58 Fun Facts About Hot Chocolate

Long before the Aztecs prized it, the oldest known use of cacao, about 5,300 years ago, was in which region?

South America's upper Amazon holds the oldest traces: 5,300-year-old cacao residues in pots from Santa Ana-La Florida in Ecuador, left long before the tree was carried north to Mesoamerica.

Among the Aztecs, what was it considered for a commoner to drink chocolate?

A bad omen: among the Aztecs chocolate was a drink for the elite, from the royal house and nobles to long-distance merchants.

When cocoa beans were used as currency in Mesoamerica, thirty beans could buy what?

A small rabbit cost 30 cacao beans in a 1545 price list and a turkey hen 100; the beans were valuable enough that forgers faked them from wax, amaranth dough or avocado pits.

The Maya mixed ground cacao with water, vanilla and which other ingredient?

Chili peppers gave the Maya drink its bite; sweetening chocolate with cane sugar was a European habit that came much later.

How did Mesoamerican drinkers raise a thick foam on their chocolate?

Pouring it between two vessels from a height raised the froth; a Classic Maya vase shows a woman doing exactly that, and a good head of foam was the whole point.

When chocolate first reached Spain in the 1500s, the Spanish treated it mainly as what?

A medicine is how Spain first saw chocolate: doctors prescribed it to fatten thin patients, rouse the exhausted and settle weak stomachs, and old medical texts list over 100 uses.

Chocolate is first recorded at the Spanish court in 1544, carried from Guatemala by nobles of which people?

The Q'eqchi' Maya nobles, escorted to Spain by Dominican friars in 1544, presented chocolate to Prince Philip; the popular story credits Cortés, but no evidence shows he introduced it.

Jesuit writer José de Acosta described the froth on the New World drink as what?

'Very unpleasant to taste' was Acosta's verdict on the froth, calling the drink loathsome to newcomers, though he noted Spaniards settled in the country were 'very greedy' for it.

Which London diarist recorded drinking 'jocolatte' at a coffee house in 1664 and called it 'very good'?

Samuel Pepys drank 'jocolatte' seven years after London's first chocolate house opened; in 1661 he took chocolate 'to settle my stomach' the morning after Charles II's coronation.

White's, London's oldest gentlemen's club, began in 1693 as a chocolate house run by a man born Bianco in which country?

Italy was Francesco Bianco's homeland; he anglicised his name to Francis White, and within decades his chocolate house was notorious as a gambling club.

Physician Hans Sloane is often credited with adding milk to drinking chocolate after working on which island?

Jamaica, where Sloane spent 1687 to 1689 as the governor's physician; the credit is shaky, since historians note Jamaicans were brewing cacao with milk long before he arrived.

The Van Houten family, whose 1828 press squeezed cocoa butter from cocoa liquor, came from which country?

The Netherlands is home to the Van Houtens, whose Amsterdam factory opened in 1815; their press cut cocoa's fat by nearly half, leaving a cake that could be ground into cheap cocoa powder.

'Dutching' cocoa powder, which makes it darker and milder, means treating it with what?

Alkaline salts such as potassium carbonate neutralise cocoa's natural acidity, so the powder tastes less bitter, turns darker and stirs into a drink more easily.

On 4 March 1824 John Cadbury began selling drinking chocolate and cocoa from a grocer's shop in which city?

Birmingham's Bull Street held John Cadbury's first shop; a Quaker and temperance campaigner, he sold cocoa and drinking chocolate as alternatives to alcohol.

Linnaeus named the cacao tree Theobroma, a Greek coinage meaning what?

Food of the gods is the literal sense of Theobroma, from Greek theos and broma; the full name is Theobroma cacao, and the stimulant theobromine borrows the same root.

As of 2022, which West African country grew more cocoa than any other, over a third of the world's crop?

Ivory Coast overtook Ghana as the top cocoa grower in 1978; in 2022 it harvested about 2.2 million tonnes, some 38% of the world's beans.

Unusually for a fruit tree, where do cacao pods grow?

Straight out of the trunk and thick branches is where cacao flowers and pods form, a habit called cauliflory; the blossoms are pollinated by tiny midges instead of bees.

Before drying and roasting, cacao beans are heaped in their pulp for days to undergo which flavour-building step?

Fermentation comes first: the beans sit in their sweet white pulp for several days, turning from pale violet to brown and losing much of their bitterness before they are dried.

Which ancient people are credited with the first marshmallow sweet, mallow sap mixed with honey?

The Egyptians are credited with mixing marsh mallow sap with honey as early as 2000 BC, a treat kept for gods and royalty; French confectioners whipped the sap into pâte de guimauve in the 1800s.

