-
1500 BCE
1500 B.C.- 300 B.C.
the Olmec Indians are believed to be the first to grow beans (kakawa) as a domestic crop. cocoa trees have grown wild for possibly 10,000 years. -
300 BCE
300 B.C.- 500 A.D.
consumption's of cocoa beans is restricted to the Mayan society's elite, in the form of an unsweetened cocoa drink made from the ground beans -
600
A.D. 600-1000
The Maya migrate into northern regions of South America and Mesoamerica, establishing the earliest known cocoa plantations in the Yucatan. Beans are a valuable commodity, used both as a means of payment and as units of calculations.
Beans are local and international currency: a turkey could be bought for 200 beans, a tomato for 3 beans. Later, when the Maya trade with the Aztecs, 400 beans equal 1 Aztec Zontli, 8000 beans equal 1 Aztec Xiquipilli. -
1200
1200S
The Maya begin trade with the Aztecs, and give them cacau. The Aztecs called it “cacahuatl” (ca-ca-WAH-tel), meaning warm or bitter liquid. Xocolatl is flavored with local spices, including chile, cinnamon, musk, pepper and vanilla, and thickened with cornmeal; then frothed in a bowl with a molinillo and served at room temperature -
1300
1300s
Cacahuatl becomes popular among the Aztec upper classes. The Aztecs see cacao as a gift of the plumed serpent god Quetzalcoatl, the god of light. The Aztecs become the first to tax the beans, and restrict it to noblemen, priests, officials, warriors and the rich traders who supply it. It is a restorative, a medicinal revitalizer, a ceremonial beverage and an abetter of longevity. It is served at end of banquets. -
1492
1400s
Christopher Columbus is said to have brought back cacao beans to King Ferdinand from his fourth visit to the New World, but they were overlooked in favor of the many other treasures he had found -
1502
1500s
Cacao is tasted by Columbus on his fourth and last voyage to the New World. Columbus encounters a great Mayan trading canoe on the island of Guanaja, off Honduras, carrying a cargo of cocoa beans. (Almost 500 years later, Valrhona, the great chocolate company, makes a grand cru chocolate bar and names it in honor of the island—it is spectacular chocolate.) He presents the King and Queen of Spain with beans -
1544
1500s
the most likely scenario for the development of the word “chocolate” is that the Spaniards combined the Maya word chocol, meaning “hot,” and the Aztec atl, meaning “water,” to produce chocolatl. -
1544
1500s
Dominican friars take a delegation of Kekchi Mayan nobles from Alta Verapaz to visit Prince Philip of Spain. The Mayans bring gift jars of beaten cocoa, mixed and ready to drink. Spain and Portugal do not export the beloved drink to the rest of Europe for nearly a century. Early after its arrival, the Spanish replace the chile with sugar and keep the cinnamon to make the bitter cacao beverage their liking. It is decided that the beverage tastes better warm. -
1565
1500s
The first time how the cocoa drink is prepared is found in the notes of Benzoni, an explorer working for the Spanish army. The Spanish keep this secret from the rest of the world, in the hope they can keep their monopoly in the cocoa trade. -
1570
1500s
Cocoa gains popularity as a medicine and aphrodisiac. -
1500s
The first official shipments of cocoa beans begin arriving in Seville from Vera Cruz, Mexico. -
1500s
Spanish nuns in Oaxaca, Mexico are the first to sweeten chocolate with honey, cinnamon and cane sugar, making the drink popular with colonials. Spanish monks introduce the first sweetened drink to Spain around 1590. They sweeten it with honey and vanilla. -
1600s
An Italian traveler, Antonio Carletti, discovers chocolate in Spain and takes it to Italy where chocolate-mania develops: Cioccolatieri open in all major cities. From Italy, chocolate spreads to Germany, Austria and Switzerland -
1600s
The first publication of a recipe for chocolate is by the Spanish doctor Antonio Colmenero de Ledesma, based on the Aztec recipe. The bitter flavor is enhanced by adding almonds, anise, cinnamon, flowers, hazelnuts, roses of Alexandria and vanilla. The exact spices depend on the physical ailment. -
1600s
