History of Cacao 7 Spain
Hello my fellow chocolate lovers,
I am Takanori Chiwata, the chocolate engineer of COCONAMA CHOCOLATE.
In our last post, I shared about how Europeans came across cacao in American continent.
Today, I would like to talk about how cacao adapted into the European culture.
As you expected, it all began in Spain.
To tell the truth, no one knows exactly when and who brought cacao over to Spain.
On the record, it states that the patriarch of the Mayans brought over gifts including cacao and a special cup for the chocolate drink when he was invited to the Spanish court in 1544. Philip II of Spain maybe drank chocolate too!
There were interactions between the community of Spain and the New continent, and the priests especially traveled often between the two.
Maybe cacao came to Spain through monasteries.
The official record states that cacao first came to Sevilla in 1585.
It is unknown exactly how cacao was introduced to Spain, but we know for sure that it got introduced as a warm drink just like in Mexico.
In books of travelers published in other European countries, it is stated that “It is only the Spanish in Europe who can make a perfect chocolate”.
Chocolate drank in Spanish court was similar to that of Mexico, but the materials they used were different.
They first drank chocolate from a china cup that was similar to the ones from Mexico.
However that lacked elegance, so they started to place a porcelain saucer under the cup and served it at the court.
It was considered a manner to treat a messenger from another country with chocolate.
Perhaps something like this?
Like so, it became a huge hype within the Haus Habsburg royalties in the 1700s, and eventually spread to the public as a drink to enjoy at places like bullring.
Now that we introduced how chocolate spread from the Spanish court to the public, where next?
Let’s save the fun for later. See you all on our next post!
With hopes that you will be able to encounter the perfect chocolate just for you,
Takanori Chiwata
