When we think of chocolate we often think of the luxurious and indulgent modern-day confections from Belgium, Switzerland and Germany, or fond childhood memories of the American classics like Hershey’s Bars. There is however one country that can proudly lay claim to being the home of chocolate, albeit in a very different form to that enjoyed across the world today. That country is of course Mexico. While there is some academic debate regarding the exact origin of the precious cacao trees used to create chocolate, any Mexican will tell you that chocolate not only hails from Mexico but is a key part of its history and heritage. 

The history of chocolate begins with the cultivation of cacao trees and the beans they produce. While some studies have pointed to the domestication of cacao trees in South America before Mexico, the clearest evidence of the first widespread consumption of products derived from cacao beans points to the Olmecs, a Mesoamerican people hailing from modern day Veracruz and Tabasco. As there is no written history from the period, much of what we know about the Olmec way of life and how cacao played a role in it comes from secondhand sources. Scientific tests have however been able to confirm the residue of cacao products in earthenware containers used by the group dating back as far as 1750 B.C. Evidence suggests that cacao beans were fermented and used to make a sour stimulating drink which would be hard to recognize as chocolate by the modern drinker! It is thought that this beverage was not an everyday drink but was primarily used as part of religious rituals and potentially for medicinal purposes. There is also evidence that similar products were being made and consumed by other groups in southern Mexico, such as the Mokayanan in modern day Chiapas.

Chocolate was brought a step closer to its modern form by the Maya peoples of the Yucatan peninsula. Cacao beans and derived products played an important role in day-to-day Maya life and were viewed as a gift from the rain god Chaac. Cacao beans were processed into a paste and then mixed with other ingredients, primarily cornmeal and chilies, to create a rich bitter foamy beverage, consumed hot. Other flavorings used included vanilla and annatto. It appears to have been a regular part of the Mayan diet as well as playing a special role in ceremonies, festivals, weddings, feasts, and religious rites. It was used as a funerary offering, to pay tribute, and according to some accounts as a basic currency. Scholars differ on whether it was viewed as medicinal, or simply as a healthy part of a balanced diet. 

The Maya passed their love of chocolate to the Aztecs, who while unable to cultivate the cacao trees, were able to impose taxation and tributes on conquered neighboring groups who paid in the precious beans. The Aztecs also used the beans as a currency, with their value exceeding that of gold at times. They also consumed their chocolate as a drink, although differed from the Maya by preferring the beverage cold. Again, chocolate was associated with a deity, in this case Quetzalcoatl, the feathered serpent god responsible for the creation of mankind, was said to have given the drink to man against the wishes of the other gods. Chocolate was used widely across society, featured in military rations and reputed to be a powerful aphrodisiac. Montezuma, the legendary Aztec emperor who was ruling during the time of first contact with the Spanish,  was reputed to be especially fond of it, consuming many cups a day, although the reports suggesting he drank 50 cups a day should probably be taken with a pinch of salt. 

Some etymologists claim that the Aztecs gave us the word chocolate, with it coming from the Nahuatl word Xocolatl, literally bitter water. This theory has been contested in recent years with the Yucatec Maya Chokol – meaning hot, combined with the Nahuatl Atl – meaning water, suggested as an alternative. Others have even suggested the word comes from chicoli, the Nahuatl name for a molinillo, the traditional wooden implement still used in Mexico to mix and froth chocolate drinks. Whichever theory is accurate, it is clear that the name originated from the Mesoamerican languages.

It was the Aztecs who introduced chocolate to the Spanish, with Hernán Cortés often cited as the first European to try the drink. While the colonizing Europeans frowned upon the use of the drink as a religious rite, their disdain did not extend to chocolate itself, as it quickly became popular for both its flavor and stimulating effect. The Spaniards also brought with them new flavorings and methods of production, adding cinnamon, milk and sugar to their tastes. Chocolate was carried across the Atlantic to the courts of Spain, where it again found popularity and eventually spread across the nations of Europe. The new demand for cacao beans created by European consumers had an impact in Mexico and other parts of the Americas as Spanish, Dutch, English and French colonial powers created vast plantations, using Indigenous labor and subsequently importing slaves from Africa to replace workers lost to disease and exhaustion.

While European tastes have influenced the development of chocolate from the drink of the Olmecs, Maya and Aztecs, Mexico has maintained its own distinct tradition. Chocolate is still often consumed as a frothy drink, and while milk has often been introduced, it is widely available made in the classic way with water and without the addition of sweeteners. A variety of specialized chocolate drinks such as pozol, a cold beverage made with cocoa and fermented corn dough, or champurrada, made with masa, and spices such as cinnamon star anise, are popular across the country. Chocolate is also often used in Mexican cooking to lend a distinctive rich and bitter flavor, such as in the popular mole poblano sauce.

Mexico is rightly proud of its role as the birthplace of chocolate, and chocolate museums and specialist chocolate tasting tours are features of many cities, tapping into a demand for traditional chocolate. While many chocolatiers in other countries produce and market Mexican, Aztec or Maya chocolate products, they often bear only a passing resemblance to the real thing, with flavors and ingredients designed to be palatable to the people accustomed to sweeter tastes. If you want to experience the true taste of Mexican chocolate, there is no better place than small cafés or better yet the kitchen tables of abuelas across Mexico.

If you want to read more about Mexican history and culture, check out our regular blogs here. If you are interested in experiencing Mexico for yourself, why not look at Na’atik’s popular language immersion program, where you live and eat with a local family while taking Spanish or even Maya classes at our non-profit school. All funding raised from immersion visits remains in the local community and helps us provide free and subsidized classes for local children. To find out more, click here or contact the immersion team on say@naatikmexico.org