Yummy, yummy!

Yummy, yummy!

The shape, the taste and the raw-material of which the candy is manufactured has changed quite a lot over the years. From resin, honey, fruits and nuts to today’s chocolate, gum, jellybeans and liquorice. And so has our view of candy. The sweets which used to be considered as medicine is now considered to be bad for your health.

People have been eating candy almost since the beginning of mankind .

Even on old gravestones dating back to 3000 BC there are descriptions on how the old Egyptians made and enjoyed sweets. Archaeologists have also found forms which have been used to make sweets containing honey and sweet herbs. The origin of the sweets is a bread containing honey and much spices. During the Middle Ages the bread was made in monasteries by monks and it was considered to be very healthy. With time the pharmacists started to make and sell the bread and after that it didn’t take long until the bakers started to make the bread, that was the beginning of the sweets of today.

* In the old days candy usually contained poisonous substances, for example arsenic, which were to increase the colour and the taste. Many people got sick because of this.

* Chocolate is said to increase potency, the great lover Giovanni Giacomo Casanova is believed to have drunk as much as 50 cups of chocolate a day.

The chocolate story

The cacao-tree is believed to have been cultivated since 600 AD by. the Aztecs and the Maya Indians
According to the legend the cacao came with the god Quetzacóatl. Both the Aztecs and the Maya Indians used to make a drink called xocolatl by the cacao-beans. The drink was then flavoured with vanilla, chilli and corn flour.
The legends says that the Aztec’s ruler, Montezuma who drank 50 cups of xocolatl every day out of golden cups.

Christopher Columbus was the first person who brought the cacao-beans to Europe but it wasn’t until in the year of 1519 when Hernán Cortés came in touch with the xocolatl drink which was drunk by a great number people at Montezumas court. When the cacaoa came to Europe, people started to add honey to sweeten the chocolate except the Spaniards who added sugar instead. The cacaoa became more and more popular among the rich in Europe and eventually also among ordinary people. The first block of chocolate was made in the 1870ts and since then the chocolate has become one of our most popular type of candy.