The Bizarre and Delicious History of Chocolate: Gods, Scandals, and War

0:00 Speaker 1: Welcome back to the Strange History Podcast, where we explore

0:03 Speaker 1: the weird, the wonderful, and the downright bizarre stories that

0:08 Speaker 1: history has to offer. I'm your host, Amy, and today

0:12 Speaker 1: we're diving into the rich and deliciously strange history of

0:16 Speaker 1: one of the world's most beloved treats, chocolate. Chocolate has

0:20 Speaker 1: been an object of obsession, a form of currency, a

0:24 Speaker 1: sacred offering, and even a so called medicine. It has

0:28 Speaker 1: sparked revolutions, caused scandals, and played a role in some

0:33 Speaker 1: of history's strangest moments. So grab a cup of hot

0:36 Speaker 1: cocoa or maybe a chocolate bar, because this is going

0:40 Speaker 1: to be a wild ride. Chocolate's history begins thousands of

0:44 Speaker 1: years ago in the rainforests of Mesoamerica, where the cacao

0:48 Speaker 1: tree theobroma cacao, which means food of the gods in Greek,

0:53 Speaker 1: was first cultivated by the Oulmecs around fifteen hundred BCE,

0:58 Speaker 1: But archaeological evidence suggests that the meso Americans were making

1:02 Speaker 1: an alcoholic chocolate drink as far back as fourteen hundred BCEE.

1:07 Speaker 1: That's right before chocolate was sweet, it was boozy, fermented

1:11 Speaker 1: cocw pulp was used to create a beer like drink,

1:14 Speaker 1: which was likely consumed during rituals and celebrations. The Maya

1:19 Speaker 1: and Aztecs would later turn cacw beans into a bitter,

1:23 Speaker 1: frothy drink called zocoatal, often mixed with chili, peppers, vanilla,

1:28 Speaker 1: or other spices. The Aztecs believed that the cacaw tree

1:32 Speaker 1: was a gift from the god Ketsalkoatal, the feathered serpent

1:36 Speaker 1: deity of wisdom and wind. According to legend, Ketsalcoatal was

1:41 Speaker 1: betrayed by his fellow gods for sharing chocolate with humans,

1:45 Speaker 1: leading to his exile. So, in a way, every time

1:49 Speaker 1: you eat chocolate, you're indulging in a rebellious divine gift.

1:53 Speaker 1: To the Aztecs, cacw wasn't just a tasty treat. It

1:56 Speaker 1: was currency. That's right. You could literally by a turkey

2:00 Speaker 1: with a handful of coco beans. The value of cacao

2:04 Speaker 1: was so high that counterfeiting beans was a crime punishable

2:07 Speaker 1: by death. Imagine being on trial for faking a chocolate bean.

2:11 Speaker 1: Here is a chocolate fact. The largest chocolate bar in

2:14 Speaker 1: the world made its way into the Guinness Book of

2:17 Speaker 1: Records and quite rightly so it weighed a hefty four

2:21 Speaker 1: point four tons. And let's talk about Montezuma the Second,

2:25 Speaker 1: the infamous Aztec emperor, who was the ultimate chocolate addict.

2:30 Speaker 1: He reportedly drank over fifty cups of cacao a day,

2:34 Speaker 1: believing it gave him strength, energy, and enhanced certain other abilities.

2:40 Speaker 1: Some historians argue that he saw it as an aphrodisiac,

2:43 Speaker 1: which is why as tech women were strictly forbidden from

2:46 Speaker 1: drinking it. Sorry, ladies, no ancient hot cocoa for you.

2:51 Speaker 1: When Spanish conquistador Hernan Cortes arrived in the fifteen hundreds,

2:56 Speaker 1: he was introduced to the bitter cacow drink and became

2:59 Speaker 1: the first year of to try chocolate. At first, the

3:02 Speaker 1: Spanish weren't thrilled with the taste imagine expecting hot cocoa

3:06 Speaker 1: and getting spicy, unsweetened sludge. But once sugar was added,

3:11 Speaker 1: game changer. Chocolate quickly became a sensation across Europe, especially

3:16 Speaker 1: among the elite. When chocolate arrived in Spain in fifteen

3:20 Speaker 1: twenty eight, it was actually used as a medicine before

3:23 Speaker 1: it became a treat. Physicians prescribed it for ailments ranging

3:27 Speaker 1: from fatigue to digestive issues, but chocolate's medicinal reputation also

3:32 Speaker 1: had its dark side. One doctor even blamed chocolate for

3:35 Speaker 1: women suffering from hysteria, claiming it was over stimulating their nerves. Clearly,

