Humans’ dependency on chocolate dates back 4,000 years to the ancient Olmec civilization in Southern Chipas Mexico. Later followed by Mesoamerica, which is now present-day Mexico and Central America.

The Olmecs were the first people known to process and eat cacao (kakaw) beans. They primarily drank the cacao mixed with water but also devised fermenting, drying, roasting and grinding the beans as well. This was later passed to the Mayans.

In Mesoamerica, the Mayans began to flavor these beverages with chili or sweetened them with honey and vanilla. They made this into a frothy drink that somewhat resembles the drinks that we make today with chocolate. They would pour the mixture back and forth until the froth rose believing it to be closest to heaven. Some debate still exists but it has been said that Mayan chocolate was reserved to the elite, government officials and the warriors. They even used the cacao beans in human sacrifices, weddings, and other religious ceremonies.

Cacao (ka’ kau’) as referred to by the Aztecs, was used primarily in trade or as a sign of luxury especially in celebrations. At the time, it wasn’t a solid, but a beverage instead, with beer-like qualities. The bitter seeds were fermented and used to make ceremonial beverages consumed by the elite of the Aztecs. Those who were searching for upward mobility would serve this chocolate drink at fancy occasions in an attempt to gain social prestige. Taxation began in this era as well, where the Aztecs required taxation to be paid by the citizens that they conquered in cacao.

This love affair with chocolate continued as the use of it broadened to cure sicknesses, appease Gods, show love, and give bursts of quick energy, among other uses. From cultivating it in ancient cultures to its modern uses today, chocolate has now evolved intoan industry that produces 3.8 million tons of cacao beans per year. Who would have thought this industry started with just a couple beans 4,000 years ago?