Cacao Tree

         Upon first encountering the New World, the Spaniards were not aware of what was edible and had to take cues from the native people (Davidson, 1996). Christopher Columbus was the first European to encounter cocoa as a beverage while in Central America and even brought back specimen plants and pods of the cacao tree for King Ferdinand of Spain during his second trip to the Americas (Young, 2007). Credit is typically given to  Hernán Cortés for the beginning of widespread European consumption of cacao products in 1528 from his experiences in Moctezuma’s court with cocoa beverages (ICCO; Schery, 1999; West, 1996). Cortés described the drink to the Spanish King as a “divine drink, which builds up resistance and fights fatigue” (Howell, 2009, p. 239) and said, “He who has drunk a cup can travel a whole day without any further food, especially in hot climates” (Young, 2007, p. 30). Drinking chocolate was seen as a symbol of welcome and sociability in the early Americas as well as across Europe, much like coffee and tea is in modern times (Cheney, 1993). The Spanish added sugar to the chocolate drink with a recipe kept secret from other European countries for 100 years. Due to the long process of turning cacao beans into a usable product, it started out as a treat only for the wealthy (Howell, 2009).

The Spanish colonial government quickly took over the majority of the world’s cacao production and it became the most important export in the 16^th and 17^th centuries. Cacao plantations spread through Trinidad and other Caribbean islands by the Spanish and Portuguese before reaching first the Gulf of Guinea (west coast of Africa), then all of Africa and finally the Far East (Schery, 1999). The first place outside of Latin America to cultivate cacao trees was the Fernando Po Island in 1590. Later in Africa, Ghana was the first nation to attempt cultivation, but Cameroon was the first to successfully produce cacao pods in the 1870s (ICCO; West, 1996). By 1663, Spain had spread cacao trees to Manila were it is now a traditional part of the food in the Philippines and has become a flourishing industry (West, 1996).

In 1606, the merchant Antonio Carletti has been credited with introducing chocolate to Italy, but Catholic friars also seemed to drink it from an early date and likely helped spread its use across Europe as a beverage (Howell, 2009; West, 1996). By the 16^th century, one hundred and fifty years after being introduced in Spain, cacao beans came to Europe (Cheney, 1993; The New Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1998). 

The French became interested in chocolate by early 17^th century through marriage with Spanish royalty when in 1660 Marie-Thèrése of Spain married Louis XIV of France. The French began production in the Caribbean islands of Martinique and St. Lucia in 1660 and the Brazil state of Bahia in 1746 (West, 1996)

Due to the similarity to coffee beans, cacao beans in Europe were viewed in the same way and became a luxury drink as the first nonalcoholic stimulant drink in Europe, though not as widespread as coffee which did not reach Europe until 1615 (Davidson, 1996; Young, 2007). As early as 1657, the first chocolate house in England was opened, though the owner was French. These chocolate houses, which used water, coffee, wine and beer for bases of the drinks, became centers for political, economic and social debate. Also, chocolate service sets became wildly popular, being made out of silver, pewter, gold and porcelain, though these seemed to disappear from the market by 1828 when presses gave the ability to market cocoa powder (West, 1996). Nicholas Sanders, an Englishman, became the first to produce hot cocoa in 1727 by blending one ounce of chocolate to a pint of boiling milk and adding sugar. In response, Sir Hans Sloane, a physician, recommended this drink as healthy for children for “its lightness on the stomach and its great use in consumptive cases” (West, 1996, p. 113). In 1847, the British company Fry & Sons produced the first eating chocolate, which became a success due to the low import duties on cacao beans (Howell, 2009).

The Dutch began illegal commerce with the natives of the Philippines in what was known as the Dutch East Indies, now Java. There was a resulting rivalry with the Spanish to be the first to cultivate cacao trees in this area and the Dutch offered a silver medal to the first person to cultivate 50 trees successfully. It was a Dutch chemist, Conrad van Houten that developed the process and machinery to press the fat (cocoa butter) out of roasted cocoa bean (nibs) to make cocoa powder. This revolutionized the chocolate industry. The Dutch also created a process of neutralizing the organic acids in cocoa powder, which is known as dutching; 90% of today’s cocoa powder is dutched (Young, 2007).

Daniel Peter, a Swiss national, was the first to add powdered milk to create milk chocolate, which gave rise to the beginnings of Switzerland being known for their chocolate (even though no cacao trees can grow there) (Howell, 2009).

The first chocolate mill in the United States was in Dorchester, Massachusetts in 1765, though it was taken over by another company. After the mill was bought, the product of cakes of hardened chocolate to be shaved into boiling water became known as Baker’s Chocolate (Howell, 2009; West, 1996). Baker’s was importing 500,000 pounds of cacao beans annually in 1790 and by the 1980s this had increased to 200,000 tons (Cheney, 1993). North America was slow to use any products from the cacao tree due to low availability; but in 1786 Thomas Jefferson made the following prediction about chocolate in the United States, “The superiority of chocolate for health and nourishment will soon give it the same preference over tea and coffee in America that it has in Spain” (West, 1996, p. 115).