Cocoa and other chocolate products are enjoyed by billions of people around the globe, but surprisingly few cocoa pebbles know the history of the confection. In fact, cocoa has appeared in different cultures worldwide for hundreds of years. When the Spanish Conquistadors arrived in the New World and began the process of invading, colonizing, and ultimately destroying the native cultures, they also discovered the value of the local cacao crop.

However, they brought their own innovation to the appropriated drink—the addition of sugar and spices to sweeten the bitter cocoa. After that point, chocolate became wildly popular amongst the Spanish, who kept the production method a secret from other Europeans for almost 100 years after their discovery. The Spanish could not hold onto their secret forever, and chocolate quickly spread across the rest of western Europe. Hot chocolate was hailed by the upper classes as both delicious and healthy, and cocoa ultimately gained the reputation of being an aphrodisiac. The exclusivity of chocolate was ultimately diminished by the onset of the Industrial Revolution, when steam-powered machines made the production of cocoa powder significantly quicker and more affordable. Solid chocolate hit the market and found wild success by 1850, due to the discovery by Joseph Fry that adding cacao butter to the cocoa powder formed a solid mass. Throughout its centuries-long evolution, one factor has remained consistent and cocoa has attracted devotees worldwide.

5 million tons of cocoa beans are consumed annually around the globe, in everything from drinks to candy bars. It’s safe to say that the ancient Mesoamericans who pioneered the crop could never have imagined the popularity cocoa would someday experience. To secure the future of chocolate and ensure that it’s available for generations to come, it’s essential that sustainable farming practices and ethical means of production are implemented in the cocoa supply chain. Subscribe to our Newsletter Sign up to receive WCF’s monthly newsletter and other cocoa sustainability updates.

On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. Look up Cocoa or cocoa in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. This article’s lead section may be too short to adequately summarize the key points. Cocoa beans are technically not beans or legumes, but seeds.

The cacao tree is native to the Amazon rainforest. As of November 2018, evidence suggests that cacao was first domesticated in equatorial South America, before being domesticated in Central America roughly 1,500 years later. Cocoa was an important commodity in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica. Chocolate was introduced to Europe by the Spaniards, and became a popular beverage by the mid-17th century. Spaniards also introduced the cacao tree into the West Indies and the Philippines. It was also introduced into the rest of Asia, South Asia and into West Africa by Europeans.