Hot Chocolate

Hot Chocolate, also known as hot cocoa or drinking Chocolate, is a heated drink consisting of shaved or melted Chocolate or cocoa powder, heated milk or water, and usually a sweetener.

It is often garnished with whipped cream or marshmallows.

Hot Chocolate made with melted Chocolate is sometimes called drinking Chocolate, characterized by less sweetness and a thicker consistency.

The first Chocolate drink is believed to have been created at least 5,300 years starting with the Mayo-Chinchipe culture in what is present-day Ecuador and later consumed by the Maya around 2,500–3,000 years ago.

A cocoa drink was an essential part of Aztec culture by 1400 AD, by which they referred to as xocōlātl.

The drink became popular in Europe after being introduced from Mexico in the New World and has undergone multiple changes since then.

Europeans' first recorded contact with Chocolate was not until 1502 on Columbus's fourth voyage.

After defeating Montezuma's warriors and demanding that the Aztec nobles hand over their valuables, Cortés returned to Spain in 1528, bringing cocoa beans and Chocolate drink making equipment with them.

At this time, Chocolate still only existed in the bitter drink invented by the Mayas.

Sweet hot Chocolate and bar Chocolate were yet to be invented.

After its introduction to Europe, the drink slowly gained popularity.

The Imperial Court of Emperor Charles V soon adopted the drink, and what was then only known as "Chocolate" became a fashionable drink popular with the Spanish upper class.

Additionally, cocoa was given as a dowry when members of the Spanish royal family married other European aristocrats.

At the time, Chocolate was very expensive in Europe because the cocoa beans only grew in South America.

Even when the first Chocolate House (an establishment similar to a modern coffee shop) opened in 1657, Chocolate was still very expensive, costing 50 to 75 pence (approximately 10–15 shillings) a pound (roughly £45–65 in 2016).

At the time, hot Chocolate was often mixed with spices for flavor; one notable recipe was hot Chocolate "infused with fresh jasmine flowers, amber, musk, vanilla and ambergris."

The aristocratic nature of the drink led to Chocolate being referred to as "the drink of the gods" in 1797.

However, José de Acosta, a Spanish Jesuit missionary who lived in Peru and then Mexico in the later 16th century, described xocōlātl as:

"Loathsome to such as are not acquainted with it, having a scum or froth that is very unpleasant taste. Yet it is a drink very much esteemed among the Indians, where with they feast noble men who pass through their country. The Spaniards, both men and women, that are accustomed to the country, are very greedy of this Chocolate. They say they make diverse sorts of it, some hot, some cold, and some temperate, and put therein much of that 'chili'; yea, they make paste thereof, the which they say is good for the stomach and against the catarrh."Within Mesoamerica many drinks were made from cacao beans, and further enhanced by flowers like vanilla to add flavor.

This was a tribute to the Aztecs.

The Aztecs, or Mexica, required conquered people to provide them with Chocolate.

Cups, gourds, cacao beans, as well as other things they acquired were listed in The Essential Codex Mendoza. Cacao became used as a currency throughout Mesoamerica.

The Aztecs used Chocolate to show high status: it was a bad omen for someone low or common to drink Chocolate.

Sweet-tasting hot Chocolate was then invented, leading hot Chocolate to become a luxury item among the European nobility by the 17th century.

In the late 17th century, Sir Hans Sloane, president of the Royal College of Physicians, visited Jamaica, where he was introduced to cocoa.

He found it 'nauseous' but by mixing it with milk made it more palatable.

When Sloane returned to England, he brought the recipe with him, introducing milk Chocolate to England.

Until the 19th century, hot Chocolate was used medicinally to treat ailments such as liver and stomach diseases.

Hot Chocolate is consumed throughout the world and comes in multiple variations, including the spiced Chocolate para mesa of Latin America, the very thick cioccolata calda served in Italy and Chocolate a la taza served in Spain, and the thinner hot cocoa consumed in the United States.

Prepared hot Chocolate can be purchased from a range of establishments, including cafeterias, fast food restaurants, coffeehouses and teahouses.

Powdered hot Chocolate mixes, which can be added to boiling water or hot milk to make the drink at home, are sold at grocery stores and online.

Archaeologists have found evidence that Mayan Chocolate consumption occurred as early as 500 BC, and there is speculation that Chocolate predates even the Mayans.

To make the Chocolate drink, which was served cold, the Maya ground cocoa seeds into a paste and mixed it with water, cornmeal, chili peppers, and other ingredients.

They then poured the drink back and forth from a cup to a pot until a thick foam developed.

Chocolate was available to Maya of all social classes, although the wealthy drank Chocolate from "large spouted vessels" that were often buried with elites.

An early Classic period (460-480 AD) Mayan tomb from the site of Rio Azul, Guatemala, had vessels with the Maya glyph for cacao on them with residue of a Chocolate drink.

Because sugar was yet to come to the Americas, xocōlātl was said to be an acquired taste.

What the Spaniards then called xocōlātl was said to be a drink consisting of a Chocolate base flavored with vanilla and other spices that was served cold.

The drink tasted spicy and bitter as opposed to sweetened modern hot Chocolate.

As to when xocōlātl was first served hot, sources conflict on when and by whom.