Cocoa: Sacred Food in Mexico

"IN NO OTHER PRODUCT HAS NATURE CONCENTRATED SUCH A VALUABLE AND HEALTHY FOOD IN SUCH A REDUCED SPACE AS A COCOA SEED IS."

Alexander Von Humboldt, 1835.

Cocoa is a fruit of tropical origin that comes from the cocoa tree, it has a height of four to eight meters, its fruits are elongated berries called pods , they contain 30-40 reddish seeds and are covered by a sweet white edible pulp .

It lives in humid tropical forests with a warm climate and takes five years to bear its first fruits. The cocoa tree grows under the protective shade of larger trees, called cacauaneche or Mother of Cocoa.

This tree is a symbol of abundance and serves as a metaphorical conduit through which the souls of humans and gods travel through earth, heaven and hell.

The symbolic fabric of cocoa is linked to darkness , the night, caves, the humid half of the year, blackness, clouds, cold and humid places, the feminine and the Moon.

In 600 BC the Mayans cultivated cocoa, they called it “cacauatl” and considered it a divine food.  They consumed it mixed with water and spices such as pepper or cloves, in a drink called “xocolatl” (bitter water).

Cocoa was a food reserved for the elites, nobles and warriors . It was used ceremonially at weddings between members of royalty, it accompanied the deceased on their journey to the underworld and was prepared to celebrate military victories. The cocoa seed was used as a monetary and measurement unit .

In the Aztec Empire, Montezuma received part of his tributes in cocoa beans, which annually amounted to 400 thousand countles , which was equivalent to 160 million cocoa beans, necessary to prepare fifty cups of cocoa daily for his personal consumption.

“ The cocoa was always on the table of the tlatoanis in such an exquisite, varied and abundant way that it caused astonishment to anyone who was outside and witnessed this scene.”

Its fruit was symbolically equivalent to the human heart , and cocoa represented the blood that circulates through our body.

In the letters that Hernán Cortés sent to Charles V, he assured him that a single cup of Xocolatl was enough to sustain a soldier's strength for a whole day of marching. It was in 1528 when Cortés took it and showed it for the first time in Europe, where cocoa was transformed into chocolate. :(

In the 18th century, the naturalist Carolus Linnaeus, based on the beliefs of the Mayans and Aztecs, named the cacao tree with the scientific name Theobroma Cacao , whose meaning is “Food of the Gods.”