Rows of truffles are coated in chocolate at Switzerland's Teuscher Chocolate Company. Chocolate is made from the seeds of the cacao tree, which explorer Hernán Cortés brought back to Europe in 1528. Cortés was introduced to the intriguing plant after witnessing Moctezuma, the Aztec emperor, drinking cup after cup of a spicy brown liquid from golden goblets that were thrown away after just one use.

(Text adapted from and photograph shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Chocolate: Food of the Gods," November 1984, National Geographic magazine)