Chocolate: A History

...who doesn't know what chocolates are?

But for a clear description, Encarta Encyclopedia states that...

Chocolate, a preparation made from the fruit of the cacao tree and used as a flavoring and as an ingredient in beverages and various kinds of confectionery. The cacao tree is native to Central and South America. The seeds produced by the tree are known as cocoa beans. When Native Americans first began cultivating cocoa beans is unknown, but residues of cocoa have been discovered on pots dating back to about 600 bc.

Chocolate was first prepared for a European by the Aztecs. The word derives from the Nahuatl word chocolatl (also spelled xocolatl), which literally means “bitter water.” The Aztecs made a hot chocolate drink from cocoa beans for the Spanish adventurer Hernán Cortés in ad 1519. He introduced it to Europe on his return to Spain in 1528. It gradually spread through Europe as a beverage. In 1847 the first chocolate for eating was produced by Fry and Sons of Bristol, England. The first milk chocolate, prepared by adding powdered milk to the pressed cocoa bean, was produced in Switzerland in 1875. In the British colonies of North America, chocolate was first manufactured at Milton Lower Mills, near present-day Dorchester, Massachusetts, in 1765.

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blah blah blah... and now we have hersheys, cadbury, toblerone, nestle, lindt, goya, tanggo, chocnut, my favorite ricoa flat tops and curly tops...and so much more. hehehe

Chocolate sure is the sweetest pleasure of mankind!