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[[File:1184px-Metate Maya.jpeg|thumbnail|200px|left|Figure 1. Mayan plate showing the preparation of chocolate.]]
Chocolate is derived from the New World cacao plant. Since the discovery of the New World, the popularity of chocolate has substantially grown. However, chocolate's history and its consumption go back much further to about four thousand years ago. The forms of chocolate has been found to have more recently greatly varied, but it has always played an important role in tribes and complex societies. From a ritual product to more everyday use, chocolate has greatly impacted the development of the New World in the eyes of European explorers.
====Early History====
====More Recent Use====
The late 19th century continued to see improvements in machines that made the taste and quality of chocolate better. It allowed creamy and rich chocolate to be made that left no aftertaste. With the increasing popularity of chocolate, the rise of fraudulent chocolate or imitation products emerged. European countries soon moved to create food standards and guidelines that protected chocolate and its quality so that imitation products could not be falsely advertised. At the same time, the prices of cacao began to drop dramatically in the 1890s and 1900s.
This now meant that a much wider middle class could purchase chocolate. The production also began to shift away from the New World, and cacao production increased in Asia and Africa in particular. This helped to depress the price of cacao for growers but enabled it to be a mass consumptive product at even greater levels.<ref>For more on the history of cacao in the 19th and 20th centuries, see: Clarence-Smith, W. G. (2000). <i>Cocoa and chocolate, 1765-1914.</i> London ; New York: Routledge.</ref>
Chocolate, even in its earliest history, was a product of great desire that was considered, as the name implies, the food of the gods. The Maya and Aztecs saw it as a warm or cold drink, often drunk as an alcoholic beverage that was bitter in taste and associated with a religious ceremony. With the conquest of the New World, the Spanish brought cacao back to the Old World. For a time, the Spanish even dominated the production of cacao and, therefore, chocolate production. Mixing cacao with honey and sugar made chocolate a more desired product in Europe. Soon, with the backing of the elite and nobles in Europe, chocolate became a highly valued drink.
It was only in the early 19th century that chocolate became easier to produce and by the mid-19th century, it could finally be produced in a solid form. By the late 19th century, chocolate became a mass consumption item that spread to all classes. Many well-known brands soon developed by in the early 20th century. Innovations in preservation helped chocolate to be used in a variety of foods and products. While chocolate's importance is undisputed among foods worldwide, the basic cacao beans used have now mostly grown in volatile West Africa. This has, unfortunately, at times, led to difficult production circumstances and even modern slavery. <youtube>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibjUpk9Iagk</youtube>
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