Evidence clearly shows that the Maya, who began to dominate the region in 250 AD, consumed chocolate.
The cocoa pods were a symbol at the Mayas of life and fertility. It was during the Classic Mayan civilization around 300 AD, that image do the cocoa pods was carved into the stone of their palaces and temples.
According to archeologists the Olmecs, the oldest civilization of the Americas, were most likely the first users of cocoa, followed by the Maya, who consumed cacao-based drinks made with beans from their plantations in the Chontalpa region of what is now eastern Tabasco.
Originally the Maya called the tree cacahuaquchtl – which means, ‘tree’. It was in the Yucatan that the Mayas established the earliest known cocoa plantains. When the Maya became the dominant culture of Mexico, they extended the cultivation of cocoa across the plains of Guatemala and beyond.
The Maya processed cocoa for use in foaming chocolate drinks flavored with spices such as cinnamon and chili and sometimes sweetened with honey.
Maya farmers transported their cocoa beans to market by canoe or in large baskets strapped to their backs, and wealthy merchants, employing porters to carry their wares, ventures as far as Mexico, the land of the Aztecs, introducing them to coca beans.
Maya and cocoa drinks