Cacao

Cacao is the seed of Theobroma cacao, a tree native to the tropical lowlands of Mesoamerica and the northern Amazon, domesticated by Mesoamerican peoples including the Olmec and later the Maya and Aztec. Cacao seeds, fermented and dried, were the basis of a bitter, spiced drink consumed by Mesoamerican elites, and cacao beans additionally functioned as a form of currency in Aztec society. The word chocolate derives from Mesoamerican language roots for this drink. Cacao entered European consumption after Spanish contact in the sixteenth century, where it was sweetened with sugar and eventually transformed into the solid chocolate confection unknown in its region of origin, which had used cacao only as a beverage and flavoring.