"What use are cartridges in battle? I always
carry chocolate instead.“
-George Bernard Shaw
A. History of Trade and
Economic Impact

 Chocolate originates
with the Maya in the
tropical rainforests of
(present-day) Mexico
and Central America.
 It became part of Maya
culture around 300CE,
but new, unconfirmed
research estimates
chocolate originated as
far back as 1400BCE.
The Aztec

 Chocolate was adopted by
the Aztecs during their
conquest of much of
Mesoamerica and was used
in much the same way – to
make a frothy, hot drink.
 The Aztec demanded
tribute of surrounding
Mayan cities and other
small tribes in cocoa beans.
Chocolate = $

 For the Maya and the
Aztec, by 1000CE the
cocoa pod was the tender
of the realm and was used
instead of coinage or
other forms of bartering
in most instances.
 The cocoa pod was the
most valuable product of
the area, including all
other spices.
First Europeans

 1502 – Christopher Columbus tastes
chocolate on his fourth voyage and
takes a few beans back with him.
 1519 – Hernán Cortéz discovers the
value of cocoa for the first time and
establishes a plantation in Aztec lands
using Aztec laborers.
 1528 – Cortéz takes beans back to
Spain where they become an
expensive luxury item with a secret
formula known to few.
 1585 – The first commercial cocoa
beans are shipped from South and
Central America to Spain.
Spread from Spain

 1615 – Anne of Austria takes
the custom of chocolate
drinking to France
 1657 – The first English
chocolate house is opened by a
Frenchma, only the rich can
afford it at 6-8 shillings a
pound.
 1663 – Pralines are created by a
cook in Genensburg, Germany.
Spread and
Industrialization

 1720 – Chocolate finds its way to

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

Italy and is served in shops in
Florence and Venice.
1732 – Dubuisson, a French
inventor, creates a chocolate
grinding table that is heated.
1764 – Chocolate is first made in
the (present-day) United States by
the Baker Chocolate Company.
1780 – First chocolate is produced
by machine in Barcelona.
1795 – Steam power is used to
make chocolate in England by J.S.
Fry and Sons.
Chocolate Explosion

 1819 – Cailler starts the first Swiss chocolate factory.
 1828 – Houten, a Dutch chocolatier, invents a hydraulic
press that produces cocoa powder.
 1840 – Milk chocolate is invented in Switzerland.
 1847 – First chocolate bars created in England.
 1861 – Heart-shaped box created for Valentine’s Day.
 1879 – Lindt invents smooth chocolate, or fondant.
 1893 – Hershey begins chocolate manufacturing.
 1896 – Hirschfield makes the first Tootsie Roll.
Chocolate today is a
billion-dollar industry

Today - Production

 The six largest cocoa producing
countries are the Ivory Coast,
Ghana, Indonesia, Nigeria,
Brazil, and Cameroon.
 Cocoa constitutes the majority
of export revenue for these
countries, employing two
million farmers in Ghana alone.
 The Ivory Coast is largest
producer, producing 43% of the
world’s cocoa.

Cocoa-producing countries are along the equator.

Concentration of cocoa plantations in Mesoamerica
Today - Manufacturing

 The largest manufacturers of
chocolate in the world today are
Mars, Cadbury Schweppes,
Nestlé, Ferrero, Hershey, and
Kraft, in order of total sales
(highest to lowest).
 All of these brands are
international, selling more than
half of the total chocolate
market worldwide.
 It is sold in an infinite variety of
forms, from bars and pellets to
rolls and truffles to praline and
even powders.
B. Cultural Influence

 As stated in the history
section, the Maya used the
cacao bean as currency. 10
beans would buy you a rabbit
or a prostitute. 100 beans
would buy you a slave. People
even came up with a way to
counterfeit beans - by carving
them out of clay.
Mayan Uses

 The Maya also used chocolate in
religious rituals; it sometimes took
the place of blood. Chocolate was
used in marriage ceremonies, where
it was exchanged by the bride and
groom, and in baptisms. They even
had a cacao god.
 The rich enjoyed drinking their
chocolate from elaborately painted
chocolate vessels. Emperors were
buried with jars of chocolate at their
side
Aztec Uses

 One Aztec chocolate history
legend has it that the god
Quetzalcoatl brought cacao to
earth and was cast out of
paradise for giving it to man.
 The Aztec used Chocolate in
ceremonies and to support
the power of the rulers just as
the Maya did, even using it as
a common trade unit between
Amerindian cultures.
European Uses