3:41 Speaker 1: the man didn't understand that chocolate is a cure, not

3:44 Speaker 1: a cause. Another chocolate fact. Chocolate's melting point is just

3:48 Speaker 1: below human body temperature, which gives it a unique and

3:52 Speaker 1: enjoyable melting sensation. By the sixteen hundreds, chocolate houses think

3:57 Speaker 1: coffee shops but fancier rang up in cities like London

4:01 Speaker 1: and Paris, but not everyone was a fan. In the

4:05 Speaker 1: seventeenth century, a bishop in Chiapas, Mexico, banned chocolate from

4:10 Speaker 1: being consumed during public mass, as people were sipping it

4:14 Speaker 1: in church instead of paying attention. This turned out to

4:17 Speaker 1: be a grave mistake. Shortly after he was mysteriously poisoned

4:23 Speaker 1: coincidence or the world's first case of death by chocolate.

4:27 Speaker 1: Another chocolate fact. A few years ago in England, at

4:31 Speaker 1: the traditional Christie's auction house in London, the hammer fell

4:34 Speaker 1: on a bid of seven hundred forty nine euros. The

4:38 Speaker 1: high price may seem rather suspect when you consider the

4:41 Speaker 1: item that was being auctioned a bar of chocolate, not

4:44 Speaker 1: just any bar of chocolate. However, this particular bar of

4:48 Speaker 1: chocolate went out of date one hundred years ago, So

4:52 Speaker 1: what is so special about this chocolate bar? The chocolate

4:55 Speaker 1: bar in question was, in fact a snack that British

4:58 Speaker 1: Antarctic explorer Robert Scott took with him on his second

5:02 Speaker 1: Historic South Pole Exhibition, an exhibition from which he never returned.

5:07 Speaker 1: This was back in nineteen twelve. His pioneering work for

5:11 Speaker 1: science was still being fondly remembered in two thousand and one,

5:15 Speaker 1: when the new owner of his chocolate bar could physically

5:17 Speaker 1: hold it in his hands. Chocolate's history isn't all sweet.

5:21 Speaker 1: There are also bitter chapters, especially when it comes to slavery.

5:26 Speaker 1: From the seventeenth to the nineteenth centuries, cacw plantations relied

5:30 Speaker 1: heavily on enslaved labor, particularly in the Caribbean and West Africa.

5:36 Speaker 1: Even today, the chocolate industry continues to struggle with ethical

5:40 Speaker 1: sourcing and child labor issues. So while we indulge, it's

5:44 Speaker 1: important to be aware of chocolate's complex and sometimes troubling past.

5:49 Speaker 1: White chocolate is not a true chocolate because it doesn't

5:52 Speaker 1: contain cacow. White chocolate primarily consists of cocoa, butter, sugar,

5:57 Speaker 1: and milk solids, and sometimes include vanilla or other flavorings.

6:02 Speaker 1: Unlike milk and dark chocolate, it lacks cocoa solids, which

6:06 Speaker 1: give those varieties their characteristic darker color and flavor. More

6:11 Speaker 1: morsels of chocolate facts. It takes four hundred cocoa beans

6:16 Speaker 1: to make one pound of chocolate, and each coco tree

6:19 Speaker 1: produces approximately two thousand, five hundred beans. Most cocoa seventy

6:25 Speaker 1: percent hails from West Africa, and some cocao trees are

6:29 Speaker 1: more than two hundred years old, but most give marketable

6:32 Speaker 1: cocoa beans for only the first twenty five years. Here

6:36 Speaker 1: is some sweet history. The invention of the chocolate chip

6:40 Speaker 1: cookie was an accident. The chocolate chip cookie has a

6:43 Speaker 1: delightful origin story. It was invented by Ruth Wakefield in

6:48 Speaker 1: the nineteen thirties. Ruth and her husband owned the Toll

6:52 Speaker 1: House Inn in Whitman, Massachusetts. One day, while baking cookies,

6:57 Speaker 1: Ruth decided to add chopped up bits of a nestlay

7:00 Speaker 1: semi sweet chocolate bar into her cookie dough. Expecting the

7:04 Speaker 1: chocolate to melt and blend into the dough. Instead, the

7:08 Speaker 1: chocolate pieces retained their shape, and the chocolate chip cookie

7:13 Speaker 1: was born. The cookies became incredibly popular, and Ruth eventually

7:17 Speaker 1: struck a deal with Nestlay. The company began printing her

7:21 Speaker 1: recipe on their chocolate bar packaging, and in return, Ruth

7:25 Speaker 1: received a lifetime supply of chocolate. This sweet invention has

7:29 Speaker 1: since become a beloved treat worldwide. Another morsel of facts,

7:34 Speaker 1: Benjamin Franklin sold chocolate in his print shop in Philadelphia.

