HISTORY OF CHOCOLATE

THE OLMECS

Some three thousand years ago, the Olmecs settled down in the tropical forest area south of Veracruz at the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. Modern linguists who unearthed and restored a dictionary of the ancient Central American civilisation found the word "cacao" in it. The cacao tree requires hot, humid and shady environment, so typical of what was once Olmec territory. This led many historians to rectifying their theories and giving the beginnings of cacao planting to the Olmecs, not to the much younger Aztec civilisation.

Probably in the 4th century A.D., hundreds of years after the Olmecs had been gone, the Maya settled down in the vast area south of today's Mexico, spreading from Central America's Yucatan peninsula down to Chiapas and as far as the Pacific coast of Guatemala. The humid climate of the vast tropical forests was perfect environment for cacao trees.

The Maya called it "cacahuaquchtl" - "the Tree" and no other plant was worthy of the name. They believed that the tree belonged to the deities and that the pods, hanging all over the tree, were the gods' gifts to men.

The time around 300 A.D., known as the Classical Maya civilisation, was the era of tremendous boom of the arts, philosophy and spirituality. The Maya built grandiose palaces and temples of stone that were decorated with carved images of cacao pods on the walls representing life and fertility.

The Maya are also known as the "People of the Book." They invented a hieroglyphic script and manufactured frail paper sheets of tree bark. Only four Maya books have survived till date, all dating back to the post-classical era. They feature images of gods during various religious rituals, frequently showing cacao pods. The text includes frequent references to cacao as being the divine food.

The Maya were the first nation to cook a bitter drink from cacao beans. It was perceived utmost luxury and reserved only to the King and the aristocracy. It was also used during religious rituals as a means of blessing and sanctification. Maya writings include several recipes for the preparation and flavouring of the cacao drink. The range included everything from porridge of ground maize to thin brew-up. One of the surviving pictures shows the brown liquid being poured from one pot into another to create the so desired foam. Different spices were added, most often chilli peppers.

Painted pottery that was found in Maya burial places provides abundant evidence of cacao use by the Maya. A 1984 discovered crypt in Guatemala yielded several vessels evidently used to enjoy chocolate drinks. One beautiful, exotic looking sample with Maya symbols on the lid even had grounds of the drink in it.

When the Maya Empire collapsed mysteriously around 900 A.D., the territory was taken by the talented and highly civilised Toltecs who, in turn, yielded to the Mexican Aztecs. The Toltec King Quetzalcoatl, considered god of the air, was believed to have brought cacao seeds to men from the paradise and to have taught humankind how different plants were cultivated.

Political unrest made Quetzalcoatl and his suite flee the Capital and head for Yucatan in the south. The sick king let himself persuade to take in a mysterious medicine that actually made him insane. Believing he had to leave his kingdom and return at a predestined time later, Quetzalcoatl boarded a small raft and sailed away. The legend of his exile became part of Aztec mythology and astrologers foretold the white-skinned king would return and liberate his nation in 1519. The belief was to play a crucial role in New World's history.