The History of Hot Chocolate

As we pass the first phase of fall, the sun sets sooner, and the temperatures drop… sometimes quicker than we would like. Being from Pittsburgh, this stage of fall is time to keep a lookout for the first snowfall, bust out my boot collection from the basement and keep fingers crossed for a Steelers playoff run. But it also means we are closer to turkeys on the table and decking the halls, and nothing goes better with this brisk time of the year than a comfortably warm cup of hot chocolate with EXTRA marshmallows. 

Hot chocolate or hot cocoa, whatever you call it, the sweet drink is what comforts us through the end of fall and winter. Nothing quite like being younger and coming inside from sledding all day, knowing that mom has heated up the perfect cup of cocoa for you to drink while your feet and hands warm up. Since this drink is so popular, not only in the United States but all over the world, it has a rich history behind it that may surprise you. 

Archeologists have found evidence that the Mayan people were consuming a form of liquid chocolate as early as 500 BC. The drink they would consume was nothing like what we drink today, but you have to start somewhere. They would grind up their cocoa seed into a paste-like substance and mix it with water, cornmeal, and chili peppers. The drink would then get poured back and forth from a cup to a pot until a foam developed and was served cold. This chocolate drink was called xocōlātl (don’t ask about pronunciation, I’m no help). The taste of xocōlātl was known to be bitter, and a bit of an acquired taste since this was before the discovery of sugar. 

It wasn’t until the early 1500s when the drink began to become popular. After a battle with the Aztec people, Spanish explorer Cortes returned to Spain with cocoa beans and the utensils needed to make the chocolate drink. This drink gained popularity with the Spanish upper class, and even the royal court of King Charles V. Cocoa beans was still only grown in South America. Hence, they were costly to acquire, causing Spain to carefully guard their chocolate as it was a status symbol and one of their prize imports. The drink soon began being served hot, sweetened, and without chili peppers, so the taste was less bitter. 

It wasn’t until the 17th century that the chocolate beverage began to sweep across Europe (everyone else was pretty late to the party).  English chocolate houses began to pop up in London that would be comparable to today’s coffee shops, and records show that a liquid bittersweet chocolate beverage was available as far back as 1652 in the first coffee shop known as The Turk's Head.  The drink wasn’t served with milk until the late 1700s when Hans Sloane, president of the Royal College of Physicians, visited Jamaica and brought back a creamier and sweeter chocolate recipe. This recipe allowed for the more delicious chocolate beverage and led to the creation of the chocolate bar… but that is a whole other history.

Today hot chocolate is enjoyed worldwide in many different artisanal flavor variations, and as this brief history shows, "the future of candy is rooted in the past."