“The story begins some 4,000 years ago in the jungles of Mexico and Central America with the chocolate tree, Theobroma Cacao, and the complex processes necessary to transform its bitter seeds into what is now known as chocolate. This was centuries before chocolate was consumed in generally unsweetened liquid form and used as currency by the Maya and the Aztecs after them. The Spanish conquest of Central America introduced chocolate to Europe, where it first became the drink of kings and aristocrats and then was popularized in coffeehouses. Industrialization in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries made chocolate available to all, and now, in our own time, it has become once again a luxury item.
“The third edition includes new photographs and revisions throughout that reflect the latest scholarship. A new final chapter on a Guatemalan chocolate producer, located within the Pacific coastal area where chocolate was first invented, brings the volume up-to-date.”
— Source: Amazon product listing.
I have a copy of the first edition, which I purchased shortly after it was first published. Then – and to this day – this book (now in its third edition) is the reference that people return to and cite. The best general reference book available on the history of chocolate.
Recommendation :: Highly recommended. Required reading.
Available to purchase on Amazon.
Image Credit – Public domain. Source: Wikimedia Commons.