Seeds in the pod Cocoa Tree 
Aztecs MayansThe articles
I read took me back over 4,000 years to the Mayo-Chinchipe people, then
the ancient Olmecs around 1,800 BC, who historians believe used cocoa beans to
brew warm, flavored drinks. It was too bitter to drink alone. Around the 8th
century, the Mayans began using cocoa beans for money, as well as a drink.
They mixed the ground beans with maize in water and added allspice and vanilla.
In the 1500s AD, the Aztecs in central Mexico also put a high value on cocoa beans.
The people groups seemed to believe the drink had health benefits. Some thought
it was “food from the gods.” The drinks were used in religious ceremonies and
as a beverage for royalty.
In 1519, a
Spanish explorer named Heran Cortes spent some time with the Aztecs. In 1528, he
took the drink to Spain. It didn’t take the Spanish long to add sugar. Hot
chocolate made its way to other European countries and to America. By the 1600s
and 1700s, chocolate houses, similar to today’s coffee shops, sprang up as
popular places for the well-to-do to meet over a cup of hot chocolate. During
the Revolutionary War, wounded soldiers sipped the hot drink to warm up and get
an energy boost. Thomas Jefferson predicted hot chocolate would become as
famous as tea and coffee.
Domenico Ghirardelli was born in Italy in 1817. He apprenticed with a candy and confectionary maker, spent some time in Peru, then went to Stockton, CA during the gold rush. He opened a general store selling supplies and confections to miners, then he opened another store in San Francisco. After trying to sell spices, coffee, mustard and liquor along with chocolate, he settled on mustard and chocolate only. In 1893, needing more space, he and his sons bought the Pioneer Woolen Building on San Francisco’s northern waterfront. That location became Ghirardelli Square. Today, the company is owned by Lindt and Sprungli, but we can still see Ghirardelli chocolates everywhere candy is sold.
I hope you'll enjoy this recipe for chocolate chip cookies using Ghirardelli chips.
Welcome back to Jacob and Julia's Iowa farm.
In 1893, their son Justin is eleven. and daughter Annaliese is ten. When Jacob and Julia adopted Annaliese as an infant, they were told God had a special plan for her. As Annaliese grows up, she wonders if her purpose will be world-changing.
Julia's old friend, Edward Harrington, comes to visit from England, along with his wife and son, Robbie. Their time at the farm is the beginning of a like/hate relationship and later something more between Robbie and Annaliese. When the families travel to San Francisco in 1900, a shocking revelation from Edward's wife could change everything, beginning with taking Annaliese to England.
If this is God's
plan, Annaliese is disappointed. It's nothing like she imagined, and her
heart's desire is to go to veterinary college. This could mean a very different
future for her.
About the Author
Linda, a retired librarian, lives in west central Ohio with her husband and grandson. An avid reader and writer since childhood, she began her publishing career writing columns and a middle-grade serial for the South Charleston Spectator. Her desire is to entertain, but more importantly, to encourage readers with God’s faithfulness.
Visit Linda at her website. Linda Hoover Books
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