Day 27
How did obscure little Astorga get to be the most famous city in Spain for chocolate, at one point boasting over 50 chocolate factories?
It’s a weird, long story but I will shorten it for you...I’ll melt it down and add sprinkles!
While the Spanish were exploring the new world, they “discovered” the cocoa plant. (Later the Swedish naturalist Linneo classified the plant under the name Theobroma, which means “meal of the gods.” This has nothing to do with how chocolate took over Astorga, I just think it’s awesome.) One of these explorers, Hernan Cortes, had a daughter set to marry a guy from Astorga - and the dowery was to be paid partially in goods from the new world, like cocoa. The marriage never took place but the town had already learned of the new plant and its uses and found a liking for it. Astorga and the surrounding area is the ancestral home to an ethic group called the maragatos, who were a hardy folk expert with mules and trading over long distances, including to western port cities. The maragatos started picking up loads of cocoa from the coast, bringing the raw material to Astorga, and then transporting finished chocolate all over the place after it had been processed. 500 years later, chocolate production peaked in 1925 with 51 factories - the most in any city in Spain.
A dedicated chocolate fan since I was in the womb, I had a delightful time poking around the little chocolate museum today on my rainy rest day. And I don’t know if the ladies who work there really like pilgrims or what but they gave me a lot of free samples! :-)
