16th century engraving showing how cocoa was harvested in antiquity
You know how cocoa was harvested in ancient times ?
The operation was anything but easy and effortless, but essential to obtain a precious food, destined to spread all over the world.
The cocoa, originally from the Amazon, it has always been the basis for the preparation of chocolate, a drink that the Aztecs and the Maya they loved ( see also :https://www.pilloledistoria.it/5385/storia-antica/cioccolata-piccante-aztechi).
The discovery of the New World also allowed us to know and appreciate this food.
To understand how cocoa was harvested in ancient times, a ' engraving from the 16th century comes to our aid.
You can see it in the attached photo :it shows, step by step ("read" the representation starting from the top left up to the right), all the necessary steps to get it.
First of all, you had to bang the tree in order to drop the fruits, of which the best were selected and discarded those that were not considered good.
At this point we continued with the grinding: the beans were ground several times until they became a fine powder.
This step was essential to avoid the formation of lumps.
The powder obtained was mixed with water and cooked corn.
A liquid was obtained which, to be of quality, poured several times from one container to another, had to form a soft foam.
The flavoring was the last stage of the procedure.
To this end, flowers and spices were used; the chilli, from which an exquisite spicy chocolate was obtained , was very popular.
Thus was born that "drink of the gods" which, at first typical of the culture of pre-Columbian civilizations, then spread with extraordinary success throughout the planet ( Photo from :gustorotondo.it).