Modica Chocolate, The Food of Aztec Gods

By Dr. Alberto Lunetta, NAS Sigonella Public Affairs

You’ve probably heard of the popular Swiss chocolate and the traditional chocolate factories of Perugia and Turin in northern Italy, but Cioccolato di Modica (chocolate from Modica) is special as it is still made according to methods dating back centuries ago.

When I first tasted the grainy and strong dark Modica cioccolato a few years ago during one of the annual ChocoModica festivals, it changed my concept of chocolate.

Until then, I hadn’t realized that almost all the popular chocolate bars that I was eating weren’t actually made of “good” chocolate. Instead, they were full of cheap ingredients such as sugar, butter, trans fats, and food additives with a very small amount of cocoa. In other words, they were a chocolate-like sugar bomb loaded with unhealthy stuff! In contrast, chocolate from Modica leaves an intense, strong and delicious aftertaste in your mouth that you won’t easily forget.

So why is chocolate different in this Southeastern Sicilian city, which boasts a spot on the UNESCO World Heritage list for its stunning Baroque buildings and churches? First and foremost, it has a different and unique preparation method based on the ancient Mexican Aztecs.

It all started when the Spaniards ruled Sicily in the 16th century. Mayans and Aztecs loved chocolate and consumed it as a warm drink with chili powder and other spices. They believed it had healing qualities and regarded it as a potent aphrodisiac. According to Aztec mythology, the god Quetzalcoatl, the “feathered snake,” stole the cocoa plant from the gods and used it to make a scrumptious drink by crushing its seeds. He then turned himself into a man and came down from heaven to teach humans to cultivate it. The gods kicked him out of paradise for sharing this secret with men.

Spanish conquistadores returning from Mexico brought back cacao and the recipe to make “xocoatl,” (from Nahuatl words meaning “bitter water”), a paste made by grinding hand-roasted cocoa beans in a smooth round stone called “metate.” The paste was melted and transformed into either a chocolate drink or a solid bar. This chocolate became very popular and seduced the palates of aristocrats from Spain, Portugal, Italy and Flanders.

Today, Modica chocolate is still prepared by melting the solid paste of cocoa beans through the ancient Aztec “cold processing method,” where the temperature always stays below 113° Fahrenheit. Nothing else is added except high-quality sugar, making it very different in taste than the common Western milk sugar products. The cold temperature prevents sugar crystals from melting and gives the chocolate its unique gritty texture and flavor.

Modica chocolate bars are produced in a plethora of different flavors such as orange, pistachio, cinnamon, orange, lemon, donkey milk, ginger, cardamom, anise, carob, majorant, white pepper, chili pepper, almond, coffee, vanilla, Sicilian citrus fruits, Marsala wine, Trapani salt, hazelnut, and more. You can also find bars made of pure cocoa masses that can be up to 100 percent, which have a very bitter taste. Dark chocolate is also incredibly healthy for you! According to some studies, cocoa, which has been consumed for at least 2,500 years, is rich in flavonoids and antioxidants that can help prevent cardiovascular disease over the long term and lower blood pressure.

Modica chocolate caught the attention of the famous Sicilian, Leonardo Sciascia, one of Italy’s best 20th-century writers, who described it as “a dark chocolate of incomparable taste of two types - vanilla, cinnamon - to be eaten in touches or to be melted in a cup, so that whoever tastes it seems to have reached the archetype, the absolute, and that the chocolate produced elsewhere - even the most celebrated - is its adulteration, its corruption.”

Today, there are about 40 chocolate manufacturers in Modica, a production which started in 1746 according to historic sources. Twenty of the manufacturers joined forces in 2003 to create the Consortium for the Protection of Modica Chocolate to protect their chocolate under the European Union IGP Certification scheme, which guarantees a minimum of 50% chocolate and a maximum of 50% sugar in each product.

Modica chocolate can be found in stores throughout Sicily and also purchased online, but if you want to attend chocolate tastings to see the production process and choose among all the different flavors, you should plan a trip to Modica.

The city of Modica will enchant you with its historic center that was rebuilt after the devastating earthquake of 1693. The city is divided into two large districts called Modica Alta (upper) and Modica Bassa (lower). You can see breathtaking limestone Baroque palaces, churches with majestic steps, and great masterpieces such as the Cathedrals of San Giorgio and San Pietro, the Palazzo della Cultura hosting housing the Civic Archaeological Museum, the Chocolate Museum, the Church of the Carmine, the Church of Santa Maria di Betlem, and the Church of Santa Maria del Gesù.

Modica is about one and a half hours from NAS II. On the drive through the Ragusa countryside, you’ll see great scenery, including carob and olive trees and the traditional “muretti a secco” (low dry-stone walls marking field boundaries). Don’t miss it!

Tempt your taste buds with the iconic Modica chocolate. It is still produced according to the recipes of the ancient Aztecs through a coldworking process to prevent sugar crystals from dissolving, giving it a unique crunchy texture. This feature makes ‘Cioccolato di Modica’ different from all other types of chocolate on the world market. (Photo by Alberto Lunetta)