Changes

The earliest evidence of for the use of the cacao plant for chocolate derive from the Olmec cultures culture that populated southern Mexicomore 3000-4000 years ago. While no direct evidence exists, such as written records, trace chemicals that include theobromine , found in the plant, indicate that some ceramic vessels were used in the preparation or direct consumption of chocolate-derived products. Most likely, this early chocolate was roasted and fermented, where cacao seeds would have been first pulverized and groundedin using a mortar and pestle. In fact, for much almost all of chocolate's history, it has been drunk rather than consumed as a solid and often it was an alcoholic beverage (Figure 1).<ref>For more on the history of the cacao plant, see: McNeil, C. L. (2006). <i>Chocolate in Mesoamerica: a cultural history of cacao.</i> Gainesville: University Press of Florida. Retrieved from http://site.ebrary.com/id/10490739</ref>

The Maya are the first to document the consumption and use of chocolate. Like the Olmecs, the also document archaeological and historical evidence indicate that chocolate was consumed as a drink rather than eaten. In fact, Mayan depictions indicate a ritual style consumption and this is suggested by Mayan writings; the cacao plant was later know to Europeans as the plant of the gods. The Aztecs from central Mexico also used cacao and chocolate, where it also became a religiously important drink that had its own association with the god Quetzalcoatl, a feathered serpent deity who protected and held the knowledge of chocolate. Aztec myth states that the gods became angry when humans learned about chocolate. The Aztecs drank chocolate cold, suggesting some differences from the Maya who liked it mostly as a warm fermented drink. Both warm and cold drinks likely existed. Cacao beans seem to have also been used as a type of currency, traded to purchase other objects as needed. Christopher Columbus, on his fourth trip to the New World, while traveling with Ferdinand his son, encountered the cacao bean in 1502, making him the first European to encounter this plant and learn about chocolate.<ref>For more on the consumption of chocolate by the Maya and Aztecs, as well as its ritual connections, see: Frydenborg, K. (2015). <i>Chocolate: sweet science and dark secrets of the world’s favorite treat.</i> Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.</ref>