A Seminar on History of Chocolate at YESAM

Deniz Gursoy, author of various books on food and beverage culture, held a very entertaining and rather nostalgic seminar on the history of chocolate.

The seminar was held on Valentine’s day, therefore before getting into the topic of chocolate, Mr. Gursoy told the story of an etching called  “Le Bain” (The Bathroom) created by Swiss artist Sigmond Freudeberg, and printed by Antoine-Louis Romanet. The story goes:

“Year 1774, a beautiful and young woman is in the bathroom, laying down to rest her body. The maid enters holding a sealed envelope in one hand and a tray in the other.  It is obvious that the letter is from the young woman’s beloved one, and the tray holds a cup of hot chocolate and a glass of water. The maid asks, ‘Which one would you like first, the envelope or the hot chocolate?’ The young woman replies, ‘Dear Juline, the heart is more important than the stomach’ and reaches for the letter.”

After the story Deniz Gursoy shared the recipe for hot ‘love’ chocolate, while the participants enjoyed a piece of chocolate.

He continued with the history:

“In history, chocolate was first consumed in hot liquid form, and since it originally came from South America, it contained hot peppers. It was only centuries later that hot chocolate became sweet as we know today.” He mentioned the subject of enemies of chocolate then continued with the proper conditions of keeping chocolate. “Chocolate should be stored in a dark environment with 50% humidity and temperatures of 16-22C. It should be tightly sealed as to not absorb any outside smells. In fact, if there is a place where you keep wine, you can store your chocolates there as well.” He continued with the history:

“Chocolate first appeared in Turkey in the year 1693. A merchant named Gemelli Careri, offered chocolate to a Turk, who had no idea what it was. Where did chocolate come from? It has existed for a long time but we were not aware of it.  Chocolate was found in the Yucatan peninsula of Mexico. The Olmecs lived there from 1500-400 B.C., then the Mayans from 400 B.C. - 1200 A.D. followed by the Aztecs from 1200-1515 A.D., and all consumed chocolate. When Christopher Columbus came to the Americas instead of India, he took notes in his ship’s log book, about how chocolate and cocoa beans were used. Later on, Spanish commander Hernando Cortez got introduced to hot chocolate when he conquered Mexico. In 1528 chocolate came to Spain and became an addiction. Consumption of hot chocolate was 1 cup for every two hours.   Once in Europe, the hot peppers in hot chocolate were omitted, and the beverage became sweet. Following Spain, chocolate came to France by way of royal marriage, and in the beginning of 18th century, chocolate became an indication of class and was only consumed by the aristocracy.

Chocolate was manufactured as a solid by the mid-18th century by the British chocolate company Cadbury. The proper arrival of chocolate in Turkey was in 1924.”

Deniz Gursoy explained the terminology of chocolate and its benefits on the human body and concluded his seminar with love poems.

After the seminar, the participants enjoyed a cup of Aztec-style hot chocolate, chocolate and zucchini cake, chocolate meringues and ginger chocolate cookies.

Lecture video is in Turkish.