 When chocolate first made it to
Europe, it was considered a
health food and a medicine.
Doctors prescribed it for curing
fevers, cooling the body, aiding
in digestion, and alleviating
pain. The church also approved
it as a nutritional supplement to
take while fasting.
 It was so popular that one
bishop was poisoned for
refusing to allow his
parishioners to bring chocolate
to mass.
C. Chocolate- From harvest
to end use

 The largest known
producers of about
three fourths of the
world's cocoa bean
production takes place
in West Africa. The
most dense amount of
cacao production is in
Côte d'Ivoire.
Types of Production

 There are two different
divisions in chocolate
production
 Chocolate Makers- These
people first harvest the
chocolate and then use it
with other elements to form
couverture chocolate (this
contains extra cocoa butter).
 Chocolatiers- They take the
couverture to yield varieties
of chocolate candies.
The Most Dense Region
of Cocoa Production

Chocolate in the Market

 Chocolate plays a major
role in the market with
various competitive
chocolate owning
companies such as The
Hershey Company,
Mars, Cadbury, Nestlé,
Kraft Foods, and Lindt.
Technological
Advancements

 Technological
developments in
chocolate production
include storing
methods (methods of
controlling humidity
and temperature) and
improved conching
methods (a conch is a
surface scraping mixer
and consistently
distributes cocoa butter
within chocolate).
Global Chocolate Production over Time
Uses of Chocolate

 As an ingredient- The
Aztecs first used it for a
drink called hot chocolate.
 Chocolate is most familiar
as an ingredient in cakes,
ice creams, cereals,
yogurts, candies, and also
as a syrup.
More Uses of Chocolate

 Fighting Tooth Decay
 Body Paint
 Taxes/Currency
 Spa Treatments
 Increasing Intelligence
 Perfumes
 Cures Stomach Aches
 Fighting fatigue
 Culinary Ingredients
 Medicinal Remedy
 Flavoring
In addition, it is used for
intensifying mood altering
chemicals phenylethylalanine
(love) and anandamide (brain
power).
D. Governmental Action

 When Cortéz took Mexico in
1521, the Spanish soldiers
demanded the Aztec cocoa as
a spoil of war.
 Not only did the Spanish
claim the Aztec supply of
cocoa (on threat of death to
the Aztec nobles), but they
also demanded it from the
nations that the Aztec had
previously taken tribute
from.
Responding to Demand

 Almost immediately after
Cortéz got back to Spain with
his cargo of chocolate, demand
for the expensive drink
skyrocketed among royalty.
 In order to profit from the new
trade good, Phillip II orders
new plantations to be erected
in Mesoamerica.
 These plantations are staffed
by Amerindian slaves.
Smallpox became endemic at this time.
Europe Catches On

 Historians are unsure as to why,
but the secret of chocolate did not
leak out of Spain for almost 100
years, but in the early 1600s, the
French and the Dutch set up
cocoa-producing colonies.
 The British planted in Ceylon (Sri
Lanka).
 The Dutch established plantations
in Venezuela, Sumatra, and Java.
 The French remained in the West
Indies.
Slavery Expands

 As Europe approached the
industrial revolution and the
craze for chocolate was
peaking, the labor force in the
East Indies became insufficient
to meet European demand.
 This is when the first African
slaves are ordered to be
brought to the plantations and
the triangular trade began.
Industrialization

 By around 1750, hydraulic
machines did the work of
thousands of laborers, easily
keeping up with European
demand.
 Slavery was officially abolished
in all countries by 1888, but
plantations in the Caribbean still
had (and have) horrible working
conditions and low pay for the
thousands of workers needed to
stock the factories.
Recent Events

 Raw cocoa bean prices have not
gone down significantly since well
before the industrial revolution
since the beans are still harvested
by hand.
 In order to maintain low prices,
most mainstream chocolatiers use
about 5-10% cocoa and substitute
refined sugar.
 Today “bean-to-bar” chocolate
producers own the largest market
share, but companies like Barry
Callebaut take on a large share of
the industry selling to businesses
that do not feature chocolate as a
primary product.
 Part A – Austin
 Part B – Mahnvee
 Part C – Brandon
 Part D - All
Credits
