Delicious, delicious, comforting, and yes, American. Chocolate was a discovery of the New World, one of the most coveted treasures brought back to Europe from this beautiful new land across the Atlantic.
Cacao, used to make chocolate, is thought to have originated in the Amazon region at least 4,000 years ago. The Aztecs were so fascinated with cacao beans that they attributed its creation to their god Quetzalcoatl, who, according to legend, rode the morning star with a cocoa tree he had stolen from heaven It fell from the sky. In fact, the Aztecs valued cacao beans so much that they used them as currency.
The Aztecs also used cocoa beans to make a thick, cold, unsweetened drink called chocolatl – a liquid so prestigious that it was served in golden goblets and thrown away after just one use Lost. Christopher Columbus was the first European to walk the beans on his fourth voyage to the New World in 1502.
