Forms today many mexicans still grind cacao using a

Unformatted text preview: y the same today. However, major manufacturers use large ovens rather than clay griddles like this one to roast the seeds. roast Here we see a servant presenting her master with a cup of chocolate. master This image from a 16th-century Aztec record depicts cacao seeds and other acceptable forms of tribute payment. forms Today, many Mexicans still grind cacao using a mano and metate, just like the ancient Maya and Aztec. Cacao seeds are reduced into powder in a stone mortar and pestle. in Archaeologists estimate that Aztec cooking pots, cups, and dishes like this one would have cost between 40 and 100 cacao seeds apiece. cost The full cacao process. Seeds being roasted, the powder ground, the paste in one bowl and the drink in the other. in Cacao paste which is ready to be mixed in a bowl of water. Statue of a dignitary, Vera Cruz culture, 200-500 AD. 200-500 Cocoa is one of the building blocks of the Mayan agriculture and religion. Cocoa was offered as a valuable gift to deceased dignitaries at their funeral ceremonies. Scientists have discovered in their tombs terracotta recipients with a lid and a handle that were filled with a dark brown powder: the relics of the chocolate drink that was offered to the deceased. Mayan vases show sculpted objects Mayan referring to cocoa beans, while others look similar to the cocoa pod itself. similar Saucers were first invented to keep chocolate off of nobility and royalty’s fine clothes. of Travelers visiting Spain from Germany, France, England, Holland, and Italy returned home with tales England, —and samples—of chocolate. Europeans and Arabs had already been taking people form Africa for many years to work in their homes. form Many European countries owned land where they also grew sugar cane. The growing popularity of sweetened chocolate, coffee, and tea in Europe increased the flow of sugar produced by a rising number of enslaved people during the 17th and 18th centuries. people High import taxes on cacao and sugar meant that few people other than nobility could afford these luxuries. Here, Madame du Barry, the mistress of King Louis XV of France, is seen sipping chocolate. of By 1700, London’s chocolate houses numbered nearly 2,000. King Charles II tried to close these establishments because he feared that they were places his political enemies could gather. his Made of porcelain or silver, chocolate services differ from tea and coffee services. The chocolate pot itself often has a hole in the lid so that the molinillo can be inserted for stirring the brew. inserted Fry & Sons Company of Bristol, England, introduced the first solid eating chocolate. The family—who, like several of the early chocolate dynasties, were Quakers—also boycotted cacao from p...
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