SC - chocolate

[Mark Harris]

Earlier today, June 16, Annejke said:

>If someone else hasn't said it already (I have been gone for a week 
>for my sons graduation) I will, hot Chocolate is period in Europe.  
>It is late period but there is mention of it in Spain and the 
>Netherlands.

Whoa there. Yes, a chocolate drink was available to a small segment
of Europe but it was not what we think of as "hot chocolate". We
usually think of milk chocolate disolved in hot milk. Their drink
was not this and it had other items in it that we don't tend to
use like peppers, although it did seem to sometimes include sugar. 
This has been discussed here and on the Rialto numerous times. 
I have placed a number of messages from folks who know more about this 
than me in this file in the FOOD section of my SCA Rialto Files:

chocolate-msg     (27K)  3/28/97    History and description of early
chocolate.

My files can be found at:
http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/rialto/rialto.html

Stefan li Rous
markh at risc.sps.mot.com