TABASCO BIRTHPLACE OF CHOCOLATE

Many people connect chocolate or cacao with the Aztecs, is true that chocolate was a very important part of Aztec life and cacao was a highly treasured commodity, however they did not discover chocolate or cacao. Around the fourteenth century the Aztec conquered vast areas of southern Mexico they adopted and expanded the use of the cacao they found being prepared in the far reaches of their new empire. By the time the Spainards started nosing around the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean, they found it to be the most valuable trade item on the mainland and that it was carried to Tenochtilan to satisfy the demand for chocolate in the empire's capital city. The treasure Cortez found in Moctezuma's vaults at Tenochtitlan was not gold, but thousands of kilos of cacao, cacao along with vaulable dyes such as " Cochineal " were part of the tributes that were paid to Moctezuma by the Maya of the tropical lowlands of Mexico. Cacao would not have grown anywhere near the high, central valley of Mexico. It was carried to the Aztec Capital by merchants known as Pochtecas, meaning " people from the land of the Ceiba tree" the name shows a direct connection to the lowland Maya especially the Putún Maya of Tabasco. The true Birthplace of Chocolate is Tabasco, Mexico. Where even to this day it plays an important role in the economy and the life of the people of Tabasco. Serving as the base of some of their traditional meals and drinks, such as Pozol.

By 1502 cacao had become not only an extrodinary trade item, it was now legal currency with a known value for items from turkeys, to sex. The teenaged son of Columbus first came in contact with a large canoe or cayuco off the coast of present day Honduras, " as large in length as our ships ", said the young Ferdinand Columbus of the meeting, they noticed that if cacao beans or dried almonds as the Spaniards believed them to be , were dropped, people would dive onto them to recover them, " as if an eye had fallen out of their head." Since there was no common language the matter remaind a mystery until Cortez marched ashore with his men, seventeen years later. The Spainards readily realized that the cacao had it's use as currency as mentioned and that it was a prized commodity used only by nobels and the elite. When the vaults of Moctezuma were opened by the Spainards expecting to find a wealth of gold and precious objects, found the vaults filled to capacity with cacao or chocolate. When the Spainards were first presented to Moctezuma, they saw he was drinking a frothing chocolate drink and were probably offered to partake. It is said that Cortez refused the drink, for what reason is not known ,but this offended the Aztec leader and made him suspicious of of Cortez andall Spainards. This is said to be the turning point in the relationship as Moctezuma at that time knew Cortez was not the returning " Plumed Serpent ":, since he refused the Cacao. Cortez never mentioned in his logs anything about shipping cacao beans to Spain. There is no historical proof that Cortez brought cacao to the Old World. Many trade ships were stopped by pirates and thinking that they had seized nothing but dried almonds they were dumped into the ocean. However history shows that two Quiche Indian Nobels from Guatemala were presented to the court of King Phillip and offered chocolate but the king did not care for it, nor was it accepted by the people of the Old World..

The habit of drinking chocolate did not reach Spain until early in the seventeenth century. Within fifty or sixty years drinking chocolate made with sugar, vanilla and other spices spread to Italy, France, England and most parts of Europe. The centuries that followed, chocolate change the face of the world.

No matter the language all chocolate is made in the same fashion. In the same way as the Olmeca and the Maya of Mexico before us. chocolate or cacao is the heart of Tabasco, Mexico It is the weapon Mexico used to conquer Europe and change the face of the world. More than a tradition. The cacao tree bears fruit twice a year and the cacao once harvested must be put into fermentation bins within two days. cacao trees are planted along with avocado, pataste and arbol de pan (breadfruit) to provide shade, the cacao tree grows to about three meters and must have the shade and the ground cover for moisture that is provided by the wild " Cows Tongue " plants or it will not surrive. cacao pods are harvested from the trunk of the tree for they do not grow like other fruit. Instead they grow from the soft moundsthat form the flowers of the cacao fruit. The pods are thick and tough and the seeds or beans inside (left) have no way of extricating themselves from the pods and must depend on humans or monkeys to do the job for them. Afterwards they are collected and are carted away in baskets or any other available and suitable container.
The pods are placed in piles where workers will cut open the pods with a machete and remove the sweet, white pulp covered cacao beans, about 30-40 in each pod (left). The cacao in order to be turned into "nibs" or kernels (right) must undergo five steps. No matter the method, it is all done in the same order . The two types of cacao we are discussing are the criollo ( left) and forastero. With the first step the harvesting done, the fermentation process begins. In fermentation bins as in photo at right. The criollo is today given the same 5-6 days as the forastero cacao, although before the criollo were give 1-3 and forastero 3-5 days. An interesting but necessary biological process takes place during the fermentation. The white pulp turns to liquid as the temperature and the acidity increase, this has to happen or the result will not taste like chocolate. The cacao must stay at temperatures of 113°-122° F and be regularly turned during germination for several days longer, or again there will be no chocolate taste. In Tabasco the cacao is put on trays with wheels or it is spread on concrete slabs where it will lose at least 50% of its weight drying under the tropical sun, while the enzymatic process inside goes on.
The next step is the roasting. It can last from 70 to 115 minutes, at temperatures of 210°-219°F for chocolate and 240°-250° for powder and is absolutely necessary for the developement of flavor and aroma; through this step due to chemical changes and further loss of moisture the nibs become richer and darker in color, more friable and less astringent.
The final step is "winnowing" which removes the thin shell of the nib and the nibs can then be ground into a paste.