Cacao

Cacao tree with fruit pods

Plant Info

Kingdom:	Plantae
Division:	Magnoliophyta
Class:	Magnoliopsida
Order:	Malvales
Family:	Sterculiaceae
Genus:	Theobroma
Species:	T. cacao

Binomial name

Theobroma cacao
L.

Cacao (Theobroma cacao) is a small (4–8 m tall) evergreen tree in the family Sterculiaceae (alternatively Malvaceae), native to the deep tropical region of the Americas, probably originally extending from far southern Mexico, through northern South America and into the Amazon. It is today cultivated throughout the tropics. Its seeds are used to make cocoa and chocolate.

The bush is today found growing wild in the low foothills of the Andes at elevations of around 200–400 m in the Amazon and Orinoco river basins. It requires a humid climate with regular rainfall and good soil. It is an understory tree, growing best with some overhead shade. The leaves are alternate, entire, unlobed, 10–40 cm long and 5–20 cm broad.

Cacao flowers

The flowers are produced in clusters directly on the trunk and older branches; they are small, 1–2 cm diameter, with pink calyx. The fruit, called a cacao pod, is ovoid, 15–30 cm long and 8–10 cm wide, ripening yellow to orange, and weighs about 500 g when ripe. The pod contains 20 to 60 seeds, usually called "beans", embedded in a white pulp. Each seed contains a significant amount of fat (40–50% as cocoa butter). Their most important active constituent is theobromine, a compound similar to caffeine.

The scientific name Theobroma means "food of the gods". The word cacao itself derives from the Nahuatl (Aztec language) word cacahuatl, learned at the the time of the conquest when it was first encountered by the Spanish. Similar words for the plant and its by-products are attested in a number of other indigenous Mesoamerican languages.

History of cultivation

Cultivation, cultural elaboration and use of cacao were extensive in Mesoamerica, but it remains unclear which geographical location was the initial center for domestication. The cacao tree belongs to the Theobroma genus, in the Sterculiaceae family, that contains 22 species. Today, the most common of the cultivated species is Theobroma cacao, with two subspecies and three forms. Origins of domesticated cacao are still in doubt, with the wild cacaos falling into two groups. The South American subspecies spaerocarpum has a fairly smooth melon-like fruit. In contrast, the Mesoamerican cacao subspecies has ridged, elongated fruits. At some unknown date, the subspecies T. cacao cacao reached the southern lowlands of Mesoamerica and was later domesticated by the Maya and other groups.

Aztec statuary of a male figure holding a cacao pod

The Maya believed that the kakaw (cacao) was discovered by the gods in a mountain that also contained other delectable foods to be used by the Maya. According to Maya mythology, the Plumed Serpent gave cacao to the Maya after humans were created from maize by divine grandmother goddess Xmucane (Bogin 1997, Coe 1996, Montejo 1999, Tedlock 1985). The Maya celebrated an annual festival in April to honor their cacao god, Ek Chuah, an event that included the sacrifice of a dog with cacao colored markings; additional animal sacrifices; offerings of cacao, feathers and incense; and an exchange of gifts. In a similar creation story, the Mexica (Aztec) god Quetzalcoatl discovered cacao (cacahuatl: "'bitter water"'), in a mountain filled with other p lant foods (Coe 1996, Townsend 1992). Cacao was offered regularly to a pantheon of Mexica deities and the Madrid Codex depicts priests lancing their ear lobes (autosacrifice) and covering the cacao with blood as a suitable sacrifice to the gods. The cacao beverage as ritual were used only by men, as it was believed to be toxic for women and children.

There are several mixtures of cacao described in ancient texts, for ceremonial, medicinal uses as well as culinary purposes. Some mixtures included maize, chili, vanilla (Vanilla planifolia), peanut butter and honey. Archaeological evidence for use of cacao, while relatively sparse, has come from the recovery of whole cacao beans at Uaxactun, Guatemala (Kidder 1947) and from the preservation of wood fragments of the cacao tree at Belize sites including Cuello and Pulltrouser Swamp (Hammond and Miksicek 1981; Turner and Miksicek 1984). In addition, analysis of residues from the interiors of four ceramic vessels from an Early Classic period (ca. AD 460-480) tomb at Rio Azul in northeastern Guatemala has revealed the presence of theobromine and caffeine. As cacao is the only known commodity from Mesoamerica containing both of these alkali compounds, it seems likely that these vessels were used as containers for cacao drinks. In addition, cacao is named in a hieroglyphic text on one of the vessels, a stirrup-handled pot with an intricately locking lid. While the Maya drank it hot, the Aztec preferred it cold.

The first Europeans to encounter cacao were Christopher Columbus and his crew in 1502, when they captured a canoe at Guanaja that contained a quantity of mysterious-looking “almonds,” which they at first mistook for rabbit droppings. The cargo was burned without any further knowledge gained about cacao. The first real European knowledge about chocolate came in the form of a beverage which was first introduced to the Spanish at their meeting with Montezuma in the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan in 1519. Cortez and others noted the vast quantities of this beverage that the Aztec emperor consumed, and how it was carefully whipped by his attendants beforehand. Examples of cacao beans along with other agricultural products were brought back to Spain at that time, but it seems that the beverage made from cacao was introduced to the Spanish court in 1544 by Kekchi Maya nobles brought from the New World to Spain by Dominican friars to meet Prince Philip (Coe and Coe 1996). Within a century, the culinary and medical uses of chocolate had spread to France, England and elsewhere in Western Europe. Demand for this beverage led the French to establish cacao plantations in the Caribbean, while Spain subsequently developed their cacao plantations in their Philippine colony (Bloom 1998, Coe 1996). The Nahuatl-derived Spanish word cacao entered scientific nomenclature in 1753 after the Swedish naturalist Linnaeus published his taxonomic binomial system and coined the genus and species Theobroma ("food of the gods") cacao.

Currency system

Cacao beans constituted both a staple food and a major currency system in pre-Columbian Mesoamerican civilizations. At one point the Aztec empire received a yearly tribute of 980 loads of cacao, in addition to other goods. Each load represented exactly 24,000 beans.Template:Fact The buying power of quality beans were such that 80-100 beans could buy a new cloth mantle. The use of cacao beans as currency is also known to have spawned counterfeiters during the Aztec empire. ^[1]

In some areas, such as Yucatán, cacao beans were still used in place of small coins as late as the 1840s.

Cultivation

Cacao is cultivated on over 70000 km² worldwide. Côte d'Ivoire produces 40% of world cacao, Ghana and Indonesia each produce about 15% , and Brazil, Nigeria, Cameroon, Guatemala, Ecuador, and Venezuela (Chuao) produce smaller amounts.

A tree begins to bear when it is four or five years old. In one year, when mature, it may have 6,000 flowers, but only about 20 pods. About 300-600 seeds (10 pods) are required to produce around 1 kg of cocoa paste.

Cacao seed in the fruit or Pocha

There are three main cultivar groups of cacao beans used to make cocoa and chocolate.^[2] The most prized, rare, and expensive is the Criollo Group, the cocoa bean used by the Maya. Only 10% of chocolate is made from Criollo, which is less bitter and more aromatic than any other bean. The cacao bean in 80% of chocolate is made using beans of the Forastero Group. Forastero trees are significantly hardier than Criollo trees, resulting in cheaper cacao beans. Trinitario, a hybrid of Criollo and Forastero, is used in about 10% of chocolate. For details of processing, see cocoa.