When most of us hear the word chocolate, the verb that comes to mind is probably "eat", not "drink", and the most proper adjective would seem to be "sweet". But for about 90 percent of chocolate's long history, it was strictly a beverage  , and sugar didn't have anything to do with it. The Origin of Chocolate Many modern historians have estimated that chocolate has been around for about 2000 years, but recent research suggests that it may be even older. In the book The True History of Chocolate, authors Sophie and Michael Coe prove that the earliest linguistic   evidence of chocolate consumption dates back three or even four thousand years. Valuable and Fashionable Chocolate Beverage It's hard to discover exactly when chocolate was born, but it's clear that it was cherished from the start. For several centuries in pre-modern Latin America, cacao beans were considered valuable enough to use as currency. 100 beans could purchase a good turkey hen, according to a 16th-century Aztec document. Sweetened chocolate didn't appear until Europeans discovered the Americas and sampled   the native cuisine. Chocolate didn't suit the foreigners' taste at first -- one described it in his writings as "a bitter drink for pigs" -- but once mixed with honey or cane sugar, it quickly became popular throughout Spain. By the 17th century, chocolate was a fashionable drink throughout Europe, believed to have nutritious, medicinal functions. But it remained largely a privilege of the rich until the invention of the steam engine made mass production possible in the late 1700s. The Birth of Solid Chocolate In 1828, a Dutch chemist found a way to make powdered chocolate. His product became known as "Dutch cocoa", and it soon led to the creation of solid chocolate. In 1847, Joseph Fry created the first modern chocolate bar. By 1868, a little company called Cadbury was marketing boxes of chocolate candies in England. Milk chocolate hit the market a few years later. Prosperous Chocolate Industry In America, chocolate was so valued during the Revolutionary War that it was used instead of wages. Even now, statistics show that the humble cacao bean is still a powerful economic force. Chocolate manufacturing is a more than 4-billion-dollar industry in the United States, and the average American eats at least half a pound of the stuff per month. The earliest chocolate was most probably   _  .
a dish a drink a bar a candy