
Each year on January 31, National Hot Chocolate Day warms up people across the country by celebrating the timeless cold-weather beverage.
Hot chocolate is a warm beverage made with ground chocolate, heated milk or water, and sugar. In America, we often use the terms hot chocolate and hot cocoa interchangeably. However, the two beverages are different.
- 1500 BC – The Olmec, Mayan and Aztec peoples all may have incorporated chocolate drinks into their religious ceremonies.[
- 500 BC – The Ancient Mayans drank chocolate made from crushed cocoa seeds mixed in water and chili peppers.
- 1400s – A cocoa drink was an essential part of Aztec culture by 1400 AD, they referred to it as xocōlātl. The Aztecs believed that cacao seeds were the gift of Quetzalcoatl, the god of wisdom, and the seeds once had so much value that they were used as a form of currency.
- 1500s – Explorer Cortez carried cocoa beans and tools for making hot chocolate with him to Europe.
- 16th to 19th centuries – hot chocolate was valued as a medicine as well as a drink. The explorer Francisco Hernández wrote that chocolate beverages helped treat fever and liver disease.
- 1600s – European hot chocolate first came to the US as early as the 1600s by the Dutch, but colonists first began selling hot chocolate around 1755.
- 1657 – chocolate was very expensive and sold in establishments that are similar to modern coffee shops known as the Chocolate House.
- 1657 – Near Bishop’s Gate, a Frenchman opens the first house serving “an excellent West India drink”
- 1800s – hot chocolate was used by doctors as a medicine against some diseases.
- 1828 – Casparus van Houten Sr. developed a process to separate the cocoa solids from the butter. His son, Coenraad Johannes made those fats more soluble in water. Together their processes made cocoa powder possible.
- 1876 – Swiss Chocolatier Daniel Peter created the first milk chocolate by combining powdered milk with chocolate.
- 1912 – British explorer Robert Falcon Scott and his men subsisted off hot cocoa and stew during their yearlong trek to the South Pole. The expedition made it to the pole in January 1912, only to find that a Norwegian team led by Roald Amundsen had gotten there a month prior.
- 1914 – During World War I, volunteers from the YMCA set up recovery stations near the battlefields to assist and comfort fatigued troops; warm cups of hot chocolate were staples at these stations.
- 1944 – Americans fighting in World War II were also treated to the hot drink when cocoa was added to some of the military’s field rations in 1944.
- 1961 – Popular hot chocolate manufacturer Swiss Miss started selling its first powdered hot chocolate that could be mixed with water instead of milk.
- 1968 – This band from the UK brings an eclectic mix of reggae, soul, rock and disco over the next several decades.
- 1982 – The hot chocolate effect, also known as the allassonic effect, is a phenomenon of wave mechanics first documented in 1982 by Frank Crawford, where the pitch heard from tapping a cup of hot liquid rises after the addition of a soluble powder.
- 1989 – the six members of a sled-dog expedition across Antarctica consumed nearly 2100 packets of Swiss Miss hot cocoa.
- 2004 – Starbucks begins serving hot chocolate.
- 2004 – Polar Express film features hot chocolate. The train taking children to the North Pole serves hot chocolate along with a delightful song.
- 2005 – Catering to those non-coffee drinkers, the coffee mogul places hot chocolate on their menu.
- The first hot chocolate was Mayan, and it was served with chili peppers!
- We make hot cocoa with cocoa powder, heated milk or water, and sugar. We’re able to do this thanks to a process developed by father and son chemists.
- There are health benefits to drinking hot chocolate.
- Cocoa contains significant amounts of antioxidants that may help prevent cancer.
- It has also been shown that cocoa beans help with digestion.
- The flavonoids that are found in cocoa also have a positive effect on arterial health.
- Scientific research suggests that the flavanols in cocoa tend to increase the brain’s oxygen levels and activate neurons at a higher rate – equaling better brain performance and improved cognitive function.
- What’s the difference between Hot Chocolate and Hot Cocoa? Hot Chocolate uses milk or milk chocolate while Hot Cocoa uses only powdered cocoa
- In Spain, hot chocolate with churros is considered a working man’s breakfast.
- Chocolate is the 3rd most traded commodity in the world. 1st is oil, 2nd is coffee.
- Another explorer, Santiago de Valverde Turices, believed that large amounts of hot chocolate helped treat chest ailments, but in smaller amounts could help stomach disorders.
- A study conducted by Cornell University has shown that hot chocolate contains more antioxidants than wine and tea, therefore reducing the risk of heart disease.
- Visitors to Monticello can sample a hot chocolate made the way Thomas Jefferson preferred it. Using stone-roasted cacao, sugar, and spices.
- Powdered hot chocolate mixes may contain from 0-5mg of caffeine while hot chocolate made with real cocoa powder may have up to 25mg of caffeine.
- Hot chocolate made with real chocolate contains flavonoids and antioxidants which may be healthy, but it also can have a lot of sugar and carbs.
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