buying slaves. For the Aztecs, cocoa is not only money, but also food. Cocoa beans are dried and ground into powder, brewed into drinks with boiling water, or flavored with herbs and other spices.
15 19, the Aztecs saw a big ship coming from the east in the distance, and a man with fair skin and a beard led a group of people off the ship. The Aztecs, who had never seen a white man, thought that the gods were coming, so they warmly welcomed the uninvited guest. In fact, this man is not a god, but a Spaniard named Cortes. Cortes, who was in charge of conquering the New World, was very surprised that he was welcomed so grandly. At the end of the dinner, the aborigines presented a golden cup containing an unknown sacred drink. After taking a sip, Cortez made a face, wondering why the drink tasted so strange and bitter, but he managed to finish it so as not to be rude.
Chocolate, which is deeply loved by the Aztecs, is made into a Mu Si-like drink by boiling cocoa beans, peppers, ginger and honey, and then poured on cooked corn to eat. The Spanish gradually got used to this wild drink, replacing pepper with vanilla and adding Long Xianxiang, musk and sugar to change the taste of chocolate.
Hernan Cortes arrived in the Aztec kingdom, where he was treated with great courtesy. King Montezuma paid tribute to Cortes for the huge profits from planting cocoa trees. Different from Columbus' ignorance of commodities, Cortes felt the high economic value of cocoa trees. He saw the physical strength that Indians needed to support hard work by drinking xocoatl, and the endless endurance of trekking in the Andes. 1528, Cortes returned to Spain and brought back many things that Europeans were not familiar with, such as tomatoes, white beans, potatoes, corn, peppers, tobacco, etc., and introduced his favorite chocolate to King Charlie Gint. He said to the king, "As long as you drink this precious drink, you can make people feel refreshed and energetic every day, and you can walk all day without eating." The king was very happy and added honey to this drink to improve the taste of chocolate and remove the bitterness. At one time, chocolate became a very popular and fashionable drink in the court. Since then, the Spanish have monopolized cocoa beans and planted a large number of cocoa trees in Haiti and Trinidad.
In fact, the first person to discover cocoa was Columbus, a famous person who discovered the New World. As early as 1502, when Columbus arrived at Guanaha Island near Honduras, an indigenous canoe full of cloth, pottery, weapons and cocoa beans came to meet Columbus, hoping to exchange them for Spanish goods. The aboriginal leader prepared chocolate drinks for Columbus on the spot. Columbus mistakenly thought it was almond beans. After drinking it, he felt bitter and spicy, and he didn't like it at all. As a result, he left cocoa beans and took other things with him.
The first batch of cocoa beans imported into Spain was in 1585. Due to the low import volume and high price of chocolate, Spanish chocolate, like Aztec kingdom, is a royal treasure, and the government levies a very high tax rate, which is beyond the reach of ordinary people. The rarity of chocolate attracts many people's curiosity and research on it. People gradually discovered the refreshing and aphrodisiac functions of chocolate, which spread widely and soon spread to the upper class in Europe. In the Palace and Vatican, chocolate was packed in cups deeper than coffee, which was very popular at that time.
Gradually, the Spanish began to drink hot chocolate. At the same time, biscuits were soaked in hot chocolate and softened before eating. In addition, they began to make chocolate chips, but not for eating, but for storage and transportation. This chocolate craze gradually swept through Spain and South America, and swept the whole of Europe. Due to the lower cost of planting and producing cocoa, many quick-thinking businessmen use cheap labor in Africa to invest and set up factories. Like sugar, cocoa became another crop that contributed to the colonial economy.
The first batch of cocoa beans imported from South America was imported to northern Italy in 1559, so the chocolate master in Turin, Italy became a very professional chocolate maker. Until the17th century, Turing produced 350kg of chocolate every day and exported it to Austria, Switzerland, Germany and France. 1609, a group of Jews expelled from Spain and Portugal arrived in Bayonne, Basque Country, France. There are many chocolate masters among these people, and their professional skills in the field of chocolate make Bayon the center of chocolate manufacturing in France.
The most representative time when chocolate was introduced into France was 16 15, which was introduced by Anna, the daughter of the Spanish king, and Louis XIII, the wife of the French king. This year, she brought a group of ladies-in-waiting who are good at making chocolate into the palace, attracting many people who like it. At this time, chocolate is considered to be extremely special, and it is a precious drink reserved for only a few people in the palace. 1643, after the death of Louis XIII, Queen Anna succeeded to the throne, and her love for chocolate became more obvious. Her lover, Bishop Mazarin, even prepared chocolate snacks for them in order to hire Italian chocolate masters.
After Louis XIV ascended the throne, chocolate became the most fashionable food in the palace, and chocolate was served at Versailles every Monday, Wednesday and Thursday. Louis XIV also approved David Sharu to open the first chocolate shop in Paris to sell chocolates.
In the palace, some people like chocolate, others hate chocolate; Some people think that chocolate can cure diseases, while others doubt that chocolate is effective. Mrs de sévigne (born in 1626, who likes reading and writing, is a famous columnist in Louis XIV era) even accused one of her girlfriends of giving birth to a black baby because she ate too much chocolate during pregnancy! In the field of science, scientists still don't know the efficacy of chocolate, but most botanists and doctors believe that chocolate can help digestion and refresh the mind. A doctor named Bligny wrote the first prescription of chocolate on 17 17 to treat colds, diarrhea, dysentery and cholera!
