Cacao had great social and economic value to ancient Mesoamerican civilizations like the Olmecs, Maya, and Aztecs. The Olmecs were likely the first to process cacao beans into drinks around 1500 BC. For the Maya, cacao was sacred and featured in religious ceremonies and social rituals like weddings. Cacao drinks were consumed on special occasions and the beans were also used as currency due to the difficulty of growing cacao.

1. History of chocolate is a Mesoamerican
story
An example of a pot used by the ancient Maya. Photo: Photo: Anciano/Flickr
On a sunny morning in San Francisco, men and women scoot around a tiny chocolate
factory, wrapping bars, checking temperatures and sorting cacao beans. This is the home
of Dandelion Chocolate, a small chocolate maker started in 2010. The tools and flavors
have changed, but the work of turning cacao beans into chocolate hasn't.
The Olmecs were an ancient people in Mexico. They lived near the Aztec and Maya
civilizations. The Olmecs were probably the first to ripen, roast and grind cacao beans for
drinks, possibly as early as 1500 B.C.
“When you think of chocolate, most people don’t think of Mesoamerica,” says Hayes Lavis,
a curator for the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian. “There’s so much
rich history that we’re just beginning to understand."
By Smithsonian Institute, adapted by Newsela staff on 09.29.16
Word Count 877

2. Raw Seeds Are Bitter
Raw cacao seeds are bitter and don't look like chocolate. “How would you think to take the
seed, harvest it, dry it, let it ripen and roast it?” Lavis said. Perhaps someone was eating
the fruit and spitting seeds into the fire. The rich smell of them roasting might have inspired
the thought that “maybe there’s something more we could do with this.”
The naturally bitter flavor of cacao came through at full strength in early Maya recipes.
“This was before they had really good roasting techniques,” says Dandelion co-founder
Todd Masonis.
“Rarely did they add any sweetener,” says anthropologist Joel Palka of the University of
Illinois at Chicago. The Maya had a variety of herbs or spices, however, for seasoning
cacao-based food and drink. These ranged from chili and vanilla to magnolia.
Cacao Seeds Were Social, Cultural, Religious
Cacao figured into pre-modern Maya society as a sacred food, and a social and cultural
centerpiece. “You would have to get together to prepare the chocolate,” Palka said. “It's
the whole social process.” Around Chiapas, Mexico, Palka meets people who still grow
chocolate as a family tradition. It's part of who they are, he says.
Cacao drinks in Mesoamerica became associated with high rank and special occasions.
These might include initiations or year-end celebrations.
After the Olmecs, the Maya of Guatemala, Yucatan and the surrounding region
incorporated cacao seed into religious life. Paintings recovered from the time show cacao
in mythological scenes and even court cases. It’s one of the few food crops that was used
as part of wedding ceremonies, Lavis said. Early records of Maya marriages in Guatemala
indicate that in some places, a woman had to prove she could properly make cacao
drinks.
Around Chiapas, Palka said, residents prepared chocolate drinks as offerings for gods as
recently as 1980. “It was something that people enjoyed,” he said, “and so they knew their
gods enjoyed it, too.”
Cacao beans were also used as money. The seeds were so valuable that they were even
counterfeited. Researchers have come across "cacao beans" that were actually made of
clay. The clay beans may have been passed off as money or substituted for real cacao in
ceremonies. Aztec rulers accepted cacao as tribute payments. It was also commonly
exchanged in Maya marriage negotiations.
Cacao Wasn't Just About Money
Archaeologist Eleanor Harrison-Buck, however, cautions against thinking of cacao’s
importance to its economic value as a form of elite power. Rather, she said, using cacao
for the ancient Maya was grounded in social relations.

