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Hot chocolate, also known as hot cocoa, is a heated beverage consisting of shaved chocolate, melted chocolate or cocoa powder, heated milk or water, and often sugar. Hot chocolate made with melted chocolate is sometimes called drinking chocolate, characterized by less sweetness and a thicker consistency. The first chocolate beverage is believed to have been created by the Aztecs around 2,000 years ago, and a cocoa beverage was an essential part of Aztec culture by 1400 AD. The beverage became popular in Europe after being introduced from Mexico in the New World and has undergone multiple changes since then. Until the 19th century, hot chocolate was even used medicinally to treat ailments such as liver and stomach diseases. Today, hot chocolate is consumed throughout the world and comes in multiple variations including the very thick ''cioccolata densa'' served in Italy and ''chocolate a la taza'' served in Spain, and the thinner hot cocoa consumed in the United States. ==History== An early Classic period (460-480 AD) Mayan tomb from the site of Rio Azul, Guatemala, had vessels with the Maya glyph for cacao on them with residue of a chocolate drink. To make the chocolate drink, which was served cold, the Maya ground cocoa seeds into a paste and mixed it with water, cornmeal, chili peppers, and other ingredients.〔 They then poured the drink back and forth from a cup to a pot until a thick foam developed. Chocolate was available to Maya of all social classes, although the wealthy drank chocolate from elaborately decorated vessels. What the Spaniards then called "chocolatl" was said to be a beverage consisting of a chocolate base flavored with vanilla and other spices that was served cold.〔Hickling, William (1838). ''History of the Conquest of Mexico''. ISBN 0-375-75803-8.〕 Because sugar was yet to come to the Americas,〔 ''xocolatl'' was said to be an acquired taste. The drink tasted spicy and bitter as opposed to sweetened modern hot chocolate.〔 As to when ''xocolatl'' was first served hot, sources conflict on when and by whom.〔〔 However, Jose de Acosta, a Spanish Jesuit missionary who lived in Peru and then Mexico in the later 16th century, described ''xocolatl'' as: Loathsome to such as are not acquainted with it, having a scum or froth that is very unpleasant taste. Yet it is a drink very much esteemed among the Indians, where with they feast noble men who pass through their country. The Spaniards, both men and women, that are accustomed to the country, are very greedy of this Chocolate. They say they make diverse sorts of it, some hot, some cold, and some temperate, and put therein much of that "chili"; yea, they make paste thereof, the which they say is good for the stomach and against the catarrh. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「hot chocolate」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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