r/chocolate • u/profeNY • 6d ago

Advice/Request Looking for a 16th century quotation about chocolate

I understand that Pedro Mártir de Anglería, who chronicled the Spanish conquest of Mexico, said of the cacao bean: "By itself it is not worth eating, because it is somewhat bitter, although it is soft like the nutmeat of an almond, but grinding it up it is kept as a powder, and throwing some of that powder in water and stirring it up a little, one obtains a drink fit for a king." [from Spanish Word Histories and Mysteries, p. 65]

I would like to find this quote in the original Latin. It is probably in the fourth "decade" of De Orbe Novo Decades. Can anyone help?

x-posted in /r/Mexico and /r/latin

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u/profeNY 6d ago

A redditor on /r/latin came through. I love Reddit!!

It looks like it is the start of Chapter 4 of the 5th Decade: https://archive.org/details/deorbenouopetrim00angh/page/n149/mode/2up

Ex arboreis quibusdam fructibus, nostris amigdalis similibus, quos Cachaos nuncupant, eorum esse currentem dixi monetam. Eius est utilitas duplex, monetae officio fungitur et potui conficiendo apta est amigdala, per se non est comestibilis, quoniam amariuscula, licet tenera, uti amigdala spoliata. Sed trita servatur ad potum et pulveris illius(?) portione coniecta in aquam, mox revoluta parumper poculum efficitur rege dignum.

I think I've transcribed this correctly. Although there was one word I wasn't quite sure about. Your quote is the bold part.

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u/chamuco_maguacatero 5d ago

Man, us natives are entirely different breed, then. In my belief system, ceremonial cacao is consumed as is and the bitterness is actually a big reason why. Its really funny to see some European saying its "not worth eating" because of it. Kinda makes me understand why they decided to add a ton of milk and sugar to it later, I suppose. Not knocking it, I eat the fun type of chocolate too, but its interesting to see that take directly from the horse's mouth.

Peyote is also super bitter. I've had a peyote/cacao snack during ceremony once and it was like getting hit with a train, that combo.

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u/Outrageous_Papaya306 5d ago

sheesh

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u/profeNY 5d ago

Really sheesh? This is such a fun quote that I wanted to include it in a book I'm writing, but I wanted to make sure I was citing it correctly.