[Sca-cooks] Chocolate of Modica, chocolate of Alicante

Christiane christianetrue at earthlink.net
Mon Jan 14 13:00:10 PST 2013


Having done some research into the history of Modica, Sicily, there are some indications that this extremely wealthy area - held by the counts of Henriquez-Cabrera, described as a "kingdom within a kingdom" – had a very early knowledge/production of chocolate, in the manner of Alicante, Spain. The author Anthony DiRenzo writes in his book "Bitter Greens" that the Spanish planted cocoa trees in Sicily, to maximize profits, but admitted to me that he does not know when the first trees were planted. 

When it comes to the chocolate of Alicante, I think this book was mentioned on the list before, but I am wondering if anyone has read it and whether it is factually credible:

Rafael Montal Montesa, "El chocolate: Las semillas de oro." Came out in 1999, published by the government of Aragon.

The Wikipedia entry on chocolate cites this book when talking about a delegation from Japan in 1585, "visiting the Emperor Philip II in Alicante, was impressed by the offer of chocolate made by the nearby convent of the Poor Clares of Veronica."

Has anyone read this book?

YIS,
Adelisa



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