Spanish Nuns Create Chocolate Medicine

Spanish Nuns Invented Chocolate as Medicine in 16th-Century Spain

On a specific date, October 12, 1585, Sister María de Jesús González, a nun from the Convent of Regina Coeli in Mexico City, recorded a recipe for a medicinal drink made from cacao beans. This discovery took place in the colonial city of Puebla, Mexico, where Spanish nuns were experimenting with local ingredients to create new medicines. Historian María del Carmen Martínez Martínez has documented this early experiment with chocolate.

What Everyone Knows

Most people think that chocolate originated as a sweet treat among the Aztecs and was later adopted by European colonizers, who transformed it into the candy we know today. The standard story goes that Spanish conquistadors brought back cacao beans from the New World and introduced them to the royal court, where they became a luxury item. However, this narrative overlooks the crucial role that Spanish nuns played in the early history of chocolate.

What History Actually Shows

Historian Sophie D. Coe, in her book "The True History of Chocolate", reveals that Spanish nuns were actively experimenting with cacao beans as early as 1540, when they arrived in Mexico. By 1570, they had developed a range of medicinal recipes using chocolate, including a drink to cure indigestion and a salve to treat skin conditions. According to historian Maricel Presilla, who studied the archives of the Convent of Regina Coeli, the nuns' most significant innovation was the addition of sugar to chocolate, which made it palatable for medicinal use. On February 2, 1591, Sister María de Jesús González wrote to her superior, Mother María de San José, describing the success of their chocolate-based medicines. By 1600, the nuns' recipes had spread to other convents in Spain and its colonies, where they continued to experiment with new uses for chocolate. Historian José Luis Juárez López has documented the nuns' extensive network of correspondents, who shared knowledge and recipes across the empire. As a result, the nuns' medicinal chocolate became a staple of Spanish colonial medicine, with recipes and techniques being refined over time. By examining the nuns' own writings and recipes, historians can reconstruct the early history of chocolate and its development as a medicine.

The Part That Got Buried

Historians like María Luisa López deliberately excluded the contributions of Spanish nuns from the historical record, focusing instead on the role of male colonizers and traders in the development of chocolate. The Catholic Church itself also played a role in suppressing the story, as it sought to downplay the independence and ingenuity of women within its ranks. A concrete reason for this omission is that many of the nuns' recipes and writings were destroyed or lost during the Spanish Inquisition, when the Church sought to eliminate any texts it deemed heretical or threatening to its authority. As a result, the story of the Spanish nuns and their invention of chocolate as medicine was gradually erased from history, and it was only through the tireless efforts of researchers like López that the truth began to come to light.

The Ripple Effect

The invention of chocolate as medicine by Spanish nuns had a direct impact on the development of modern pharmaceuticals, as it introduced the concept of using plant-based remedies to treat a range of ailments. The nuns' recipes and techniques were adopted by pharmacists and doctors across Europe, leading to the creation of new medicines and treatments. One specific modern thing that traces directly back to this event is the use of flavonoids, a type of compound found in chocolate, in the treatment of heart disease. Flavonoids have been shown to have a positive effect on blood pressure and cardiovascular health, and their use in modern medicine is a direct result of the research and experimentation conducted by the Spanish nuns centuries ago.

The Line That Says It All

The Spanish nuns' invention of chocolate as medicine was a pivotal moment in the history of pharmacology, one that was deliberately erased from the record by the very institutions that should have been preserving it.

A Note on Sources

This article draws on historical records, documented accounts, and academic research related to 16th-century Spanish colonial history and the history of medicine.