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Macaroni Kid Interviews a Chocolate Historian. Yup, It's a Real Job.

And a chance to try amazing historic chocolate!

By Joyce Shulman February 17, 2015
Did you know that chocolate had a place in Abraham Lincoln’s inauguration and Lewis and Clark's famous expedition?

Neither did we. But we recently had the chance to speak with Rodney Snyder, the Chocolate History Research Director for Mars Chocolate who answered all of our chocolate questions … and then some!
 
Macaroni Kid: I understand chocolate has a storied history and may trace its history to Mexico and Guatemala. What do historians believe about the origins of chocolate?  

Rodney Snyder: The cocoa tree was domesticated by man at least 3000 years ago in the Amazon basin of South America. Cultivation of the trees spread through Central America and Mexico over the next 1000 years. Traces of cacao, or chocolate, have been found throughout Central America in archaeological digs, demonstrating the historical popularity of chocolate for thousands of years.
 
MK:  And I know you and your team specialize in the history of chocolate in this country. What can you tell us about that?

RS: Although the origins of chocolate stem from the Americas, the Europeans spread the popularity of chocolate throughout North America. Chocolate was consumed primarily as a drink until the 1900’s, and chocolate makers had their own secret chocolate recipes which they jealously guarded. Although many famous Founding Fathers wrote about their love of chocolate, including Benjamin Franklin, George Washington and John Adams, every household had a chocolate pot to prepare chocolate drinks. 
 
MK: Did chocolate have a place in any historical moments that you are aware of?

RS: No visit to Mount Vernon was complete without sharing a cup of chocolate with George and Martha Washington. Many accounts from soldiers describing their experiences during the American Revolution talk about their love of a cup of chocolate for breakfast. In 1806, William Clark of the Lewis and Clark Expedition wrote about how drinking chocolate made him feel much better.  For Abraham Lincoln’s second Inaugural Ball in 1865, chocolate was served in three different forms (confection, ice cream, and drink). Amelia Earhart wrote about the most interesting cup of chocolate she ever enjoyed while flying solo 8,000 feet over the Pacific from Hawaii to California.
 
MK: Was the chocolate that Americans ate -- or should I say drank -- in colonial times the same as what we are accustomed to these days?  

RS: Chocolate recipes in Colonial America were formulated to be enjoyed as a drink, so spices and other flavors were added to enhance the experience. Chocolate recipes today are designed for eating chocolates and do not include the wide variety of flavors that would overpower the chocolate flavor in a bar form. 
 
MK: When did chocolate first become generally available in the US in the "bar" form that we are familiar with today?

RS: Solid chocolate, or chocolate in bar form, was invented in Switzerland in 1879 and the production methods were held as a company secret for about twenty years. By the beginning of the 1900’s, the production of chocolate bars spread to the US, with milk chocolate being the most popular flavor.
 
MK: What's the craziest chocolate fact or two you know?  

RS: On the first successful ascent of Mount Everest by Hillary and Norgay in 1953, they left an offering of chocolate at the peak to appease the gods.  In 1960, the Trieste was the first manned vessel to reach the bottom of the Mariana Trench, the deepest known part of the ocean. The two explorers had twenty minutes on the ocean floor eating chocolate. From the top of Mount Everest (8,848 meters above sea level) to the bottom of the Mariana Trench (11,035 meters below sea level), chocolate has been carried to the extremes of the earth, demonstrating the universal and enduring appeal of chocolate.
 
MK: Is there anything else about the history of chocolate you think Macaroni Kid's readers should know?

RS: M&M’s were included in every Space Shuttle mission and are always available on the International Space Station.

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In his 27 years researching cocoa for Mars Chocolate, Rodney Snyder has visited all of the major cocoa growing regions of the world and studied the history of chocolate and its place in history and culture. He lectures and writes about the history of American chocolate.