The Bittersweet History of Chocolate: From Aztec Gold to Global Empire

Cocoa beans were used as currency for the payment of tribute, and this is what surprises Spaniards. They thought, you know what a good idea to use a bean instead of gold coins for currency.

Until the 19th century, it was only a drink. The kind of beverage that they were offered by the Aztecs was really very bitter. So the first idea was to add sugar to it, sugar being introduced to America by the Spanish conquistadors. I would say the idea of adding other things to chocolate really is more of a 19th century, particularly in northern Italy, in the city of Turin. A delicacy called Gianduja, which is a far away ancestor of present-day Nutella.

Cocoa originates from the Orinoco and Amazon basin in northern South America. It migrated—whether by the will of man or naturally, nobody really knows—to Central America from Panama to southern Mexico, more or less, which is where it started its original cultivation. First the Olmecs, then the Mayas, and finally the Aztecs. Now, cocoa, of course, cannot be cultivated outside of tropical climates.

So you have to follow the line in between both tropics. The first area where cocoa was introduced outside of America was in Asia. The Spaniards brought it to the Philippines. Cocoa was introduced in Africa because Portuguese slave traders were worried that Brazil would cancel the slave trade after its independence in 1822. And so they moved to these Portuguese islands, Sao Tomé and Principe. Cocoa production developed into a major business. And so cocoa plantations in Africa have always been managed by Africans, not by colonial powers.

It thrived, really, from the beginning of the 20th century and has become now a major crop. West Africa accounts for about 70 to 75% of entire world production, followed by Latin America, that recently has started becoming again a major actor in the production.

Up to the 19th century, chocolate was a very limited commodity. So the first major revolution was the democratization of sugar in the 19th century, basically with the introduction of beet sugar, which made the price go down. The chocolate industry started to develop in the late 18th century in the UK, and in a lesser degree in the United States, but truly developed during the 19th century in a limited number of countries, basically in Britain, France, Germany and a little bit Spain, particularly in the Catalan region.

At the end of the 19th century, production of cocoa beans was about 100,000 tons. Now it’s 4.8 million. Five companies—basically Nestlé in Switzerland, Ferrero in Italy, Mondelez International, Hershey and Mars in the United States—control between 45 and 50% of all the chocolate consumed worldwide. Probably the most remarkable success story is Ferrero.

They started out after World War Two. It was a small bakery at the beginning in northern Italy, and hit it big. And that’s where Nutella came from. “When there’s Nutella waiting, kids can’t wait to get home.” There are three major varieties of cocoa bean: one the original one called “Criollo” Spanish which means Creole. It’s the one that comes really from the Orinoco basin, and it has inspired the shape of the Coke bottle, comes from a local pod that accounts only for about 5%.

Then you have the other variety, the Forastero, which means foreigner, basically from the Amazon basin. It’s smaller. It’s not as flavor intensive as the Criollo but it’s more resistant to disease. And that accounts for about 80% of world production. And that’s the one that’s basically produced in Africa. And then you have a hybrid between the two achieved at the end of the 18th century on the island of Trinidad. It’s called Trinitario, and that accounts for about 15%.

Recently there has been a tendency, probably inspired by wine cultivation, because of the concern for the pure origin and flavor type of cocoa. Criollo has become, again, I would say, the major favorite. The premium on fine cocoa of the Creole variety can go up to $12,000 per ton.

“Growers have been destroying primary forests for decades to make room for their cocoa plantations.” “The cocoa used by candy giant Mars is harvested by impoverished children.”

In Africa, one of the problems with the increase in cocoa production is the fact that cocoa bean production is becoming a threat to the environment because deforestation plus climate change. And this is something that has to be curtailed. The Ivory Coast in particular, has had a really terrible problem with its development.

Cocoa plantation is not wild, tropical forest. It’s something that has been deforested. You plant cocoa trees, and then you plant other trees to give shade to the cocoa trees. But it’s a totally remodeled environment. The other, of course, is particularly in West Africa, there are the use of child more or less slave labor has been ascertained and has to be contained. Most of the major companies, I mean, Nestlé or even Lindt, they won’t tell you where it comes from.