The story of chocolate, as far back as we know it, begins with the discovery of America. U

ntil 1492,the Old World knew nothing at all about the delicious and stimulating flavor that was to become the favorite of millions. The Court of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella got its first look at the principal ingredient of chocolate when Columbus returned in triumph from America and laid before the Spanish throne a treasure trove of many strange and wonderful things. Among these were a few dark brown beans that looked like almonds and seemed most unpromising. They were cocoa beans, today's source of all our chocolate and cocoa.

The King and Queen never dreamed how important cocoa beans could be, and it remained for Hernando Cortez, the great Spanish explorer, to gasp the commercial possibilities of the New World offerings. During his conquest of Mexico, Cortez food the Aztec Indians using cocoa beans in the preparation of the royal drink of the realm, "chocolate," meaning warm liquid. In 1519, Emperor Montezuma, who reportedly drank 50 9r more portions daily , served chocolate to his Spanish guests in great golden goblets, treating it like a food for the gods. For all its regal importance, however, Montezuma's chocolate was very bitter, and the Spaniards did not find it to their taste. To make the concoction more agreeable to Europeans, Cortez and his countrymen conceived the idea of sweetening it with cane sugar.

While they took chocolate back to Spain, the idea found favor and the drink underwent several more changes with newly discovered spices, such as cinnamon and vanilla. Ultimately, someone decided the drink would taste better if served hot. The new drink quickly won friends, especially among the Spanish aristocracy. Spain wisely proceeded to plant cacao in its overseas colonies, which gave birth to a very profitable business. Remarkably enough, rite Spanish succeeded in keeping the art of the cocoa industry a secret from the rest of Europe for nearly a hundred years.

Spanish monks, who had been consigned to process the cocoa beans, finally let file secret out. It did not take long before chocolate was acclaimed throughout Europe as a delicious, health-giving food. For a while it reigned as the drink at the fashionable Court of France. Chocolate drinking spread across the Channel to Great Britain, and in 1657 the first of many famous English Chocolate Houses appeared.

The hand methods of manufacture used by small shops gave way in time to the mass production of chocolate. The transition was hastened by the advent of a perfected steam engine, which mechanized the cocoa grinding process. By 1730, chocolate had dropped in price from three dollars or more per pound to within financial reach of ail. The invention of the cocoa press in 1828 reduced the prices even further and helped to improve the quality of the beverage by squeezing out part of the cocoa butter, the fat that occurs naturally in cocoa beans. From then on, drinking chocolate had more of the smooth consistency and the pleasing flavor it has today.

The 19th Century marked two more revolutionary developments in the history of chocolate. In 1847, an English company introduced solid" eating chocolate" through the development of fondant chocolate, a smooth and velvety variety that has almost completely replaced the old coarse grained chocolate which formerly dominated the world market. The second development occurred in 1876 in Vevey, Switzerland, when Daniel Peter devised a way of adding milk to the chocolate, creating the product we enjoy today known as milk chocolate.

Who has foreseen the commercial value of the cocoa beans concoction in Europe？

A．King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella in Spain.

B．Hernando Cortez, the great Spanish explorer.

C．Emperor Montezuma.

D．The Aztec Indians.