Did you know there are just over seven weeks left before Christmas? And what has gold have to do with it? Or should I say: brown gold?
“Brown gold” was a description used for cocoa beans imported to Spain in the 1500s as it was so valuable. And that’s where the connection lies with the ‘gold coins’ we eagerly unwrap at Christmas time.
As Hayley White writes in Mmm, chocolate: the world’s most popular sweet treat in Food Views from around the world:
‘The Mayan and Aztec religions believed that cacao had origins in the divine. It was what connected them to their gods and was used for myriad important events spanning from birth to marriage.
‘… According to Mayan and Aztec legend, the gods found cacao and other delectable foods in the mythical Mountain of Sustenance. Mayan humans were mythically created out of a mixture of cacao, maize, and other plant foods by divine grandmother goddess Xmucane, but it was the god Sovereign Plumed Serpent (also known as the Feathered Serpent Kukulkan, Q’uq’umatz or Tohil) who gave humans cacao.
‘… In Mesoamerica was cacao beans were used as currency for trade.’
This and much more interesting stuff about chocolate is what you get when you dive into the history of it!
Surprisingly, cocoa was off limits for women and children and reserved for nobility only! Find out in why in Food Views from around the world.
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