Chocolate is unique. It is the only substance that melts in the mouth at body temperature, gently exploding into a warm, sensual liquid, reverberating its rainbow of flavours around the palate. This singularly hedonistic and deeply satisfying experience has earned chocolate a role in everything from seduction to the demise of slavery. It is to the Aztecs that we owe a debt of gratitude for our beloved chocolate. Of course, we are talking really serious chocolate here ...
Chocolate is made from the roasted and ground kernel of the 'cacao' bean (known as 'cacao' in the parts of the world where cocoa is cultivated and 'cocoa' by the countries in which chocolate is produced) the principal part of which is cocoa butter (the fat released when the bean is ground) and sugar. This is then refined and processed. Chocolate may also contain lecithin, a natural emulsifier, and flavours such as vanilla, and in the case of milk chocolate, milk solids.
As befits its image, chocolate, or rather cocoa, has a long dignified and colourful history. Its official Latin botanical name 'Theobroma Cacao Linnaeus', which means ‘food (broma) of the gods (theos)’, was given in the early eighteenth century by the Swedish botanist Carl von Linné or Carolus Linnaeus as he is often called. This was a triumph of perception on Linné's part as this was long before 'theobromine' was known and isolated as one of the cocoa bean's most significant ingredients and one which is considered to have the most stimulating effect. As the great philosopher Brillat-Savarin said: 'attempts have been made to find a reason for this emphatic qualification; some attribute it to his passionate predilection for chocolate; others to his desire to please his confessor; still others a wish to flatter the queen who had first introduced him to the custom!'
However, the logical reason for this divine alias was to reflect cocoa's place in the world of the Olmec, Maya, Toltec and Aztec gods.
As a result of its position and high degree of almost military organisation, the city of Tenochtitlán was thriving in 1325. When the Spanish, led by Cortés, began their conquest in 1519 it was possibly the largest and most beautiful city in the world. Built on top of Lake Texcoco on the chinampas, it was similar in concept to Venice. Today the central plaza of Mexico City lies over the main Aztec ceremonial centre of Templo Mayor where recent excavations unearthed some of the most spectacular and exciting archeological discoveries of the late twentieth century.
Doubtless, the legend of the god Quetzalcoatl, the winged serpent, is at least enchanting if not particularly significant. Quetzalcoatl was banished from the Toltec universe (approx 900 AD) by an opposing god from another deity, and adopted by the Aztecs as god of chocolate. Mythology taught that 'Queztalcoatl came to earth on the beam of a morning star bearing cacao trees from paradise and gave it to the people. They learnt how to roast and grind cacao seeds and made a nourishing thick paste which can be dissolved in water. They added spices and call this drink 'xoco-atl' (bitter water in the Nahuatal language) and believed that it afforded nourishment and good judgement.' Many think that this story is intrinsic to the conquest of Mexico. The legend promised that some day Quetzalcoatl would come back as a fair skinned, bearded man — precisely the characteristics of Hernan Cortés. It was this same doctrine that supposedly confused Montezuma, and possibly gave rise to the ease with which Cortes invaded and progressed through Mexico and the Aztecs’ eventual downfall. After all, despite the gunfire, armoury, horses and wheels that the Spanish brought with them and which were unknown to the natives, it is almost inconceivable that Cortes and his small band of mencould have defeated tens of thousands of brave and courageous Aztec warriors on treacherous terrain and in unpredictable extremes of climate.
'Cacao' was very precious to the Aztecs, more so probably than the Mayans since cacao did not flourish locally and the beans has to be sourced from many miles away — often extracted in the forms of tribute from neighbouring peoples. Consequently its many uses as a drink, medicinally and gastronomically, were to restricted to the nobles and for use in religious ceremonies. Much like bread and wine is used by Christian denominations as the body and blood of Christ the flesh of the pod and the drinkable variant represented the body and blood of the gods Using a little imagination, when cocao is crushed it often resembles blood. When Cortes and his men arrived in Mexico, particularly Tenochtitlan (now Mexico City and the Aztec capital) cacao was not only used in sacrificial ceremonies to replace the blood of the gods lost at war, cacao beans were also a very important currency. 100 beans could buy a slave and four a rabbit. The Spanish invaders were disgusted by the drink called ‘xoco-atl’ saying that 'it was not fit for pigs’ swill'. But they soon got used to it as an alternative to wine and to the local water which made them sick!
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