Theo B. Cacao and Her Chocolate Time Machine Quiz

Answer: Hershey

Milton Hershey was an entrepreneur with a sense of social responsibility. He built the factory town of Hershey, PA, to support his manufacturing business, and also provided an amusement park, zoo, theater, and sports facilities outside of town for the enjoyment of his employees.

Answer: Beverage of the gods

The Maya named the cacao tree "cacahuaquchtl," meaning, simply, "tree." In their eyes, this was the only tree worth naming. Linnaeus later named the tree Theobroma cacao, believing it deserved a name that reflected the Mayan belief that the tree belonged to the gods.

Answer: Olmec

It had been commonly believed that the Mayans were the first to cultivate cacao trees, until modern linguists were able to reconstruct the language of the earlier Olmecs and found that it includes the word "cacao." The Olmecs lived on the Gulf of Mexico around 3000 years ago.

Answer: They were puzzled and did not know what to do with them.

Even the Aztecs had not yet fully exploited the potential of the cacao beans; not until cacao reached Europe would it be combined with sugar and made into tablets that more closely resemble the chocolate we enjoy today.

Answer: Poured it from a height into a bowl.

The Aztecs would pour the cold, bitter chocolate beverage from a great height in order to make it frothy. The froth was an all-important part of the drink. Later, they developed a wooden paddle called a molinillo which fit into the hole in the lid of the chocolate pot, and which was twirled between the palms of the hands to make the froth.

Answer: Spain

Chocolate first traveled to Spain, where a number of chocolaterias, or chocolate houses, began to spring up. The Spanish people enjoyed their foamy brew, flavored with pepper and other spices, and it was often served with picatoste, or fried bread, to dip in it.

Answer: Conrad van Houten patented a new type of chocolate press.

All of these events occurred in the 19th century, but it was the Dutch chemist Van Houten's process which came first and which made possible the development of cocoa powder. Fry & Sons produced the first chocolate bar in England in 1847; Daniel Peter introduced milk chocolate in 1875 in Switzerland; and Swiss confectioner Lindt introduced "conching" in 1879.

Answer: Domingo Ghirardelli, in San Francisco, California, USA

Domingo Ghirardelli, an astute entrepreneur, set up shop in San Francisco during the gold rush years. A worker at his factory left a cloth sack of ground cacao beans hanging on a hook overnight; in the morning, there was a puddle of fat beneath it, and the ground chocolate left behind was nearly fat free and blended easily with liquids. This discovery eventually led to the powdered cocoa mixes we enjoy today.

Answer: Switzerland

Toblerone bars combine chocolate, nougat, almonds and egg white. Originally produced by their creator, Jean Tobler, they are now made by the Suchard company in Berne.

Answer: Deanna Troi

Although the replicator offers a close approximation of a fudge sundae, Troi occasionally needs the genuine article in order to feel satisfied. Though the computer reminds her that this is outside her nutritional parameters, she throws caution to the winds and orders it up anyway.