Some 4,000 years ago, chocolate used to be considered the "food of the gods" in Southern Mexico. While there are no conclusive findings regarding which culture was the first to cultivate the cocoa tree, it is believed that Mexico was the first to use the beans in beverages. Only Aztec emperors and nobility could afford to drink it, which they did in large quantities to increase their libido and their strength. Their drinks were made with fermented, roasted, and powdered cocoa beans mixed with vanilla, honey, chili, and water. However, the Aztecs could not grow it in the arid regions of central Mexico. Instead, they relied on Mayans to deliver it to them, and a robust trade went on for centuries until the Spaniards came and inadvertently wiped out much of the indigenous population through disease. When Hernán Cortés brought chocolate back to Spain, it became a popular and very expensive drink for Spanish royalty who mixed it with cinnamon and sugar. Spain, separated from mainland Europe by the Pyrenees Mountains, managed to keep chocolate a secret until a Spanish princess married King Louis XIII of France in 1615 and brought her beloved chocolate with her. Chocolate soon became a mainstay in most royal courts of Europe. Nobility colonized many equatorial countries to establish cocoa plantations.
In 1828 Johannes van Houten invented the cocoa press which made chocolate into a powder and made it much more affordable for the average person. The first chocolate bar was created not long after that. In 1879, Rodolphe Lindt invented the conching machine, which gave chocolate a smoother texture and the addition of milk was introduced to chocolate for the first time. The conching machine also allowed for the assembly line production of chocolate for the first time. Many well-known chocolate companies were created at that time, such as Cadbury's and Hershey's. The rest is history.
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