3. “I think that chocolate became so important because it's harder to grow,” compared to
plants like maize and cactus. “You can't grow cacao in every region in the Americas,”
Palka says. “It requires a certain kind of soil, amount of rainfall and especially shade,
because the ... little flies that pollinate the cacao trees have to live in shade.”
Art recovered from Belize shows cacao as a staple in ancient Maya feasts. The fact that
cacao was a cultivated plant and served in so many ceremonies makes it important to
understand the region, according to Harrison-Buck.
But the pollen and fossilized plant tissue of cacao do not preserve well, she says. As a
result, archaeologists know more about the early uses of cacao than they do about ancient
methods of producing the bean.
Looking For A Biological Footprint
To better understand how ancient civilizations produced cacao, Harrison-Buck has been
working in Belize to find out whether cacao orchards leave a distinctive biological footprint.
Her team has collected soil in areas where cacao is currently grown. They've also sampled
soil from floodplains near ancient Maya sites, and from lands that supported cacao in
colonial times.
By comparing chemicals in soil from these various sites, they're hoping to map out
chemical indicators of ancient cacao cultivation.
Chocolate is often said to have been seen as an ancient medicine. Spanish explorer
Hernando Cortes wrote to King Carlos I of Spain of “xocoatl,” a drink that “builds up
resistance and fights fatigue.” And one officer serving Cortez reportedly observed the
Aztec ruler Montezuma drinking more than 50 cups per day of a frothy chocolate drink.
But according to Lavis, some of these tales are likely overstated: “I don’t think any living
person could drink 50 cups of cacao,” he said. The Spanish also probably attributed
medical benefits to chocolate that the Maya didn’t. “I think it was just part of their diet,"
Lavis said, "and they knew it was good for them.”

4. Quiz
1 Which selection from the article gives a possible reason as to why cacao became so valuable?
(A) Early records of Maya marriages in Guatemala indicate that in some places,
a woman had to prove she could properly make cacao drinks.
(B) Cacao beans were also used as money. The seeds were so valuable that
they were even counterfeited.
(C) “I think that chocolate became so important because it's harder to grow,”
compared to plants like maize and cactus.
(D) The fact that cacao was a cultivated plant and served in so many
ceremonies makes it important to understand the region, according to
Harrison-Buck.
2 Select the paragraph from the section "Cacao Seeds Were Social, Cultural, Religious" that
BEST explains how cacao was used in different social situations and traditional ceremonies.
3 Which statement would be MOST important to include in a summary of the article?
(A) Cacao had great social and economic value to the ancient people of
Mesoamerica.
(B) Cacao was made into a drink that was enjoyed on special occasions.
(C) Cacao is very bitter and it must be roasted and fermented to bring out the
flavor.
(D) Researchers want to learn more about how cacao was farmed by ancient
people.
4 Which of the following answer choices describes two main ideas in the article?
(A) Cacao was often used in wedding celebrations, and women had to show
that they could make good cacao drinks.
(B) Cacao was very important to ancient people both culturally and socially, and
they used it in food and drink and as money.
(C) Cacao is difficult to grow since it needs a certain climate, and since it was
harder to grow, it was more valuable.
(D) Cacao is bitter and must go through a process in order to be fit to eat, and
ancient people used it as an important part of their diet.

5. Answer Key
1 Which selection from the article gives a possible reason as to why cacao became so valuable?
(A) Early records of Maya marriages in Guatemala indicate that in some places,
a woman had to prove she could properly make cacao drinks.
(B) Cacao beans were also used as money. The seeds were so valuable that
they were even counterfeited.
(C) “I think that chocolate became so important because it's harder to
grow,” compared to plants like maize and cactus.
(D) The fact that cacao was a cultivated plant and served in so many
ceremonies makes it important to understand the region, according to
Harrison-Buck.
2 Select the paragraph from the section "Cacao Seeds Were Social, Cultural, Religious" that
BEST explains how cacao was used in different social situations and traditional ceremonies.
Paragraph 8:
After the Olmecs, the Maya of Guatemala, Yucatan and the surrounding region
incorporated cacao seed into religious life. Paintings recovered from the time
show cacao in mythological scenes and even court cases. It’s one of the few
food crops that was used as part of wedding ceremonies, Lavis said. Early
records of Maya marriages in Guatemala indicate that in some places, a woman
had to prove she could properly make cacao drinks.
3 Which statement would be MOST important to include in a summary of the article?
(A) Cacao had great social and economic value to the ancient people of
Mesoamerica.
(B) Cacao was made into a drink that was enjoyed on special occasions.
(C) Cacao is very bitter and it must be roasted and fermented to bring out the
flavor.
(D) Researchers want to learn more about how cacao was farmed by ancient
people.

6. 4 Which of the following answer choices describes two main ideas in the article?
(A) Cacao was often used in wedding celebrations, and women had to show
that they could make good cacao drinks.
(B) Cacao was very important to ancient people both culturally and
socially, and they used it in food and drink and as money.
(C) Cacao is difficult to grow since it needs a certain climate, and since it was
harder to grow, it was more valuable.
(D) Cacao is bitter and must go through a process in order to be fit to eat, and
ancient people used it as an important part of their diet.