7:38 Speaker 1: Then there's the bizarre case of doctor James Baker, who

7:41 Speaker 1: co founded what is now Baker's Chocolate. Some claim he

7:45 Speaker 1: was so obsessed with chocolate that he believed it could

7:48 Speaker 1: cure almost any illness. While we can't confirm he went

7:51 Speaker 1: full mad scientists, we do know that for centuries people

7:55 Speaker 1: have claimed chocolate has mystical healing powers, from curing fatigue

8:00 Speaker 1: to working as an antidepressant. Fun fact, Spanish royalty gave

8:05 Speaker 1: cakes of cacao and their dowries. Does anyone know of

8:08 Speaker 1: a Spanish princess who needs a husband asking for a friend,

8:12 Speaker 1: not my handsome son. Chocolate's popularity skyrocketed around the world

8:16 Speaker 1: thanks to its role in war. During World War I

8:19 Speaker 1: and World War II, chocolate was included in soldiers rations

8:23 Speaker 1: for its high energy content and morale boosting properties. Soldiers

8:28 Speaker 1: treasured their chocolate bars, sometimes using them to barter for

8:32 Speaker 1: supplies or as a small sweet escape from the horrors

8:36 Speaker 1: of war. There are even stories of enemy soldiers sharing

8:40 Speaker 1: chocolate during brief moments of ceasefire. Speaking of wartime chocolate innovations,

8:46 Speaker 1: let's talk about nutella. During World War II, there was

8:50 Speaker 1: a cocoa shortage in Italy and a pastry maker named

8:53 Speaker 1: Pietro Ferrero had to get creative. He mixed hazelnuts with

8:58 Speaker 1: a small amount of chocolate, stretching the supply and creating

9:01 Speaker 1: the first version of what would become nutella. So if

9:05 Speaker 1: you're a new telefan, you have wartime rationing to thank

9:08 Speaker 1: for your favorite spread. Fast forward to today and chocolate

9:13 Speaker 1: is a multi billion dollar industry. And if there's one

9:16 Speaker 1: place that has perfected the art of chocolate making, it's Belgium,

9:21 Speaker 1: known as the Home of Chocolate, Belgium has been producing

9:23 Speaker 1: some of the finest chocolate since the nineteenth century, with

9:27 Speaker 1: its signature Preleenes becoming world famous. The last morsel of facts.

9:32 Speaker 1: German chocolate cake was named for Sam German, who developed

9:35 Speaker 1: a sweet bar for Baker's chocolate and was not from Germany.

9:40 Speaker 1: And let's not forget about chocolate art. That's right, there

9:43 Speaker 1: are entire museums dedicated to sculptures made of chocolate. Some

9:48 Speaker 1: artists spend years crafting life sized statues, like a ten

9:52 Speaker 1: foot tall chocolate Eiffel Tower. Now, I love chocolate as

9:56 Speaker 1: much as the next person, but resisting the urge to

9:59 Speaker 1: take a bye eight that's willpower I don't have. Okay,

10:04 Speaker 1: so I lied one more fact that was too good

10:06 Speaker 1: to not share. The French celebrate April Fool's Day with

10:10 Speaker 1: chocolate shaped fish or poisson d'avril. Why The most common

10:15 Speaker 1: theories are connected to pagan celebrations of the vernal equinox, Christianity,

10:20 Speaker 1: a sixteenth century calendar change, and the start of the

10:22 Speaker 1: French fishing season. So what have we learned today? Chocolate

10:27 Speaker 1: has been money, medicine, a love potion, and even a

10:31 Speaker 1: tool for crime. From Montezuma's obsession to bizarre poison plots,

10:37 Speaker 1: it's clear that chocolate is far more than just a

10:40 Speaker 1: simple treat. Next time you enjoy a piece of chocolate,

10:43 Speaker 1: remember that you're indulging in a rich, complicated, and occasionally

10:48 Speaker 1: absurd piece of history. That's all for today's episode of

10:52 Speaker 1: the Strange History Podcast. If you enjoyed this dive into

10:56 Speaker 1: the bizarre past of chocolate, be sure to subscribe, leave

11:00 Speaker 1: a review, and share it with your fellow history lovers.

11:03 Speaker 1: Got a topic you want me to cover, drop me

11:06 Speaker 1: a message on social media. Until next time, stay curious,

11:10 Speaker 1: and maybe keep an eye on your chocolate. You never

11:12 Speaker 1: know who might be plotting to steal it.