ORIGIN AND HISTORY OF COCOA
The Latin name for cocoa
Theobroma literally means, “food of the gods.” This valuable crop played an
important role in many ancient South American cultures.
In its earliest forms, the
Mayans used cocoa to create a ritual beverage that was shared during betrothal
and marriage ceremonies, providing one of the first known links between
chocolate and romance.
For nearly 100 years after
the Spaniards were introduced to chocolate, the coveted drink of New World inhabitants, they kept the secret of its
production to themselves. In the same years as Shakespeare wrote his final
plays, the missionary and theologian José de Acosta wrote about cocoa from Lima, Peru,
saying, “It is so much esteemed among the Indians that it is one of the richest
and the greatest traffickers of New Spain.”
The word Cocoa derives from the Spanish word cacao,
derived from the Nahuatl word cacahuatl. Cocoa
can often also refer to the drink commonly known as hot chocolate; to cocoa
powder, the dry powder made by grinding cocoa seeds and removing the cocoa
butter from the dark, bitter cocoa solids; or to a mixture of cocoa powder and
cocoa butter.
