The Cacao tree is native to the Amazon, later spreading to Central America, especially Mexico, where it was already cultivated by the Mayans more than 2500 years ago.
The Aztecs learned the cultivation and use of cocoa from the Mayans. They called cocoa cacahuat and xocolatl the aromatic drink obtained from its fruits. They had different ways of making it and perfuming it, more liquid or thick, with more or less foam, with honey, corn or hot chili.
To obtain this drink, they fermented the cocoa pods, dried them in the sun, roasted them and pressed them between two hot stones until they obtained an oily, dark and bitter paste. Then they liquefied it with heat, sweetened it with honey and flavored it with vanilla, and thus they drank it. for The xocolatl was reserved for the emperor, nobles, and warriors. Cocoa beans were also used as bargaining chips. for

Cristobal Colón discovered cocoa in America, but it was not well received at that time in Europe. In 1519, Hernán Cortés landed in the country of Moctezuma - emperor of the Aztecs - and mistaking them for gods, Cortés and his soldiers were treated to xocolatl (or tchocolatl or chocolatl). for In 1528 Cortés returned to Spain with a shipment of cocoa along with the recipes and utensils for the preparation of that drink. for Then Europeans substitute sugar for honey and use cinnamon, in addition to vanilla, as a flavoring. At the beginning of the XIX CENTURY, chocolate became more popular thanks to the industry. In 1828, the Dutchman Conrad Van Houter invented the press that made it possible to separate the oily part (cocoa butter) from the cocoa mass (cocoa powder).
Today, chocolate, a product that was once reserved for gods and kings, is one of the world's favorites.