The history of chocolate is as dark and rich as the cacao nibs from which it is made. Native to the rainforests of Central and South America, the cocoa tree produces beans which were initially roasted, mixed with red peppers, vanilla and water and drunk.
It was taken by Spanish conquistadors from Mexico to Africa and plantations were established. The Spanish added sugar to the drink and it became the height of fashion among Europe's privileged. You had to be rich to drink it, sugar and cocoa were expensive imports.
It continued to be consumed in liquid form until mechanical and technological developments in the 1800s saw the beginning of solid chocolate production on a scale that enabled a wider distribution.
Its desirability and value led to some gruesome exploitation and violence as chocolate made its way around the globe. Even today you will still pay a pretty penny for the world's finest.
Frank Stoltenberg and Iva Sajdl, founders of the New Zealand Chocolate Festival, celebrated the event's first birthday in August. It warranted a mayoral opening. Wellington mayor Celia Wade-Brown cut a birthday cake and declared this celebration of all things chocolate open.
