The Pre-Columbian Experience

1200 B.C. — 1492 A.D. 

The history of chocolate started in the hot, equatorial South and Central American and Amazon regions. It was considered a divine gift, a source of power, a form of currency, and a health food by the peoples of ancient Mesoamerica.

First Encounters

Monkeys were the first to find the cacao plant edible and delectable, not man. In the hottest parts of ancient Mesoamerica, these brightly colored, rugby ball-shaped pods hung off trees, begging to be picked. Monkeys learned of the sweet, refreshing pulp concealed within the thick pod.  Ancient man followed their example, picking the fruit off trees as they walked past.

The sweet pulp of the cacao pod tasted like apricots or melons. But the beans—or seeds—in the core of the pulp were bitter and seemingly inedible. The monkeys would eat the pulp and spit out the beans. Ancient people followed the monkeys’ example, and only ate the delicious pulp. This was probably what Mother Nature had in mind: the seeds were disseminated throughout Mesoamerica, making cacao trees plentiful in South and Central America and guaranteeing cacao’s evolution.

From Fruit to Seed

It’s not known when ancient civilizations figured out how to use the bean. It might have been by sheer accident, when a handful of these bitter beans fell into a fire and roasted, setting off an enticing chocolate-like aroma that made the natives think twice about discarding them. Or it might have been when the pulp of the fruit was fermented into a native concoction called cacao chica and the beans  fermented too , sweetening their taste and making them more palatable.  But the transition from bitter beans to  food source likely occurred during the time of the Olmecs.

The Olmecs Had a Name for It

An ancient tribe called the Olmecs (1200 to 300 B.C.) from the tropical lowlands of South Central Mexico were the first to domesticate the plant and use the beans. They had a name for these bitter seeds that held secrets to health and power: kakawa, or cacao. According to recent archaeologists’ findings, the beans were an integral part of this ancient civilization’s diet and culture from as early as 600 B.C.

The Mayans: The First Real Chocolate-Lovers

The Mayans are considered the most culturally advanced among the Mesoamerican civilizations. During the Mayan Classic Age (300-900 A.D.), they had cities with majestic pyramid-temples and palaces, a calendar calculated to end in the 21st century, and a complex written language that filled thousands of books. They also were the first true chocolate aficionados, treasuring cacao as a restorative, mood-enhancing cure-all. It became an integral part of their society, used in ceremonies, given as gifts and incorporated into their mythologies.

Burial tombs have been found that contain offerings, including ancient potteries that bear witness to cacao’s importance.  The vases are covered with paintings showing Mayan gods fighting over beans and kings waiting to be served cacao creations.

Chocolate plays a part in Mayan religion. The Mayan’s sacred book, Popul Vuh, contains their story of the creation, and instead of an apple tree, there’s a cacao tree.  In this myth, immortal ball-playing twins are beheaded by the gods of death. One has his head hung on a cacao tree. The magical head manages to mate with a woman who becomes the mother of twin gods. These two defeat the gods of death and then end up in the sky as the sun and the moon.

These first chocolate-lovers did not make chocolate bars as we know them today. Instead, the beans were ground into a coarse paste and mixed with spices, water and chilies to create a variety of hot and cold frothy, bitter drinks. Or the beans were mixed with corn and flavorings to make an assortment of porridge-like meals that varied in thickness from very thin and watery to thick and solid.  These dishes were high in nutrients and very healthy. They also were inedible by our standards and a far cry from the chocolate we eat today.

Toltecs Take the Territory

By 900 A.D., a new group of peoples emerged to challenge the empire of the Mayans. The Toltecs captured the Yucatan Peninsula and then some. Much of the wrangling between these nations was over who controlled the cacao-rich lands, and who had cacao trading rights.

The Toltecs also saw cacao as a divine gift, believing the god Quetzalcoatl had given the bean to men and taught them how to cultivate it.  Quetzalcoatl was banished by the other gods for offering this divinely delicious food to mortals, but he swore to return. This legend continued centuries later into the age of the Aztecs, and when Cortes, the Spanish conquistador, showed up in the 16th century, the great Aztec King Montezuma believed it was Quetzalcoatl returning.

The Aztecs: The Gold Standard

The Aztecs led an empire of almost 15 million people between the 14th and 16th centuries.  Theirs was an aristocratic society, and chocolate was reserved for the rich and the nobles. In fact, the Aztecs prized the cacao bean so highly that it was their form of currency.  The bean also was used as money in Central American markets long after the Aztecs were gone, as late as 1858.

The beans were the natives' "coins." A list of Aztec trading prices looked something like this:

1 small rabbit = 30 cacao beans
1 turkey egg = 3 cacao beans
1 large tomato = 1 cacao bean

The royal storehouses had “vaults” full of this currency. One estimate listed the yearly expenditure of dried beans at 11,680,000. Some of these beans went to pay the king’s attendants. Others went into the king’s chocolate drinks—and he drank a lot of chocolate. Montezuma was rumored to enjoy 50 cups a day.

The Aztecs consumed chocolate in liquid form, as did the Mayans. It was served cold and frothy. The foam was believed to hold chocolate’s fundamental essence, and the ritual of creating the foam is seen in Aztec artwork. They’d pour the chocolate mixture vertically from one vessel to another, back and forth to make it froth. Today, many Mexican communities still value the foam so much they let their cacao beans calcify and turn white before grinding to ensure a heady mug of chocolate.

At this point, chocolate was still a bitter - tasting brew and contained a mish-mash of corn, flavorings and spices. But this would change after the Spanish arrived in the New World.