Vivien Hornyansky, age 12, of St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada, for her question:

When was chocolate discovered?

The people who discovered the wonderful stuff either forgot to make a note of the event or lost their records. They were the original Americans of Mexico and perhaps other parts of Central and South America. Nobody knows when they discovered how to extract the chocolate flavor from the rather bitter beans of their native cacao trees. But we do know they appreciated the rich .flavor. The .Mexican Aztecs used cacao beans as money, and the original name for chocolate meant "food of the gods."

The early farmers of South and Central America were very gifted plant experts. Most likely they discovered the secret of chocolate centuries before Columbus arrived. It is said the around 1520 A.D., Cortez introduced Spain to their delectable brew of vanilla, sugar and prepared cacao beans. Naturally the new chocolate flavor quickly became popular throughout Europe. In 1765, chocolate drinks were being made in North America. Cocoa and solid chocolate were introduced here in the 1800s.