Modern marshmallows replaced mallow-root sap with which whipping agent?

Gelatin took over from mallow-root sap as the whipping agent; it melts just below body heat, which is why a marshmallow dissolves on the tongue or atop a hot drink.

Alex Doumak made marshmallows cheap in the 1950s by patenting which process, also used to shape pasta?

Extrusion pushes the marshmallow mix through tubes into long ropes that are cut into pieces; it turned a costly moulded sweet into an everyday one.

Swiss Miss, launched in 1961, was billed as the first cocoa mix that could be made with what?

Water instead of milk was the selling point: the Swiss Miss formula already contained dried milk, so a packet needed only hot water, the convenience the brand built its name on.

Before it hit grocery shelves, Swiss Miss cocoa was sold in pre-measured packets to which customers?

Airlines and restaurants took the first pre-measured packets in the 1950s; once the drink caught on, the mix was reworked to keep longer on store shelves and launched as Swiss Miss in 1961.

Despite its name, Swiss Miss cocoa was created by a family dairy in which US state?

Wisconsin's Sanna Dairies, in Menomonie, is where Charles Sanna devised the mix in the 1950s while hunting for a use for surplus milk powder; the family sold the brand in 1967.

What was Nestlé's chocolate-milk powder called when it launched in the US in 1948?

Quik was the 1948 US launch name for Nestlé's powder; Europe sold it as Nesquik from the 1950s, and the single name later spread worldwide.

From the late 1500s, churchmen argued for over a century about whether a cup of chocolate broke what?

A religious fast was at stake: drinks were allowed on fast days but food was not, and chocolate seemed to be both; several popes sided with the drinkers.

Ovaltine, originally Ovomaltine, was developed in 1904 by chemist Albert Wander in which Alpine country?

Switzerland is where Albert Wander created Ovomaltine, at the firm his father founded in Bern; the name was trimmed to Ovaltine when it was exported to Britain in 1909.

The 'Ovo' in Ovaltine's original name comes from the Latin word for what?

Egg is ovum in Latin, and egg with malt gave Ovomaltine its name; the 1904 recipe also used milk and cocoa, sold as a fortifying tonic.

Ovaltine was carried in the rations of which famous 1953 expedition?

The first ascent of Everest in 1953 carried Ovaltine in its rations; news that Hillary and Tenzing had reached the summit broke on the day of Elizabeth II's coronation.

In the 1930s Ovaltine sponsored which children's radio serial, famous for its decoder-ring premiums?

Little Orphan Annie was sponsored by Ovaltine through the 1930s; in the film A Christmas Story, Ralphie's long-awaited decoder message turns out to be a 'crummy commercial' for the drink.

Milo, the malted chocolate powder, debuted in 1934 at the Royal Easter Show of which city?

Sydney's Royal Easter Show hosted Milo's 1934 launch; Nestlé chemist Thomas Mayne devised it during the Depression to help children get enough nutrients.

Milo, the malted chocolate drink, is named after what?

An ancient Greek wrestler, Milo of Croton, lent the name because of his legendary strength; he won the Olympic wrestling crown six times in the sixth century BC.

Which country had the world's highest per-capita consumption of Milo in 2009?

Malaysia led the world in per-capita Milo drinking in 2009; there, as in Singapore, Milo vans serve cups of it at school and sporting events.

Champurrado, Mexico's thick chocolate atole, is thickened with what?

Masa (corn dough) gives champurrado its body: the nixtamalised corn dough is whisked into chocolate and water or milk, and it is served with tamales at Las Posadas and the Day of the Dead.

How is a molinillo, the turned wooden whisk used for hot chocolate, operated?

Rolled between the palms, the molinillo whips the drink to a froth; it caught on under Spanish rule, and a Mexican nursery rhyme still celebrates the motion.

Filipino tsokolate is brewed from discs of ground roasted cacao known as what?

Tabliya are the pure cacao discs dissolved in hot water, whisked frothy in a tsokolatera with a batirol and drunk at breakfast with pandesal, especially at Christmas.

In Rizal's Noli Me Tángere, ordering 'chocolate eh' or 'chocolate ah' told servants to make it thick or what?

Watered down was the 'ah' cup, aguado, while 'eh' meant espeso, thick; in Rizal's novel the friar's order told the servant how much the guest mattered.

In which two countries is a 'submarino', dark chocolate melted in hot milk, a winter staple?

Argentina and Uruguay share the submarino, Spanish for 'submarine': a bar of dark chocolate is dropped into a tall glass of hot milk, sinks, and is stirred until it melts.

In Colombia, what is traditionally dropped into a cup of hot chocolate to soften?

Cheese is the classic partner: Colombians drop chunks of soft farmer's cheese into the cup to melt, a Bogotá breakfast staple served with bread.

