15,697
edits
Changes
no edit summary
==European Use==
[[File:1600px-Pietro Longhi 0250.jpeg|thumbnail|left|Figure 2. Painting showing the consumption of liquid chocolate in the morning, a common time and way in which chocolate was consumed in the 18th century.]]
The arrival of Spanish conquistadors, specifically Hernando Cortés, brought Europeans not only in contact with the chocolate, who initially did not like the taste of the drink as it was bitter but the conquistadors also imported it back to Europe. Chocolate, at this time, did not include sugar, so it was usually quite bitter. European tastes were not as accustomed to bitter tastes for foods, resulting in Europeans looking to modify the taste. By the 1590s, chocolate was now mixed with honey, vanilla, and sugar, giving it a much sweeter taste, and it became more favorable. With the conquest of South America and later West Indies and the beginning of the establishment of establishing sugarcane plantations, the production of sugar combined with chocolate revolutionized European tastes. Chocolate was still consumed as a drink, where it became associated with upper-class tastes and the nobility in general by the early 17th century. Sugar consumption now began to increase in parallel with the importation of chocolate. The desire for chocolate and the need for sugar, in part for chocolate, also helped push the demand for slavery in plantations during the 17th and 18th centuries. Interestingly, some church members had initially potentially considered chocolate drinks as sinful, where some even drank it to divert themselves from long services. However, this changed as the elite and noblemen supported its consumption. The 17th century was also a time for experimentation with chocolate, including the first known attempt to coat almonds with chocolate. Nevertheless, chocolate mostly remained a drink.<ref>For more on the early history of chocolate consumption in Europe, see: Grivetti, L., & Shapiro, H.-Y. (Eds.). (, 2009). <i>Chocolate: History, Culture, and Heritage.</i> Hoboken, N.J: Wiley.</ref>
By the second half of the 18th century, with industrialization in the UK, the first chocolate factories were being created that used hydraulic machinery. In subsequent decades, entrepreneurs began to experiment with different machinery to facilitate the process of separating cacao butter from cacao seeds and making chocolate easier and with new tastes. The 1730s also began to break the Spanish monopoly, mostly in Central and South America, of cacao. It was soon spread to other parts of the Americas and Africa for production. Gradually, Africa became the leading producer of cacao, but this took some time to develop. In the colonies in the United States in 1765, in the state of Massachusetts, the first chocolate factory was built (Figure 2).<ref>For more on the industrialization of chocolate, see: La Boone, J. A. (2006). <i>Around the World of Food: Adventures in Culinary History.</i> New York: iUniverse, Inc, pg. 83. </ref>
