Hot chocolate
Chocolate is made of cocoa beans. Oh, so you knew that already? Then maybe you know that the Mayan Indians were the first people to plant them in around AD 600. About 400 years later, the Aztecs conquered the Mayas, and used the cocoa beans as money. (They don't know what they're missing!) Soon, they found that drinking their money was quite good! They called it Xocolatl, which means "bitter water". Of course it's not bitter -- it's usually spicy, because it's mixed with chilli peppers! (And sometimes vanilla and achiote, which is now more known as "annatto")
In 1519, Spanish adventurer Hernan Cortés (1485-1547) arrives at Mexico, where the Aztecs live. He had a small army of 550 men to conquer this place. The Aztecs were scared to death of them because they had never seen horses or cannons. The second day, the Aztecs brought them loads of gold and silver, pleading them to leave. But the gold only makes Cortés more determined to conquer Mexico! In fact, he was so determined that he orded his army to burn all the boats.
5 days later, the Aztecs didn't fight them -- instead they greated them and treated them as gods! And so of course, they gave him some hot chocolate. Cortés's army can also help themselves to billions of cocoa beans. But, in May 1520, Cortés was finally thrown out of the city. (Guess the Aztecs got suspicious) So Cortés returned with a larger and stronger army. The Aztecs were defeated in 75 days, and the cocoa beans, along with the hot chocolate recipie, were brought back to Spain.
Chocolate bars
Most people know Joseph Fry (1728-1787) for the famous Fry's Chocolate Cream or Fry's Turkish Delight. But did you know that he was also the first person to make solid chocolate? It was made in 1847, but it wasn't very popular yet, mainly because:
1.Not much people has heard of it yet.
2.It's bitter.
3.It's really hard.
4.It's probably very expensive.
In 1849, the Cadbury brothers made their first solid chocolate as well, but it wasn't really popular as well.
It soon became popular in 1866, and soon people are experimenting on different shapes and sizes of chocolate ever since! And one of the most amazing new kind of chocolate is -- milk chocolate!
Milk Chocolate
Daniel Peter, a Swiss candle maker, joined his father-in-law's chocolate business. In 1867, he began experimenting with milk as an ingredient. He brought his new product, milk chocolate, to market in 1875. He was assisted in removing the water content from the milk to prevent mildewing by a neighbour, a baby food manufacturer named Henri Nestlé. The two soon worked together and the Nestlé brand chocolate was made.
