While chocolate has played an important role in many cultures as both food and medicine, California has had its own special history with the food, says UC Davis nutritional geographer Louis Grivetti.

First used in ancient Mesoamerica by early Mayan and Mixtex cultures, chocolate was adopted by the early Spanish after contact with the New World in 1519. Its use eventually spread northward into Spanish California.

Grivetti has discovered documentation showing that chocolate was part of the supplies during a 1774-76 Spanish expedition to San Diego, San Gabriel, Monterey and San Francisco.

"Chocolate served as a stimulant to keep soldiers alert during their sentry rounds, as a way to ease hunger during long overland treks, and as a popular social beverage served to family members and guests alike," Grivetti says.

Early Spanish and Mission era accounts extol the merits of chocolate, he points out. Diaries of Mexican and Anglo pioneers making the trek to California found chocolate available at stopovers in Arizona and elsewhere.

Grivetti and his team members found archival evidence at Sutter's Fort in Sacramento that chocolate was made there and served to members of the Fremont expedition in 1845. Ledgers in the fort archives record the sale and prices of chocolate in Sacramento both before and after the discovery of gold.

"It is the accounts from the Gold Rush era that are captivating," Grivetti says. "We learned miners took 'chocolate breaks' to brew their favorite beverage, and hard-working women served chocolate to their children."

He also found accounts of "high times" in San Francisco where chocolate was served as a refreshing beverage in various gambling saloons.

"There is substantial evidence that chocolate was a major food during most of California history -- it was a pleasure to drink, a pleasure to eat," Grivetti says.