You can find chocolate’s origins if you trace back to the bitter drink used by the early inhabitants of the Mesoamerica region. The Classic Period, which consists of the era between 250-900 AD, is when people began using it in their religious and social lives. The Mayan people used to harvest the bean from the rainforest that grew around their city. The English translation of the Mayan word for chocolate (“xocoatl”) means “bitter water”. The beans were fermented and then roasted to form a paste. The drink was completed through adding chili peppers, cornmeal, and other various substances.

For currency, Aztecs adopted the bean once they began to rule over large portions of Mesoamerica. In short order, chocolate became an absolutely important part of the Aztec lifestyle. Along with the rulers that the Mayans allowed to drink the beverage, the Aztecs also allowed it to be consumed by priests, honored merchants, and decorated soldiers.
The Aztecs believed that power and wisdom came from eating the fruit or beans. It was also occasionally believed that cocoa beans had aphrodisiac qualities. When Columbus returned from his trip to the Americas, he brought cocoa with him, but the items didn’t attract a whole lot of notice. Westerners recognized that the beans could be used as currency when more frequent quests went to America.
By this stage, the Aztecs had changed the old Maya name “xocoatl”, into their name “chocolatl”, translated “warm liquid”. By 1519, however, Hernando Cortex Begin had a cocoa tree plantation, the very first. The plantation, which was created in the name of Spain, gave the Spanish King Charles the Fifth his first experience of spicy chocolate. Soon it became a delicacy and was enhanced further when Hernando started experimenting by blending the beans with sugar. It was not long before Hernando and others began combining the bean with items such as nutmeg, vanilla, cloves, and cinnamon.
It was only the Spanish nobility that were allowed to drink the beverage, however, and they did not share that knowledge with other countries. It eventually gained access to the rest of the world through Spanish monks who were cultivating the beans. Soon afterwards, chocolate spread throughout Europe although the beans were still used for currency is some parts.
Since then chocolate has slowly spread throughout the decades and centuries, to become the delicacy it is day. It may no longer hold the same sacred status that it once did for religious or royalty use only, but it has improved in taste. The best news is that dark chocolate has been found to have several healthy benefits, which is great, whether or not it is ever proved to be an aphrodisiac.