ORIGINS OF CACAO

꩜ The Olmecs (1500-400 BC) of Mexico were considered to be the first to have cultivated Cacao. The word for Cacao ‘Kakaw’ existed in the Olmec vocabulary as early as 1000 B.C.E ~ Sophie D - book, The true history of Chocolate. To the Maya ( 1000 BC - 250 AD), Cacao was central to their entire civilisation. Beans harvested from Theobroma Cacao have been consumed since around 5,300 years ago.The Toltecs (900-1150 AD) used Cacao in ritual and ceremony alongside indigenous plant medicines such as Psilocybin mushrooms and Peyote were commonly used by shamans. The Aztecs (600-1521 AD) held a creation myth of Cacao. Quetzalcoatl, the feathered serpent deity who was the first to bring cacao beans to Earth and to humans from the legendary Garden of Life. Cacao was also associated with the Aztec God of Flowers, Xochipilli, and his Goddess consort, Xochiquetzal, deities of song, poetry and springtime. Spiritual usage of cacao in Mesoamerica: Cacao was used in rituals, to honour rites of passages connect to creation, fertility, death and rebirth. At weddings the bride and groom exchanged five cacao beans as a symbol of commitment and love. Cacao was used as an offering to the gods and as burial object. The consumption of Cacao was mainly reserved for nobility, and wealthy people with the exception of the farming people that had immediate access to the plant and were processing the beans. Worldly usage of cacao in Mesoamerica: Cacao was highly valued for its nourishing and healing qualities and was also combined with other plants, herbs, spices and consciousness altering medicine. The value of cacao and its demand was so high that it became a currency and used in trade.

”Cacao was consumed solely as a beverage, typically unsweetened and preferred hot by the Mayans and cold by the Aztecs, who occupied the Valley of Mexico from 1325-1521 C.E. Its recipe was complex; ripe pods were fermented and the seeds inside were dried, toasted, peeled, and ground on a stone slab. The resulting paste was mixed with chili peppers or cornmeal and made into a bitter drink by adding water and pouring from one jug to another until a thick foam head appeared and its texture was like honey, a process illustrated on at least one surviving Mayan drinking vessel. Later versions of the drink included the addition of various native plants, honey or vanilla. Mesoamerican groups shared the name xocoatl for this important beverage and the Aztecs named the cacao beans cacahuatl in their Nahuatl language.”

During the 16th century, the Spanish Conquistadors conquered the Aztec civilisation, causing mass genocide, destroying their culture and plundering their native resources. Froth was an important feature, created by pouring the Cacao from vessel to vessel. The Mayans used to say that the liquid is for the body but the froth is for the soul. Cacao was taken back to Europe Hernan Cortes where it became a very fashionable drink. It was Europeans who added milk and sugar, essentially starting to turn it into the ‘hot chocolate' we now know.