Cocoa is introduced to Germany by a German scientist named Johann Georg Voldkammer who discovered it in Naples. The Germans institute the habit of a cup of hot chocolate before bedtime. -
1600s
The first chocolate house is opened in London by a Frenchman. Coffee houses were already popular. The shop is called the The Coffee Mill and Tobacco Roll. Costing 10 to 15 shillings per pound, chocolate is a beverage for the elite. The English introduced several changes: Instead of water, they added milk. Some also added Madeira or beaten eggs -
1600s
The first recipe for cacao is published in Spain; it includes chiles, ear flower, cinnamon, almonds or hazelnuts, sugar and annatto seeds, boiled together and frothed with a molinillo. Other recipes use cloves and vanilla. -
1600s
Eating solid chocolate is introduced in the form of pastilles. One reference states that in 1674 the English propose solid “fingers of chocolate in the Spanish fashion” intended for eating. The phrase indicates that such products may already have been available in Spain. Chocolate pastry is first served in coffee houses in the U.K. -
1700
After 1700, drinking chocolate expands worldwide; chiles disappear as an ingredient except in Mexican mole sauces -
1700
Fry sets up the first chocolate factory in Bristol, England using hydraulic machinery to process and grind the cacao beans. -
1700
A French inventor, Monsieur Dubuisson invents a table mill for grinding chocolate. -
1800s
Venezuela is producing half the world’s cacao, and one-third of all chocolate products produced in the world are being consumed by the Spaniards -
1800s
The pioneer of Swiss chocolate-making, François Louis Callier, opens the first Swiss chocolate factory in Corsier, near Vevey. -
1800s
A German baker named Stollwerck begins a business that grows into one of the largest companies in Germany, producing a variety of chocolate products and brands -
1800s
The first pressed chocolate tablets, pastilles and figures are produced in Belgium by the chocolate company Berwaerts. -
1800s
Cadbury brothers are selling a similar product two years later.¹ Joseph Fry & Son and Cadbury Brothers display “chocolates for eating” at an exhibition in Bingley Hall, Birmingham, England. -
1800s
Daniel Peter and Henri Nestlé form the Nestlé Company, which later becomes the world’s largest producer of chocolate. -
1800s
Milton S. Hershey sells his first Hershey Bar in Pennsylvania, using modern, mass-production techniques that make chocolate affordable to the masses -
1800s
The Tobler firm, founded in 1868, starts to produce its own chocolate. The Toblerone nougat, almond, and honey chocolate bar is born. -
1900s
Milton Hershey creates a model factory town town called Hersheyville dedicated to the production of chocolate. The specialty is the Hershey Kiss. Around 1900, the price of cacao and sugar drop tremendously, making chocolate affordable for the middle classes. -
1900s
Jean Neuhaus invents the chocolate shell that can be filled with soft centers and nut pastes, offering vast variety to the previous dipping and enrobing of chocolate. -
1900s
Chocolate bars become individual-sized: from 150g (5 ounces), they begin to be made in 30g and 45g sizes (1 ounce and 1.5 ounces) and made in tablet shapes for snacking. -
1900s
Nestlé makes first white chocolate, named Galak, although it was called different names, such as Milkybar or Alpine White, in different countries. During the 1930s, brand names become increasingly important. After two years of research, Nestlé launches the Black Magic bar -
2000
A new generation of chocolatiers knows no bounds. The fusion cuisine of the late 20th century has logically found its way to chocolate: exotic spices such as saffron, curry and lemongrass are now commonplace in chocolate. -
2000s
The Cote d’Ivoire is the world’s largest exporter of cacao beans, 1.4 million tons. The Netherlands both imports and grinds the most cacao. Some is made into chocolates; the remainder is processed into couverture and cocoa powder and exported to other countries which make their own chocolates from it. -
now
Mars Wrigley Confectionery is now the biggest chocolate factory in the world