The History of Chocolate

Here are some short videos explaining the history of chocolate.

The cacao tree is native to Meso-America and seems to have first been used 3500 to 4000 years ago.  Believed by the peoples of Mexico to be brought by the Aztec deity Quetzalcoatl it was so valuable that in the beginning it was used as currency.

It wasn’t until the 16th Century that cacao and chocolate was introduced to Europe through Spanish explorers returning from the New World.

There is also evidence that cacao was known to the ancient cultures of Ecuador and used in medicine kits of the healers there a thousand years or more before it gradually made its way up the coast to Meso-America.

And check out the short video from SNAkids about how chocolate is made.