🍫 CHOCOLATE: FROM BITTER BEAN TO SWEET BAR
PAGE 1 OF 5, FOOD OF THE GODS
THEOBROMA
CACAO WAS A SACRED BITTER DRINK
Chocolate starts with a tropical tree called Theobroma cacao. That Latin name means food of the gods. Long ago, Maya and Aztec peoples in Mesoamerica grew cacao and made a thick, bitter drink from its seeds. They did not eat sweet candy bars. They whisked roasted cacao with water, spices, and sometimes chili. The drink was frothy, dark, and strong. Cacao beans were so valued that people sometimes used them like money in markets.
⚡ DID YOU KNOW?
Theobroma cacao means food of the gods. Maya and Aztec communities prized bitter cacao drinks for centuries, long before sugar bars existed.
BEAN!
RAIN FOREST PODS
🌱 Cacao pods grow straight from the tree trunk and hold rows of soft white beans inside.
🍂 Farmers ferment and dry the beans so the chocolate flavour can develop later.
🍂 Farmers ferment and dry the beans so the chocolate flavour can develop later.
NOT SWEET YET
🏺 Ancient cacao drinks were bitter and spicy, nothing like a modern milk chocolate bar.
🌶️ Chili, flowers, and maize sometimes joined cacao in ceremonial cups long ago.
🌶️ Chili, flowers, and maize sometimes joined cacao in ceremonial cups long ago.