Milk Chocolate
Who invented Milk Chocolate?
Who was the inventor of milk chocolate? Well, you could give credit to many people, from the Olmec, Maya and Aztec civilizations that discovered the cacao bean, to the Dutch inventor who created a press to make cocoa powder, to the Englishman who invented the world's first eating chocolate.
And then there are all the other chocolate inventions that have followed.
The history of chocolate dates back to early Mesoamerican civilizations. As early as 1500 BC, the Olmec Indians were growing cacao beans. The Mayans and Aztecs also grew cacao and developed chocolate drinks.
The Olmec Indians are believed to be the first to grow cocoa beans as a domestic crop somewhere between 1500 BC and 400 BC. Later on the consumption of cocoa beans was restricted to the elite of Mayan society in the liquid form.
As Mayan's migrate into the northern regions of South America around 600 AD, they established cocoa plantations in the Yucatan. By the 14th Century this liquid libation become popular among the upper classes of Aztec society. They were the first to tax the beans than made this drink called "xocalatl" meaning warm or bitter liquid.
On the question of who invented chocolate, the Olmecs (1500-400 BC) were almost certainly the first humans to consume chocolate, originally in the form of a drink, crushing the cocoa beans, mixing them with water and adding spices, chillies and herbs. The mixture was stirred with a wooden paddle until a thick froth appeared on top.