Food of the Gods Since the Days of the Aztecs, No Food Has
Incited More Passion than Chocolate From the Print Edition:
Pierce Brosnan, Nov/Dec 97 When Hernando Cortés marched into
Mexico in search of gold, little did he know that the most
valuable bounty today from his conquest of the Aztecs would
literally grow on trees. Cocoa beans are still grown in the
Yucatán as they were during the reign of Montezuma. But neither
Montezuma nor Cortés would recognize what we know today as
chocolate, the product of those cocoa beans. * There were no
Hershey bars in 1519. No chocolate truffles. No sachertortes.
And no mousse au chocolate. Just a cold, coarse and bitter drink
of ground cocoa beans, chilies, cinnamon and cloves mixed with
cornmeal to help emulsify the cocoa butter that floated to the
top. But it was a refreshing and fortifying drink, and it
impressed the conquistadors as much as it did the Aztecs, who,
legend tells us, could subsist for an entire day on just a mug
or two of what they called xocolatl, meaning