March 11, 2026 | Belen Ponce Leal | Lifestyle Editor
I believe there is no sweeter taste than that of chocolate. With a sweet, creamy and enjoyable taste as well as a lovely appearance, it is a candy that is normally a person’s best friend or guilty pleasure. Not only does chocolate have a rich taste, but it also has an even richer history.
Cacao trees, which are native to Central and South America, are the trees that produce the fruit from which chocolate is made. They produce pods with each having around 40 cacao beans that are dried out and roasted to become cocoa beans.
The Olmec people are believed to be the first group to be curious to know what these beans tasted like. According to Hayes Lavis, a cultural arts curator for the National Museum of the American Indian, there are ancient Olmec pots that were found with traces of a stimulant known as theobromine, which is found in chocolate and tea. It is believed that the Olmecs used cacao beans to create a drink, which was likely savory rather than sweet.
The Olmecs then passed their cacao expertise to the Mayans, who mixed the beans with maize and water. It could then be adjusted with allspice, vanilla and ear flower. The latter is described to have a spicy flavor similar to black pepper. This mixture was then poured from a height to create a foaming effect on the drink.
The Aztecs would not only make a similar beverage, but also add chili powder and achiote to make the drink have a reddish hue. They would also boil it occasionally to create a rough draft of hot chocolate. The Aztecs called their chocolate xocolatl (shoh-koh-LA’-tul) and it was typically an upper-class privilege to be able to have it, though those of lower classes would enjoy it on special occasions.
The drink was not only a treat to the Mayans and the Aztecs, but also held a lot of significance to them. They believed the beans to be a gift from the gods and would drink xocolatl often for religious ceremonies.
Although there is a debate about when Europeans got their hands on this delicacy, it is widely believed that it arrived in Spain first, which, when considering how much of the world they colonized, makes sense. By the late 1500s, the Spanish court was completely captivated by chocolate and began importing it to other European countries in the area. With such high demand for these cocoa beans, chocolate plantations were created with slaves made to work on them. Europeans also experimented with the ingredients, using cane sugar and cinnamon to add a more sugary taste instead of the savory ones the Aztecs made.
Chocolate would eventually come to the American colonies, arriving from a Spanish ship in 1641 to Florida, with the first chocolate house opening in Boston. Fun fact: During the Revolutionary War, chocolate was given to soldiers as a form of payment instead of money. Nowadays, chocolate is mass-manufactured and sold around the world. However, there are still some shops that handmake chocolate to ensure their products are much richer than the typical Hershey’s bar bought at the store.
Admittedly, I’ve probably eaten way too much of it throughout my life, but I always thought that the history of this delicacy was fascinating in the way that it really transformed throughout the centuries to become what it is today. As a fun little fact about myself, I actually tried xocolatl in the 7th grade as part of a unit about the history of chocolate. I have to say … I did not enjoy it. However, it’s still a pretty cool fact knowing that I’ve tried ancient chocolate.
Contact the author at howllifestyle@wou.edu
