What is Chocolate?

Chocolate is a sweet food that people love to eat. You can find chocolate in many ways. There are chocolate bars, chocolate drinks, chocolate cake, and chocolate ice cream. Most people around the world have eaten chocolate.

But where does chocolate come from? And how did it become so well-known? The story of chocolate is very long and interesting.

Chocolate Starts in Central America

Chocolate comes from the cacao tree. This tree grows in hot, wet places. The tree makes large fruits. Inside each fruit are many seeds. We call these seeds cacao beans.

The first people to use cacao beans lived in Central America more than 3,000 years ago. They learned that they could make a special drink from the beans.

First, they took the beans out of the fruit. Then they left the beans in the sun to dry. After that, they put the beans over a fire to cook them. Last, they broke the beans into small pieces and mixed them with water.

This drink did not taste like the chocolate we know today. It was not sweet. It was bitter. Sometimes people put hot peppers in it to make it even stronger! But people loved this drink. They thought it was special and important.

The Maya and the Aztecs

Two important groups of people in Central America were the Maya and the Aztecs. Both groups loved cacao very much.

The Maya grew cacao trees and made chocolate drinks. They drank chocolate at special times, like when people got married and at important meetings.

The Aztecs also loved chocolate. They believed chocolate was a gift from their gods. Their king drank chocolate many times each day from a gold cup.

Cacao beans were so important that people used them as money! If you wanted to buy something at the market, you could pay with cacao beans.

Chocolate Goes to Europe

In 1519, men from Spain came to Mexico. Their leader was named Hernán Cortés. The Aztec king gave Cortés chocolate to drink. Cortés took cacao beans back to Spain.

At first, people in Spain did not like the bitter taste. But then someone had a good idea. They put sugar in the chocolate drink. Now it tasted much better!

The chocolate drink became very well-liked by rich people in Spain. Then it moved to other countries in Europe. But chocolate cost a lot of money. Only rich people could buy it.

For more than 200 years, people in Europe only drank chocolate. They did not eat it in hard form.

Chocolate You Can Eat

In the 1800s, people learned new ways to make chocolate. They made machines that could work with chocolate better.

In 1847, a company in England made the first chocolate bar that you could eat! Before this, chocolate was only a drink.

In 1875, a man in Switzerland named Daniel Peter put milk in chocolate. This made milk chocolate. Many people liked milk chocolate even more than dark chocolate because it was sweeter and easier to eat.

Chocolate Becomes Well Known Everywhere

In the 1900s, big companies started making a lot of chocolate. Chocolate became less expensive. Now everyone could buy chocolate, not just rich people.

Companies made chocolate in many new ways. They made chocolate with nuts inside. They made small pieces of chocolate with soft centers. They made chocolate in the shape of eggs and animals for special days.

Chocolate Around the World Today

Today, people eat more than 7 million tons of chocolate every year!

Different countries make chocolate in different ways. Swiss chocolate is well known for being very smooth. Belgian chocolate is well known for being very rich. American chocolate is often sweeter.

Most cacao beans still come from hot countries. Many beans come from West Africa. Countries like the Ivory Coast and Ghana grow many cacao trees.

Why Do People Love Chocolate?

People love chocolate for many reasons.

First, chocolate tastes good. It is sweet and smooth.

Second, chocolate can make you feel happy. There are special things in chocolate that can help your brain feel good.

Third, chocolate is part of good times. People give chocolate as gifts. We eat chocolate on our birthdays and on special days. We share chocolate with people we care about.

From Tree to Sweet Food

Chocolate has come a long way from its home in Central America. It started as a bitter drink for kings and rich people. Now, it is a sweet food that people all over the world can enjoy.

The next time you eat chocolate, think about its long trip through time!