The Age of Reason: The Chocolate Enlightenment

18th Century 

In the 18th Century, chocolate’s popularity reached all across Europe and the Americas. It was a time of upheavals in society that influenced who got to enjoy chocolate and who didn’t, and of advances in technology that made possible the first chocolate bars.

Chocolate and the Class Struggle

Even though hot chocolate was available to many, it still remained a drink primarily for the aristocracy—not a good thing during a time when revolutions were overthrowing kings and radicals preached democracy. One reason: it was expensive. In 18th century Venice, for instance, coffee was one- third the price of chocolate. Even in the New World, chocolate had become the rich colonist’s potion, and no longer the drink of the native people. Many were too poor to afford it. Servants were given a scanty ration, and even less if the harvest was bad.

Chocolate also was considered to be the  church hierarchy’s drink of choice. During the conclave of 1760 (when it took six months to elect the next Pope) the cardinals enjoyed hot chocolate coffee, when they took a break.

Hot chocolate still required constant whipping to make it rich and foamy which was hot and hard work for maids to do many times a day for their rich employers. That maids couldn’t afford the drink emphasized the class divisions. 

Chocolate was what the nobleman had for his laid-back, relaxed breakfast while coffee was for the emerging middle-class businessmen who needed a quick start first thing.

Eat Dessert First: Italy's Chocolate Recipes

Cacao was not just for hot chocolate any more. Chocolate could be had in bars and pastilles, and was found in recipes for main dishes, desserts, ices and more. Italy paved the way for cooking with chocolate. An 18th century cookbook includes dishes such as fried liver that had first been dipped in chocolate; a polenta made with almonds, butter and chocolate breadcrumbs; and a chocolate “soup” composed of milk, sugar, chocolate, cinnamon and egg yolk, served warm and poured over toast.

All for Love: Chocolate as an Aphrodisiac

Chocolate long had a reputation as an aphrodisiac, starting with the Spanish conquistadors who assumed Montezuma consumed so much to better serve his harem. 18th century medical treatises listed “promotes venery” as one of chocolate’s abilities, and chocolate was often included in recipes to cure impotence.

Casanova, the famous lover, considered it his “favorite breakfast dish.”  His memoirs reveal that he used chocolate as a bribe for the chaperones and guardians of the women he loved as much, if not more, than as a love potion.

Death by Chocolate

Poisoning used to be a popular method of doing away with your enemies. When chocolate was introduced to Europeans, one of the things they noticed was that it disguised the taste of poison.  When Pope Clement XIV died in 1774 under mysterious circumstances, it was thought by many that he had been poisoned by a cup of chocolate brought to him by his unknowing credenziere (confectioner), who supposedly died the same day.  The Pope had been terrified of assassination, especially after confronting the powerful Jesuits. An autopsy proved this was just a rumor. But like most rumors, it didn’t die easily.

For Adults Only

Despite all its health benefits, chocolate was considered to be an adult beverage and was not given to children. Coffee and chocolate houses were adult-only places (in Spain, they were for men only). According to Tuscan court physician Dr. Giovanni Batista Felici, “in children it awakes such an agitation that in no way can they be quiet or sit in one place.” And Joseph Baretti, a commentator on manners and customs, noted in 1768 that chocolate was for “all our polite people of an adult age.”

Factory-Made

While there were some factories processing cacao beans into chocolate, most of these still employed hand labor, and the product they created was a cake or wafer that could be dissolved in hot water or milk. But there were several new inventions that advanced the production of chocolate.

The New England colonies were filled with chocolate-lovers, since local sea captains had been bringing back cacao beans from their trading travels for years.  Some Boston apothecaries, familiar with the power of cacao as a health remedy, went into business making chocolate “cakes.”  They were among the first to use water power to grind the beans and do a very limited form of “mass-production” to satisfy demand.

Meanwhile, a hydraulic machine was invented in France that helped grind cacao beans into a paste. These developments were just baby steps toward the big changes in chocolate production to come with the 19th century Industrial Revolution.

The Spanish Love of Chocolate

Spain continued to have a deep love affair with the cacao bean, and was known throughout Europe for the unique quality of its chocolate. According to visiting diplomat John Adams (later President of the United States), “I have met with few things more remarkable than the Chocolate which is the finest I ever saw. I will enquire whether it is the Superior Quality of the Cocoa Nut, or any other Ingredient which they intermix with it, or a better Art of making it, which renders it so much superiour to any other.”

"Food of the Gods"

Carl Linneaus, a leading 18th century botanist, created the classification system that assigned Latin designations to all organisms. He named the cacao bean “Theobroma cacao,” which translates as “Food of the Gods.” No wonder—he was very fond of chocolate.