energy and moisture. It appears that the first
people to cultivate the tree were the Olmecs
of the southern Gulf coast of Mexico. They in
turn introduced it sometime before 600 BCE to
the Maya, who produced it in the tropical
Yucatan peninsula and Central America, and
traded it to the Aztecs in the cool and arid
north. The Aztecs roasted and ground cacao
seeds and made them into a drink that was
served in religious ceremonies and associated
with human blood. The seeds were valuable
enough to serve as a form of currency. The
first Europeans to see the cacao bean were
probably the crew of Columbus’s fourth
voyage in 1502, who brought some back to
Spain. In 1519 one of Cortez’s lieutenants,
Bernal Diaz del Castillo, saw the Aztec
emperor Montezuma at table and in passing
described the prepared drink:
Fruit of all the kinds that the country
produced were laid before him; he ate very