Chocolate

Worksheet Description

The oldest known use of chocolate is from the ancient Olmec civilization. From them, the Maya learned about chocolate, and the Maya passed that knowledge on to the Aztecs. Of these three civilizations, chocolate was the most popular with the Aztecs. In fact, they used cocoa beans as money and considered them to be more valuable than gold.

The Aztecs blended the cacao bean with corn flour, water, and chilies to make xocoatl (bitter water). Our word chocolate has its origins in this nahuatl word.

Similar to what we call hot chocolate, this drink was popular with the upper class. When the Spanish conquered the Aztecs in 1512, they added sugar to the spicy drink, bringing it closer to what we know of as hot chocolate today.