Angelina, the café open since 1903 and famed for its thick 'L'Africain' hot chocolate, is a landmark of which city?

Paris is home to Angelina, opened on the Rue de Rivoli by Austrian confectioner Antoine Rumpelmayer and said to be named for his daughter-in-law; Coco Chanel and Marcel Proust were regulars.

The bicerin, layered espresso, chocolate and milk in a small glass, is which city's signature drink?

Turin is the home of the bicerin; the statesman Count Cavour is said to have waited at Caffè al Bicerin while the royal family attended church across the square.

Madrid's Chocolatería San Ginés has been famous since 1894 for serving thick hot chocolate with what?

Churros are the thing to dunk at San Ginés, tucked in a passage beside the Puerta del Sol; its late hours made it the night owl's stop and the traditional place for the first chocolate of the New Year.

'Hot Chocolate' is a musical number in the 2004 film The Polar Express, directed by whom?

Robert Zemeckis shot the film in motion capture, which let Tom Hanks play six roles, among them the Conductor, the Hobo and Santa Claus.

The Polar Express, the 1985 picture book whose train serves children hot chocolate, was written by which author?

Chris Van Allsburg has said the story grew from Pere Marquette 1225, a steam locomotive he played on as a boy; its number read to him as 12/25, Christmas Day.

Who fronted the British band Hot Chocolate, which had a UK hit every year from 1970 to 1984?

Errol Brown got his break in 1969 with a reggae version of John Lennon's 'Give Peace a Chance'; Lennon approved it, and the band was signed to the Beatles' Apple label.

Which 1975 Hot Chocolate hit found a new audience through the 1997 film The Full Monty?

You Sexy Thing reached number two in 1975 and charted again after The Full Monty; the band's only UK number one was So You Win Again, a song written by an outsider.

Which New York restaurant, open since 1954, is famous for its Frrrozen Hot Chocolate?

Serendipity 3 on East 60th Street counted Andy Warhol and Marilyn Monroe among its regulars; the couple in the 2001 romcom Serendipity share a dessert there.

Which company's canned chocolate syrup, first made in 1926, became America's shortcut to chocolate milk?

Hershey's began making syrup in 1926 for soda fountains, bakers and restaurants; only in late 1928 did salesmen's requests get it packaged in small cans for home kitchens.

Cadbury's malted chocolate drink Bournvita takes the first part of its name from what?

The Bournville factory village, the model settlement Cadbury built beside its works from 1893, supplied the 'Bourn'; true to the family's Quaker temperance, no pub has ever been built there.

Mexican-style hot chocolate typically pairs semi-sweet chocolate, sugar and vanilla with which spice?

Cinnamon is the spice in Mexican table chocolate such as Abuelita and Ibarra; the tablets are frothed with a wooden whisk rather than stirred with a spoon.

The caffè mocha takes its name from a coffee-trading port in which country?

Yemen's Red Sea port of Mocha gave its name to the coffee it shipped, though the beans grew in the hills inland; the chocolate-laced caffè mocha borrowed the name centuries later.

In some Belgian cafes, ordering a warme chocolade brings a cup of hot milk and a bowl of what?

Bittersweet chocolate chips come in a small bowl beside a cup of steamed milk; you stir them in yourself, a do-it-yourself twist on the thick European style.

In Nigeria, hot chocolate is commonly referred to by which name?

Tea is the word because Nigerians tend to call any hot drink taken in the morning 'tea', whatever is in the cup.

What does the Viennese variant Heiße Schokolade Wiener Art contain for extra thickness?

An egg yolk thickens the Viennese cup, where Spanish and Italian versions more often rely on starch; German menus use the name to set melted-chocolate drinks apart from powder mixes.

Rum-laced hot chocolate is sold in Europe under which African leader's name?

Patrice Lumumba's surname is the café name for cocoa with a shot of rum; critics object that it turns a leader who was shot dead in 1961 into a 'shot' drink.

In Peru, hot chocolate is a Christmas tradition served alongside which Italian cake?

Panettone, sold in Peru as panetón, joins hot chocolate on the Christmas table even though the holiday falls in early summer there, when a warming drink makes least sense.

Which Aztec ruler was famously reported to drink frothing chocolate from golden cups?

Montezuma II was served chocolate at his banquets, reported conquistador Bernal Díaz del Castillo, who described dozens of jars of the frothed drink brought out in cups of fine gold.

Strictly speaking, hot cocoa is made from cocoa powder, while hot chocolate is made from what?

Melted bar chocolate still holds its cocoa butter, which is pressed out of cocoa powder, so true hot chocolate drinks richer and thicker than cocoa.