When the first Spanish colonisers arrived in America, cocoa was already cultivated by the Indians, especially the Aztecs in Mexico and the Mayans in Central America.

According to historians, the cacao tree, called cacahualt, was considered sacred.

In Mexico, the Aztecs believed that it had a divine origin and that the prophet Quetzalcóatl himself had taught the people how to grow it, both for food and to embellish the gardens of the city of Tetzapotlapan. Its cultivation was accompanied by solemn religious ceremonies.

This religious significance probably influenced the Swedish botanist Carolus Linnaeus (1707-1778), who named the plant Theobroma cacao, calling it the ‘food of the gods’.

The Indians considered cocoa beans so valuable that they used them as currency. Four hundred seeds were worth one countle, and 8,000 seeds, one xiquipil.

Emperor Montezuma used to receive 200 xiquipils (1.6 million seeds) a year as a tribute from the city of Tabasco, which would correspond to approximately 30 60-kilo bags today.

It is said that even a good slave could be exchanged for 100 seeds.

Still on the use of cocoa as currency, Peter Martyr d’Anghiera wrote in 1530 in his book De Orbe Novo Petri Martyres ab Algeria:

‘Blessed money, which provides a sweet drink and is a benefit to mankind, protecting its possessors against the infernal plague of greed, for it can neither be hoarded for long nor hidden underground.’

Video about the history of cocoa

History of Cocoa: Origins, Expansion and Economic Impact

1. The Cocoa Tree: The Tree of Golden Fruits

The cacaotree, Theobroma cacao, is the plant from which cacao, a fruit of great economic importance, originates. It belongs to the Malvaceae family and the Theobroma genus. The cacao tree occurs mainly in Brazil in the north (Acre, Amazonas, Amapá, Pará and Rondônia), north-east (Bahia, Maranhão and Sergipe) and south-east (Espírito Santo) regions.

Cacao is the fruit of the cacao tree (Theobroma cacao), a plant native to the American tropical rainforest. In Brazil, it can be found mainly in the forests of the Atlantic Rainforest, especially in the states of Bahia and Espírito Santo.

This plant has enormous commercial value and is widely exploited economically, as its seeds, once dried and processed, are used to make chocolate.

The cacao tree originated in the rainforest regions of tropical America, where it can still be found in the wild from Peru to Mexico. It is classified in the genus Theobroma, belonging to the Sterculiaceae family.

It was first mentioned in botanical literature by Charles de l’Ecluse, who described it under the name Cacao fructus. In 1937, it was described as Theobroma fructus by Linneu, who in 1753 proposed the name Theobroma cacao, a name that has remained to this day.

Botanists believe that cacao originated in the headwaters of the Amazon River, expanding in two main directions, giving rise to two important groups: Criollo and Forastero.

The Criollo, which spread northwards to the Orinoco River, penetrating Central America and southern Mexico, produces large fruits with a wrinkled surface. Its seeds are large, with a white or pale violet interior. It was the type of cocoa cultivated by the Aztec and Mayan Indians.

The Forastero spread throughout the Amazon basin and towards the Guianas. It is considered the true Brazilian cocoa and is characterised by ovoid fruits with a smooth, imperceptibly furrowed or wrinkled surface. The inside of the seeds is dark violet or sometimes almost black.

To develop best, the cocoa tree requires deep, rich soils and a warm, humid climate, with an average temperature of around 25°C and annual rainfall of between 1,500 and 2,000 millimetres, with no prolonged dry periods.

2. Cocoa’s long journey

As cocoa gained economic importance with the expansion of chocolate consumption, several attempts were made to plant the cocoa plantation in other regions with climate and soil conditions similar to those of its natural habitat.

As a result, its seeds were gradually disseminated around the world. By the middle of the 18th century, cocoa had reached the south of Bahia and, in the second half of the 19th century, it was taken to Africa.

The first African plantations were set up around 1855 on the islands of São Tomé and Príncipe, Portuguese colonies off the west coast of Africa.

Officially, cocoa cultivation began in Brazil in 1679, with a Royal Charter authorising the colonisers to plant it on their lands.

Several attempts in Pará failed, mainly due to the poor soil in the region. Despite this, by 1780 Pará was producing more than 100 arrobas of cocoa.

Cultivation, however, was not consolidated at that time and remained an extractive activity until recent years.

3. Cocoa: Wealth Generating Foreign Exchange

In 1746, Antônio Dias Ribeiro, from Bahia, received some seeds of the Amelonado – Forastero group from a French coloniser, Luiz Frederico Warneau, from Pará, and introduced the crop to Bahia.

The first planting in the state was at Fazenda Cubículo, on the banks of the Rio Pardo, in the present-day municipality of Canavieiras. In 1752, plantations were set up in the municipality of Ilhéus.

Cocoa has adapted well to the climate and soil of southern Bahia, a region that today produces 95 per cent of Brazil’s cocoa, with Espírito Santo accounting for 3.5 per cent and the Amazon for 1.5 per cent.

