HOW CHOCOLATE CAME TO BE IN MALTA

BUILT BY THE KNIGHTS OF ST JOHN IN THE MID-16TH CENTURY ON THE STRATEGICALLY LOCATED MEDITERRANEAN ISLAND OF MALTA, VALLETTA QUICKLY BECAME A VERY IMPORTANT AND COSMOPOLITAN HARBOUR CITY, AND A PERFECT PLACE THROUGH WHICH FOREIGN CULINARY PRACTICES AND NEW EXCITING INGREDIENTS WOULD HAVE BEEN ABLE TO ENTER THE ISLAND.

And, through the influence and strong links that the multi-national Knights enjoyed with overseas regions, some ingredients were able to come into Malta relatively earlier when compared to other parts of Europe. One example of this was chocolate.

Malta was among the pioneering countries to have introduced the drinking of chocolate in Europe. Originating in Mexico, cocoa beans were probably introduced into our island by the Spanish knights. In the mid-1600s, a certain Francesco Buonamico wrote the Trattato della Cioccolata, claiming that “our island can truthfully boast of having been a forerunner in the coffee and chocolate drinking crazes that swept across Europe in the 17th century”.

Born in Valletta, Francesco Buonamico was by profession a medical doctor, but as was the custom for intellectuals at the time, he also specialised in other fields too: he was a botanist, antiquarian, linguist, scientist, poet, writer, theologian and enlightened traveller - best described as a post-Renaissance genius. Buonamico wrote extensively and is best known for his travelogue, written over a decade that he spent visiting 69 cities all over Europe. It was while studying in France, at the age of just nineteen, that he wrote what is considered as one of the earliest treatises on chocolate.

In this eight-page manuscript, Buonamico claimed that South American Indians resorted to chocolate drinking because they had no wine! This highlights the fact that at the time, chocolate was a drink. The treatise provides us with a drinking chocolate recipe that included orange peel, spices, nuts and aniseed. We also know that in Malta, cocoa beans were used as the principal ingredient for the preparation of a cold drink, a granita, a sorbet, and even an ice cream. By the late 1700s, chocolate wrapping paper started to be printed in Malta, indicating that by this point, chocolate had started to be consumed also as a solid.

Due to its expensive market value and exotic nature, chocolate was primarily consumed by the nobility, but despite its limited market, it continued to attract the attention of scientists interested in discussing its nutritional benefits. Although not all of them agreed that it had any, it was still recognised as a precious treat, and there are various references where chocolate was offered to dignitaries visiting our island. Grand Master Pinto presented chocolate as a reward to a group of individuals who managed to infiltrate a network of organised smuggling from the Order’s bakery. Grand Master de Rohan had a personal chocolatier who worked at the palace, while a number of Inquisitors of Malta are also known to have treated their high-ranking guests with this sophisticated drink. In an inventory of the Inquisitor’s Palace compiled in 1798, no less than three copper chocolate pots, among other specialised equipment, are listed, with the sole purpose of satisfying the Inquisitor’s chocolate cravings!

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