The Chocolate Tree :: Botany

The Chocolate Tree Fossil records are unable to provide information of on the center of origins of the cacao tree. The cacao tree is in the Sterculiaceae family. The first growers of the cacao pods were probably the people who entered the lowland rain forests of the Amazon Basin between 10,000 and 200 B.P. The full name of the cacao tree is Theobroma cacao. Most of the information of the cacao have been derived from the cultivated crop. The life and reproduction life cycle of Theobroma cacao is identical to a tropical rain forest tree species. Cacao grows optimally in minimal moisture and shade. Cacao is dispersed in small, medium and large areas. This is probably the result of animal dropping the seeds after eating the tasty inside of the pods. Cacao pods are very diverse in morphology. These morphological difference suggests genetic differentiation. The Amazon region is considered the birthplace of the wild cacao tree. T. cacao appeared with the arrival of human species in South American. It have been suggested that T. cacao is the result of a cross between T. pentagona and T. leiocarpa. Cacao was not been selected for its seeds, but instead for the pulp surrounding them. Selection for the seeds begin in Mesoamerica. The seed pulp was used as a beverage. Cacao cultivation by the Indians, notably the Aztecs of Mexico and Mayas in Central America was established before the New World was discovered. The next question would have to be how did the cacao tree cross the sea. Christopher Columbus brought a cacao beans back to Europe from the Gulf of Honduras. This cargo of cacao beans were the first specimens to enter Europe. The Aztecs settled in Mexico two hundred years before Cortes conquest of Mexico. When the Spaniards invaded the palaces of Montezuma they found a large number of cacao beans. The cacao beans were used in a drink called chocolatl. The was typically the drink for the most elite in the society. This is the treatment that was done on the cacao prior to storage. Sun dried beans that had been roast in pots. The husk were removed, the nibs were placed on flat or concave stone, then ground and shaped with a roller. The fluid mass is then mixed with corn and spices and made into cakes. The chocolatl drink is made from a piece of the cake mixed with water and mixed with a molinet.