When Were Cocoa Beans Discovered – Origin of Chocolate

Until the 16th century, the cocoa tree was completely unknown to Europeans, until 15 August 1502, when Christopher Columbus, on his fourth voyage to America, captured a large native canoe containing cocoa beans as a trade item. Cocoa beans are said to have become known as cacao beans.

Cacao was first cultivated by ancient cultures in South America, including the Aztecs and Mayans. Scientists have found evidence that foods made from cacao go back thousands of years.

The history of chocolate and chocolate made from cacao trees goes back to the ancient Mayans, and even further back to the ancient Olmec people of southern Mexico.

It is believed that the Mayans of South America first discovered cacao around 900 AD. They discovered that the beans inside the cacao bean could be harvested and turned into a liquid, which became the Mayans’ favourite snack.

Archaeologists have discovered the earliest traces of cacao in pottery used by the ancient pre-Olmec civilization called Mayo-Chinchipe culture 5,300 years ago in the upper Amazon region of Ecuador.

Written sources on the history of cocoa include glyphic texts on ceramics deciphered in 1980. These texts showed that chocolate played a central role in the court life of the Classic Maya and was closely linked to their political economy, as well as to religious and social events. In addition, there are a large number of images of cacao and related ceremonies.

For most of its history, chocolate was drunk rather than eaten. The most common way of consuming chocolate, the chocolate bar, was only invented in the late 19th century, while drinking chocolate has been around for around 4000 years.

The word “chocolate” comes from the Aztec word “xocoatl”, which meant a bitter drink made from the cocoa bean. The Latin name of the cacao tree, theobroma cacao, means “food of the gods”.

The Maya consumed chocolate by following a multi-step process, which included harvesting cacao beans, fermenting, drying and roasting them, removing the shells, and grinding them into a paste (this process of making chocolate remains largely unchanged even today). To create a frothy head, they would pour the paste into water and mix it with cornmeal, chili peppers, and other spices. This mixture was poured back and forth between two containers. The resulting bitter and spicy beverage was highly popular. The Maya considered it sacred and called it “Ka’kau.” Cacao was used in special celebrations such as those for funeral rituals, war, or harvests.

The Aztecs took their passion for chocolate to a new level. They believed that cocoa was a gift from the gods. Like the Mayans, they enjoyed hot or cold spiced chocolate drinks containing caffeine in fancy containers, but they also used cacao beans as currency to buy food and other items. In Aztec culture, cocoa beans were considered more valuable than gold.

Some of the most popular additives to chocolate among the Aztecs were spices such as chenopodium, coriander, and sage, as well as vanilla orchid pods and sweeteners like honey. These historic Mesoamerican chocolate recipes influenced the colonial European chocolate consumption that we are familiar with today.