Chocolate: The Columbian Exchange in a Cup

35 mins: Gallery Visit – Fellow-led tour of Pre-Columbian Galleries and the Stimulant Sea Exhibition
10 mins: Close-looking at Cacao Bowl
35 mins: Chocolatl Making
10 mins: Reflection and Survey

Gallery Visit and Close-looking at Cacao Bowl
Students begin with a tour of the Pre-Columbian Galleries at Dumbarton Oaks, including the special exhibition, Stimulant Sea, about the origins of sugar. Through the lens of two globally known ingredients, cacao and sugar, students will explore concepts such as trade and cultural exchange. The tour will include close-looking at a cacao-related object and discussion of its cultural significance, origins, and ceremonial uses, as well as consideration of sugar’s eventual introduction and global journey, concluding with a brief tour of the “Stimulant Sea” exhibit.

Chocolatl Making
Students participate in a hands-on activity preparing chocolatl using Ancient Maya (honey) and Colonial Mexican (sugar) recipes with traditional techniques like pot-to-pot pouring or molinillo stirring. Students will grind cacao beans, select authentic ingredients, and create chocolatl drinks while discussing how cacao grows, its preparation, and its relationship to social status and ritual. They will also explore how sugar’s introduction into the Americas from Europe then transformed consumption, adaptation, and commercialization of this cacao drink to Europe from the Americas (Columbian Exchange).