« Get A Passport NOW, Before You Forget! Deadline: Jan. 1, 2008! | Costa Rican Healthcare is Quality, and the Recuperation Is Luxurious »

Mmmm, Belize Chocolate!!!

By Jane Goodwin | March 19, 2007

Do you like chocolate much?

I hope you didn’t think chocolate was any kind of modern thing, because scientists have found traces of chocolate in vessels dating back to 600 BC.

This is a Mayan chocolate pot, found in northern Belize, in Central America. Now, remembering that the Mayans and the Aztect both loved the froth even more than the liquid chocolate itself, it’s possible that the chocolate was poured back and forth from pot to pot, just like this one, to create the foamy froth that people pay Starbucks to create for them even now.

The evidence suggets that the Belize Mayans ate (and drank) chocolate not as dessert or an occasional snack, but as a part of the main meal, often mixed with maize, chilis, or honey. Jeffrey Hurst, of Hershey Foods in Pennsylvania, said that Hershey was not interested in reviving the Mayan’s chocolate recipes. "It was a fun project to work on, " he told BBC News Online. "But the recipe is nothing like the chocolate taste we gravitate towards today. My guess is if you want to know what it tasted like in the time of the Mayans, take a blender and mix cocoa with water and maybe some spices."

No thanks. But that’s just me.

However, if you’re going to be in Belize, you might stop by any one of the many Chocolate Shops there and sample some authentic Mayan chocolates. There will be many different ‘flavors’ from which to choose. Belize is famous for chocolate, even now.

Watch your calendars if you’re really into the chocolate. The Toledo Cacao Festival is an annual cultural event held in the Toledo District of Southern Belize, and if you want a taste of authentic nature, adventure, culture, and chocolate, this is the festival for you. Too many acitivites to list here, but maybe in a future post I’ll get specific with the festival.

For now, have some chocolate, and dream of Belize. And next time you’re in Starbucks requesting something foamy, think of the Mayans.

Sphere It

Topics: Friends and Family, Travel / Relocation, Lifestyle, Destinations, Retirement Overseas |

Comments