Story of chocolate in Spain
Chocolate is a delicacy from the New World that was brought back to Spain in the XVI century. Cortes brought cacao home to Spain in 1529, according to many scholars. He was not the first to do so. Nearly 30 years prior, C-hristopher Columbus had presented cacao beans from the Caribbean to King Ferdina-nd a-nd Queen Isabella as a curiosity, a-nd nobody considered them further.
The navigator C-hristopher Columbus, with the economic backing of the Catholic Monarchs, first reached the shores of the New World on 12 October 1492, initially believing that he had reached India. This voyage was carried out to expa-nd markets by establishing new trade routes a-nd therefore rival the Portuguese Empire, which was already well established in Asia. Following the success of that first voyage to the New World, others were organised with the intention of exploring a-nd creating new trade routes. On his fourth voyage, Columbus, in 1502, met an unexpected storm a-nd was forced to temporarily la-nd on 15 August on the Bay Isla-nds. In their first explorations of the area, Columbus group came upon a boat of Mayan origin travelling from the Yucatán Peninsula. The Spaniards were surprised by the large size of the vessel. Columbus detained the vessel a-nd examined the cargo, which contained cocoa beans that he called almonds in his diary. However, he did not attach importance to these, a-nd after this original inspection he let the boat proceed with its cargo.
In the later period from 1517 to 1519, the Spanish conquistadors Bernal Díaz del Castillo (who referred to the use of cocoa by Aztecs in his book Historia verdadera de la conquista de la Nueva España) a-nd Hernán Cortés both tried the drink a-nd found it to have both bitter a-nd spicy tastes due to the use of achiote. On occasions cornmeal a-nd hallucinogenic mushrooms were also added to the drink. Thereafter the Spaniards knew that cocoa beans were considered legal tender by the locals. Fray Toribio de Benavente (nicknamed Motolinía) mentioned the existence of cocoa in his works such as Memorias or Libro de Cosas de la Nueva España o de los naturales de ella.
Yet Cortes did his homework a-nd sweetened the cacao drink for Spaniards, adding copious amounts of sugar that was unavailable in Mesoamerica. Before sailing home, he also planted cacao trees in the Caribbean.Unlike the Mesoamericans, the Spaniards kept their discovery on the hush.
For nearly 100 years, Spanish aristocrats secretly sipped this new delicacy. They also continued to experiment, adding cinnamon a-nd vanilla to the sugar a-nd serving it steaming hot. As the drink gained popularity, the Spanish planted more cacao trees in its colonies in Ecuador, Venezuela, Peru a-nd Jamaica.
The navigator C-hristopher Columbus, with the economic backing of the Catholic Monarchs, first reached the shores of the New World on 12 October 1492, initially believing that he had reached India. This voyage was carried out to expa-nd markets by establishing new trade routes a-nd therefore rival the Portuguese Empire, which was already well established in Asia. Following the success of that first voyage to the New World, others were organised with the intention of exploring a-nd creating new trade routes. On his fourth voyage, Columbus, in 1502, met an unexpected storm a-nd was forced to temporarily la-nd on 15 August on the Bay Isla-nds. In their first explorations of the area, Columbus group came upon a boat of Mayan origin travelling from the Yucatán Peninsula. The Spaniards were surprised by the large size of the vessel. Columbus detained the vessel a-nd examined the cargo, which contained cocoa beans that he called almonds in his diary. However, he did not attach importance to these, a-nd after this original inspection he let the boat proceed with its cargo.
In the later period from 1517 to 1519, the Spanish conquistadors Bernal Díaz del Castillo (who referred to the use of cocoa by Aztecs in his book Historia verdadera de la conquista de la Nueva España) a-nd Hernán Cortés both tried the drink a-nd found it to have both bitter a-nd spicy tastes due to the use of achiote. On occasions cornmeal a-nd hallucinogenic mushrooms were also added to the drink. Thereafter the Spaniards knew that cocoa beans were considered legal tender by the locals. Fray Toribio de Benavente (nicknamed Motolinía) mentioned the existence of cocoa in his works such as Memorias or Libro de Cosas de la Nueva España o de los naturales de ella.
Yet Cortes did his homework a-nd sweetened the cacao drink for Spaniards, adding copious amounts of sugar that was unavailable in Mesoamerica. Before sailing home, he also planted cacao trees in the Caribbean.Unlike the Mesoamericans, the Spaniards kept their discovery on the hush.
For nearly 100 years, Spanish aristocrats secretly sipped this new delicacy. They also continued to experiment, adding cinnamon a-nd vanilla to the sugar a-nd serving it steaming hot. As the drink gained popularity, the Spanish planted more cacao trees in its colonies in Ecuador, Venezuela, Peru a-nd Jamaica.
