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Period: 1765 BCE to
1765
he first chocolate factory in America opens. Using an old grist mill, Dr Baker and Mr Hannon ground cacao beans into chocolate liquor and pressed the paste into cakes meant to be made into drinking chocolate. After Hannon was lost at sea on a cacao buying expedition, Baker’s family continued production until the firm was bought out by General Foods in 1927. -
Sep 9, 900
900 AD
Maya Civilisation: Pottery cups found in the tombs of Maya nobility contain symbols for cacoa and images for its preparation. -
Jul 7, 1500
1,500 BC:
The people of Central America begin to drink chocolate. The cacao tree may have been cultivated earlier than people first thought. Linguistic links to the words cacao and chocolate can be traced back to the Olmec peoples which pre-dates Maya and Atzec civilisation by several hundred years. -
Sep 26, 1500
1500w
The Spanish bring chocolate back to mainland Spain. The Spanish find chocolate too dark and bitter and start to use cane sugar and vanilla and other lighter spices to as flavouring to give chocolate a sweeter taste. -
Jul 4, 1540
1540s:
An Aztec document containing a list of price equivalents designated the value of a tomato as one cacao bean, while an avocado was worth three, and a "good turkey hen" was worth 100 "full" or 120 "shrunken" cacao beans. -
1657
A chocolate house opens in England where you can buy a drink of chocolate. Diarist Samuel Pepys makes regular mention of visiting chocolate drinking houses.