1655, chocolate was introduced to Britain.
1657, the first chocolate shop in Britain opened in London. The shopkeeper is a Frenchman. He changed the aristocratic image of the French chocolate shop, democratized it and sold it to civilians. Slowly, chocolate shops are as popular as coffee shops. People will go to the chocolate shop to sip a cup of chocolate, discuss the current situation, or buy a movie ticket by the way. At that time, many chocolate shops only allowed male customers to enter, or adopted a ticket admission system, and they could only enter if they had money to buy tickets. In addition, the British also innovated the taste of chocolate: they replaced the boiling water for brewing chocolate with eggs, wine and milk, and sometimes added starch to reduce the fat content.
/kloc-in the 0/7th century, due to the influence of the Thirty Years' War, Germany has been taking measures to resist the import of imported goods, and chocolate is one of them. On the contrary, the Dutch, who are good at international trade, obtained the right to sell cocoa from the Spanish and monopolized the global cocoa market. As for France, after the price became civilian and the country obtained the exclusive right to sell 168 1, the chocolate trade began to heat up gradually.
/kloc-in the 0/8th century, chocolate gradually broke away from the era of artificial processing. The sales of chocolate are increasing year by year, but the output is stagnant. For hundreds of years, the manufacturing technology of chocolate has not changed much. The workers in charge of chocolate processing have low wages and work very hard. According to the traditional Aztec production method, they knelt all day to engage in chocolate processing. However, with the invention of new processing equipment, workers no longer need to work on their knees, but can work standing with the help of machines, and their wages will increase with the increase of output and sales.
1732, the Frenchman Dubson invented a high table to grind cocoa beans by heating coal. From then on, workers can stand and work to increase production. 1778, the Frenchman Doret invented a machine powered by water conservancy to grind cocoa beans, further improving the process of making chocolate.
Chocolate still belongs to the upper class and bourgeois food in France in the18th century. They think that "chocolate is a drink that will not burden the stomach." Coffee shops, tea galleries, palaces and private places can all be eaten. Whether it is made into candy shape or mixed with orange peel and fruit preserves, chocolate products can be placed in exquisite candy boxes popular in the upper class for guests to taste, lick and chew when playing cards, talking, riding a carriage or watching a drama. "
1770, Queen Mary Anthony married Louis XIV and took her exclusive chocolate chef to the palace. She likes simple chocolate, and chocolate mixed with vanilla and sugar is her favorite. Her chocolate master created many unique flavors of chocolate for her, such as refreshing orchid chocolate, activating nerve orange chocolate, almond milk chocolate to help digestion and so on. In Paris, the most outstanding chocolate chefs are David Sharon and the brothers Gaga and Renault. Chocolate has become a highly competitive industry, and advertisements appear in major media and billboards. 1765, the first cocoa company was founded by James Baker. After that, cocoa began to travel to and from Europe and South America by sea, and the price of cocoa fell and the delivery time was shortened.
/kloc-At the end of 0/8, wars broke out one after another between Europe and America, such as the American Revolution, the French Revolution, the Napoleonic Wars in Europe, etc., which made the production and sales of chocolate suddenly decrease dramatically. However, since the19th century, the global industrial revolution has brought great changes to chocolate. The production mode was changed from manual to machine, and the output was greatly improved. Because of the cost reduction, chocolate has become a favorite food for ordinary people. In addition, cocoa trees were introduced from America to Africa, and the chocolate industry developed more and more vigorously. Small chocolate shops lost to market competition, either disappeared or merged and transformed into large and medium-sized companies with industrialized production.
1802, the slender chocolate bar came out. The chocolate master from Turin and his Swiss apprentice Fran? Ois-Louis Cailler challenged each other for this invention and thought he was the real master. Later, Cailler returned to Switzerland and opened the first Swiss chocolate shop in Vevey in 18 19.
1820, Frye &; Sons brand slender chocolate is on the market, which is a mixture of chocolate, wine, sugar and cocoa butter.
1824, Philip suchard was in Neuché, Switzerland? Tell opened a chocolate candy store.
1828, Swiss Amdi Kohler invented noise chocolate. Also in 1828, Dutch Caspar Van Houten successfully separated different components in cocoa, especially its oil part. He invented a method to extract cocoa butter, and crushed the remaining chocolate blocks, thus "chocolate powder" was produced. Later, he used the property that cocoa butter can be melted in his mouth to invent chocolate that can be used for biting.
1832, King Fran of Austria? Ois-Joseph's royal dessert chef invented chocolate tower dessert in Vienna and named it La Sacher Torte after himself.
1867, master lintu invented the most representative dessert in Italy-la gianduja (hazelnut milk chocolate).
1875, Swiss daniel peter added chocolate to milk powder invented by Henri Nestlé to become milk chocolate, and started large-scale industrial production in 1905. Switzerland becomes the country of chocolate.
1879, Rodolphe Lindt invented a process that can make the texture of chocolate more delicate (conchage: stirring at 80℃ for a whole day, usually used to make top-grade chocolate).
1883, Milton Hershey, an American, discovered that a German machine could make chocolate bars, so he set up a factory for mass production in 1903.
19 12, Belgian Jean newhouse invented the first chocolate shell.
1920, Englishman john mars introduced the famous chocolate bar of Mars in his name.
1929, daniel peter and Nestle merged to become giants in the chocolate industry.