New York City got a new tourist attraction in March, a museum a lot more savory than one for modern art or natural history.
Pastry chef and chocolatier Jacques Torres has opened a chocolate museum.
The museum traces chocolate’s history through 5,000 years. Chocolate got its start as a beverage in Mayan Mexico.
These artifacts are from coffee’s early days show how much Mayans loved a cup of cocoa.
Hot chocolate became sophisticated beverage by Victorian times.
The museum has several ornate “mustache cups” designed so hot chocolate drinkers wouldn’t get foam on their facial hair.
Europeans also figured out how to stabilize chocolate in a solid form at room temperature—giving rise to chocolate bars and bonbons.
Torres notes that though the basic process hasn’t changed—the fruit is fermented, the nibs removed and roasted and ground—the flavor of chocolate has changed markedly through the years.
Today machine processing removes the acidity and brings out the best flavors.