Brazil is the 5th largest cocoa producer in the world, alongside Ivory Coast, Ghana, Nigeria and Cameroon. In 1979/80, Brazilian cocoa production exceeded 310,000 tonnes.

Around 90 per cent of all Brazilian cocoa is exported, generating foreign exchange for the country. In the period 1975-1980, cocoa generated 3 billion 618 million dollars.

4. Cocoa and Chocolate

The civilised world only became aware of the existence of cocoa and chocolate after Christopher Columbus discovered America.

Until then, they were the privilege of the Indians who lived in southern Mexico, Central America and the Amazon basin, where cocoa grew naturally in the middle of the forest.

Today, almost 5 centuries later, cocoa derivatives are consumed in many forms, in almost every country, and are part of modern man‘s life.

They are present everywhere:

• In soldiers‘ rucksacks and students’ bags, in highly nutritious chocolate bars;
• In beauty salons, in various forms of cosmetics;
• At social gatherings, in the form of wines and liqueurs.

Its waste is used as fertiliser and animal feed.

Cocoa has travelled a long way from the Amazon rainforest to conquer the world. Its history, surrounded by legends, has been marked by curious episodes:

• It was used by the Aztecs as currency;
• It provoked religious discussions about its use in convents due to its supposed aphrodisiac properties;
• For a long time, it was the exclusive drink of Europe’s wealthiest courts.

Its seeds, taken to other regions and continents, formed large plantations, which today represent an important source of work and income for millions of people.

4.1. Energy Value of Chocolate

Chocolate is one of the most balanced foods available, containing a balanced combination of cocoa, milk and sugar.

Due to its high carbohydrate and fat content, chocolate contains a significant amount of protein.

A 100 gram bar is equivalent to:

• 6 eggs;
• 3 glasses of milk;
• 220 grams of white bread;
• 750 grams of fish;
• 450 grams of beef.

4.2. MULTIPLE USES OF COCOA

• Beyond chocolate

Cocoa reminds us of chocolate. This has always been the case, ever since the Aztecs included chocolate in their religious ceremonies. Now, from the fruit of the cocoa tree, cocoa juice is also being industrialised by extracting its pulp.

Cocoa pulp can also be used to make jams, fine spirits, fermented products – like wine and vinegar – and syrups for confectionery, as well as nectars, ice cream, sweets and yoghurt. There is a large and immediate market, especially for cocoa juice, both at home and abroad.

• Research pays off

Research carried out by MA/CEPLAC has recently begun to generate technologies capable of optimising cocoa production by making full use of by-products and post-harvest waste.

This programme, as well as helping to diversify the income of rural properties, can result in a significant increase in the net income of cocoa producers, making them less dependent on the fluctuations of the foreign market, which regulates the price of the product.

• Cocoa seeds are worth gold

The cocoa tree has always been cultivated to utilise only the seeds of its fruits, which are the raw material for the chocolate industry. The dried seeds account for a maximum of 10 per cent of the weight of the cocoa fruit.

It’s only recently that the remaining 90 per cent has begun to attract the interest of producers, following studies carried out by MA/CEPLAC technicians. One tonne of dried cocoa, for example, represents 400 to 425 kg of whole pulp.

• Cocoa shells can also be used

The husk of the cocoa tree fruit can also be used economically, according to research by MA/CEPLAC technicians.

It can be used to feed cattle, both fresh and in the form of dried husk meal or silage, as well as pigs, poultry and even fish.

Cocoa shells can also be used to produce biogas and biofertiliser, in the composting or vermicomposting process, to obtain microbial or single-cell protein, to produce alcohol and to extract pectin. One tonne of dried cocoa produces 8 tonnes of fresh shell.

• An exotic cocoa flavour

Cocoa juice has a very distinctive flavour, considered exotic and very pleasant to the palate, similar to the juice of other tropical fruits such as bacuri, cupuaçu, graviola, acerola and taperebá.

It is fibrous and rich in sugars (glucose, fructose and sucrose) as well as pectin. In terms of protein and some vitamins, it is equivalent to acerola, guava and umbu juices. Some of the substances that make up cocoa juice give it a high viscosity and pasty appearance.

• Hand in hand

Encouraging the production of cocoa juice and opening up markets for producers by pooling efforts and diluting costs.

These are, in a nutshell, the actions that the cocoa producers are aiming for with the creation of their Association of Pulp and Fruit Producers of the Rio das Contas Valley.

CEPLAC supports this initiative and even co-sponsored a workshop in the cocoa region of Bahia on ‘The resumption of the Agroindustrial Pole of the Rio de Contas Valley’.

Aprosuco has its headquarters (currently being set up) in the cocoa region itself, in the city of Ipiaú.

Cocoa by-products with reference to an annual productivity of 750 kg of dry product per hectare:

By-products	Yields
Dried cocoa	750 Kg
Dry seed	100 Kg
Cocoa honey	200 litres
Jelly	150 Kg
Vinegar	180 litres
Distilled	25 litres
Pulp	300 to 400 litres
Frozen juice	300 to 400 litres
Nectar	600 to 800 litres
Jelly	200 to 300 litres

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