When Hernan Cortez conquered Mexico in 1521, chocolate was introduced to Spain. The Spanish added sugar and cinnamon to the bitter drinking chocolate recipes of the Aztecs and Mayans. By the late 1600s, the British discovered the Spanish drink and began adding milk to the recipe, thus creating what would become the winter obsession of people worldwide for the next few centuries. By the mid 1700s, the industrial revolution afforded the technology to create solid chocolate bars.

Chocoholics everywhere are grateful for the evolution of chocolate. However, for the three centuries since the advent of the solid chocolate bar, an essential Aztec/Mayan ingredient has been largely absent: the chili pepper.  Happily, for adventurous palates, in recent years, many of the finer chocolatiers have reintroduced the not so humble chili into specialty chocolate bars.

Click here to see my review of seven chili (and other hot pepper) flavored dark chocolates

By guest writer Carla Haus