By Rafe Calder
A tamale could be bought with cacao beans. A turkey hen cost more of them. Before the Spanish arrived, the seeds of a rainforest tree worked as money across Mesoamerica, and the same seeds made a drink that nobles consumed in quantity. This piece follows what four sources say about the tree, the beans and the word, and flags where they split.
Where it comes from
Britannica, an encyclopedia, calls the cacao tree a tropical evergreen grown for its edible seeds and native to lowland rainforests of South America.
A tree that is hard to pollinate
The Natural History Museum in London says cacao flowers are pollinated by tiny midges of the genus Forcipomyia, not by bees, and that only a small share of the flowers on a tree go on to set fruit.
Where and when
A 2018 study in Nature Ecology & Evolution (Zarrillo and colleagues) found evidence of cacao use about 5,300 years ago at Santa Ana-La Florida in southeast Ecuador, in the Mayo-Chinchipe culture. Science News reported the finding the same year as the oldest evidence of cacao use yet found.
The drink
The Smithsonian, in a short web feature, says cacao was prized by the Maya and Aztecs and that the beans were used as currency in many parts of the Americas.
From pod to bean
The International Cocoa Organization describes fermenting the beans under banana leaves. It gives about five days for Forastero beans and two to three days for Criollo.
Shade and birds
The Smithsonian feature says its scientists found that cocoa farms with 30 to 40 percent canopy cover and diverse shade trees could support as many bird species as undisturbed forest. That is the whole of the claim on that page.
What we left out
Production tables, recipes, regional styles of table chocolate, and the ritual material around cacao gods, none of which we can source here.
Quick answers
Was cacao really used as money? Yes. The Smithsonian says the beans were used as currency in many parts of the Americas, and the Natural History Museum of Utah says one bean bought a tamale.
What is the oldest evidence of cacao use? A 2018 study in Nature Ecology & Evolution found it at Santa Ana-La Florida in southeast Ecuador, about 5,300 years ago.
How long are cacao beans fermented? The International Cocoa Organization gives about five days for Forastero and two to three for Criollo.
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