FoodHistory
Do you know where chocolate comes from?
Who doesn’t like chocolate? I know there are people who love it and others that just like it but I don’t think I have ever met someone that doesn’t enjoy chocolate, it could be on a cake, a chocolate bar, chocolate syrup or chocolate flavored whatever you want, but we can all agree that it’s really tasty and in an unusual way, satisfying.
But do you know where chocolate comes from? We’ve all heard and are probably fans of some renowned chocolate brands like Milka, Ritter, Toblerone and Ferrero Rocher, so most people’s safest bet is that it comes from some place in Europe, but the reality is very different. Let’s see what chocolate actually is first, chocolate is the mix of sugar and two products derived from cocoa, cocoa mass and cocoa butter, but where does cocoa come from then?
Cocoa grows in trees, and the first evidence of its usage was in Mexico, by the Olmecan culture, about 3500 years ago, but the tree is originally from the Amazonian, although it is known how it appeared in Mexico. Nowadays, it is cultivated in some warm and humid regions of Mexico from the state of Nayarit to the southern states of Tabasco and Chiapas
It was introuced to the African continent and they now take over 60% of the world production.
Next time you eat chocolate you can think of Mexico and the Olmecan culture.