Xcaret Park invites you to make your own chocolate!

During this activity at Xcaret Park, children and adults are taught how to make chocolate, as our ancestors used to do in the pre-Hispanic era. They are shown how the cocoa seeds are collected, peeled, roasted, grinded with metate, seasoned and molded.

In an unbeatable space that simulates a hut amidst the jungle is where the Chocolate Workshop takes place, and can be attended by children and adults. Adults are delighted to know the history and information about chocolate, and the little ones enjoy seeing how the cocoa beans are transformed into chocolate bars.

Following the instructions of the experts, the cocoa seeds are peeled, then in the metate, little by little grinding it until you have a uniform paste. Then it is seasoned to finally shape the chocolate bar.

On your knees with the metate, the cocoa is ground and the aroma spills out, surprising all the attendees. Once the pulp is at its finest, add pepper, cinnamon and sugar; we grind it a little more and each one with his own hands molds their own chocolate tablet. It is a great experience for everyone to see the transformation of some grains to pulp and then to a chocolate bar.

 

How holy is the chocolate, that on your knees is grinded, with hands together is beaten, and looking up to the heavens is drunk.

The legend of how chocolate came to pre-Hispanic people .

A long time ago in pre-Hispanic Mexico, the god Quetzalcoatl saw humanity from heaven and wanted to share a seed, named cacahuatl, with man (cuhtli) and woman (cíhuatl) to see them happy. This seed, the cacao, would have been used to prepare the food of the gods: chocolate.

So, he taught the women to prepare chocolate. They shared it with the Toltec people and arrived at a point where everyone consumed it. However, the gods became jealous to see humanity so happy, so they called Quetzalcoatl to say in front of his father, Tonacatecuhtli, that he had been the one who had shared the seed.

Tonacatecuhtli, upon learning that it was his son who had shared that treasure with men, said “He has to pay the penalty,” and ordered him to walk all over Mexico. In his pilgrimage, he began to teach in each indigenous village a recipe with cocoa and one with corn, in order to eradicate hunger and thirst.

From there he began to make chocolate throughout ancient Mexico. Also, he founded large cities, the last one was Chichén Itzá. Later he left for the sea of Coatzacoalcos (in Veracruz), there he threw four seeds to each of the cardinal points and rose in a wake towards the sky, bidding farewell to humanity, but not before having left them the drink of the gods.

México Destination Club invites their members to live this unique experience in a guided tour exclusively for them, where they will learn to make chocolate, and get to taste their own creations.

Space limited to 15 members. Reserve your place in advance at the Concierge desk or with your Member Services Executive.

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Videos courtesy of: @aglezqui