the history of chocolate


The Melero family, direct descendants of the fourth generation of Pedro Comes, precursor, in 1870, of one of the first artisan factories dedicated to the elaboration of chocolate in Spain, explains the history of this dark and dense delicacy that came to Europe from the hand of Hernán Cortés, who received this precious food of the Mayans, who already used it 2,500 years ago.

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Chocolate cream to manually produce chocolates in a factory in the French city of Bordeaux. (CAROLINE BLUMBERG)

“The most beautiful tree in the Aztec paradise”

The tchocolatl oo xocolatl (bitter drink based on cocoa) has its origin between the pre-Hispanic Mayan and Aztec civilizations. According to the legend told by the Comes family, “cocoa was the most beautiful tree in the paradise of the Aztecs, whose trees grew naturally in the shade of the tropical forests in the Amazon and Orinoco basins, about 4,000 years ago, but It was the Mayans, from present-day Mexico, who began to cultivate them more than 2,500 years ago.”

With the cocoa beans, the Mayans made a bitter and foamy liquid, mixed with countless species, wine or maize puree, to which they attributed multiple virtues, such as calming hunger and thirst, providing universal wisdom and curing diseases, in addition to grant aphrodisiac powers and strength.

“It was given aphrodisiac and strength powers due to its stimulating components. In 1502 Christopher Columbus received, as a welcome offering, weapons, cloth and sacks of dark beans that, in Aztec society, served both as currency and as a consumer product. Although it was Hernán Cortés who sent the first shipment of cocoa to Spain in 1524”, maintains Marina Melero, one of the three brothers in charge of the business.

The monks were the ones who, upon arrival in Spain or in Oaxaca, added sugar, honey and flour, in order to adapt to the tastes of the consumers of the time in Spain.

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Chocolate is one of the foods, coming from American lands, that its indigenous peoples bequeathed to the West. (PEXELS/POLINA TANKILEVITCH)

The dissemination role of the Spanish court

Despite the secrecy, the chocolate arrived in other countries, France being one of the first, thanks to the wedding between the Infanta Maria Teresa of Austria (1638-1683), daughter of the Spanish King Philip IV, and Louis XIV, the Sun King of France, since the Spanish consort I was very fond of this drink.”

The company of the Melero brothers, direct heirs of the Comes family, was born in the Valencian town of Torrente (currently located in Sueca – Valencia), when the chocolate It was taken in a cup and had long since become an exquisite snack or breakfast that years ago the Spanish court had enjoyed, which, in turn, transmitted the taste to the bourgeoisie and upper-class society, who gathered around their tables. to his guests to taste in a porcelain cup the thick dark liquid that delighted the visitors.

“In the nineteenth century, the chocolate had become popular, also due to the invention, in 1828, of a Dutchman, Johannes van Houten, who created a patent for a new hydraulic press with which he managed to manufacture the chocolate solid and, in this way, the first tablets of chocolate”, narrates Melero.

“Already in the 20th century, – continues the co-owner of ‘Chocolates Comes’- it was valued as food basic for its nutritional qualities and ceased to be a luxury of high society and the bourgeoisie to give snacks to children and adults, until it became essential in the rations of soldiers in war and reached pharmacies where it was sold as medicine.

Marina Melero points out that “the first signs of the commercialization of chocolate for children date from the 1930s. At that time the chocolate was widely accepted as a nutrient and average household income was rising, so traders saw this as an opportunity to give the chocolate a young and fresh image. Packaging designs and products developed and focused on the youngest, to develop their taste for chocolate. Needless to say, they succeeded very quickly.”

The person in charge of the company ‘Comes’ describes the process that follows the production of the chocolate from the moment it is acquired for sale. “Cocoa begins with a seed that goes through a transformation from its roasting, peeling and grinding. In that process, the seed becomes a paste that is the most useful and common to use to make most of the chocolates we know.

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It was in the 30s of the last century, when chocolate became fashionable among young people and children. (JULIEN WARNAND)

The other uses of cocoa butter

However, parts of the cocoa can still be obtained, such as its butter, which is used above all for cosmetics or to crystallize and give shine to tablets or chocolates. “To obtain this butter, we start from the paste that undergoes a dismantling process, by which this paste is obtained on the one hand and cocoa without butter, on the other, which is converted into powder, which is used to make the chocolate destined for the cup. We, mainly, dedicate ourselves to training, not to the transformation of cocoa.”

To grow cocoa, a constant temperature is needed throughout the year, with continuous humidity and heat, and this is only found in the equatorial belt of the world, Central America, South America, West Africa and some areas of South Asia.

“Currently, -says Melero- the most appreciated cocoa, according to connoisseurs, is Venezuelan, but when you buy cocoa, you do not buy the grain but the paste product of its transformation and it is no longer mandatory to specify its origin. . Neither the manufacturer nor the client knows its origin, because it depends on the price it has for importing companies, although sometimes it can be purchased with a designation of origin”.

The person in charge of chocolates ‘Comes’ points out that there is an increasing tendency to acquire a chocolate with more purity, because people are looking not only for quality, but also for the chocolate possess those properties that people are interested in being healthier and that are found in the highest concentration of cocoa.

And Marina Melero confirms that her family’s is one of the few companies that remain dedicated to making the chocolate craftsman. “Family businesses that have dedicated themselves to chocolate there are few left, but the few that remain continue to exist with the intention of giving the chocolate the best of generations grateful to the American lands that have offered us the possibility of creating one of the most exquisite sweet delicacies in world cuisine”.

Source-www.diariolibre.com