Mayan Cacao and Chocolate

The Mayan Cocao and its benefits are many. Like cardiovascular, energetic, aphrodisiac, etc. It is the scientific name for the cacao tree or cocao tree. For the Mayans, cocao was as important a crop as cotton from a commercial point of view. In the Mayan zone they found their home in the water-filled depressions of the sacred cenotes.

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Cacao beans were used to seal marriage vows. Children were baptized in water containing cocoa beans and flowers. Besides the brides of kings offered their husbands jugs of the frothy drink. And the deceased were accompanied to their graves with painted jugs filled with cacao.

The cacao in The conquer

At the time of the Spanish conquest. With only one grain you could buy a tamale or an avocado wrapped in corn husks.  Furthermore, with three beans, buy a turkey and with a hundred beans a slave.

The cacao tree, the beans and the drink can be seen carved on numerous monuments and decorative pottery.

On the Mayan Puuc route we can find plantations of this amazing tree that is cacao.

The introduction of cocoa began in the Mayan world, from there, it reached the center. That is, to Aztec territory, specifically to the place called Teotihuacán. The most important pre-Columbian city. Moreover it was until the Spanish conquerors arrived that they took it to Spain. Hernán Cortes knew the cacao at Moctezuma’s table, and it was Hernán Cortés himself who described it to the king Carlos V. Thereafter he assuring that a single cup of that indigenous drink was enough to sustain the forces of a soldier for a whole day of marching.

Today you can visit a place called ChocoCacao Maya, where you can live a unique experience. It is a unique place full of ancient traditions, surrounded by Mayan vestiges and a sacbe. There, people from the Mayan community of Cobá prepare cocoa-based drinks just as they did thousands of years ago.