Ancient civilizations may have used chocolate 1,500 years earlier than expected

New research reinforces the case of using cocoa in South America as a chocolate ingredient 5,400 years ago, highlighting the radical transformation of the seed into Twix bars and current M & M candies.

The tests indicate traces of cacao on artefacts from an archaeological site in Ecuador, according to a study released Monday. It's about 1,500 years older than the known domestication of cocoa in Central America.

"This is the oldest site that currently contains domesticated cocoa," said Cameron McNeil of Lehman College in New York, who did not participate in the research.

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The ancient South American civilization probably did not use cocoa to make chocolate because there is no established history of the indigenous peoples of the area that uses it. this way, said researchers led by the University of British Columbia in Canada.

But the tests indicate that civilization has used the cocoa bean, not just the fruity pulp. Seeds are the part of the cocoa pod used to make chocolate.

The indigenous people of the Upper Amazon today use cocoa for their fermented drinks and juices, and that is probably how it was used thousands of years ago, have said researchers.

Scientists generally agree that cocoa was first domesticated in South America instead of Central America, as previously thought. The Nature Ecology & Evolution study provides new evidence.

Three types of tests were performed with artifacts from the Santa Ana-La Florida site in Ecuador. One of them tested the presence of theobromine, a key compound in cocoa; another tested for preserved particles that help archaeologists identify the use of ancient plants; a third used DNA tests to identify cocoa.

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The residues of one of the ceramic artifacts, aged from 5,310 to 5,440 years ago, were found to be positive for cocoa by all three methods. Others were also tested positive for traces of cocoa, but they were not as old.

How cocoa use has spread between South America and Central America is not clear. But when Spanish explorers arrived in Central America in the late 1400s, they discovered that people were using it to make hot and cold chocolate drinks with spices, often with a sparkling cork.

"For most of the modern period, it was a drink," said Marcy Norton, historian at the University of Pennsylvania and author of "Sacred Gifts, Profane Pleasures: A History of Tobacco and Chocolate" in the world of the Atlantic ".

Central American chocolate drinks often contained corn and differed from hot chocolate sold in the United States. They did not contain milk, said Norton, and when they were sweet, it was honey.

In the 1580s, cocoa was regularly imported into Spain and spread to other European countries with the addition of milk en route. In the United States, advances in manufacturing have turned chocolate into a solid product, Norton said.

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Michael Laiskonis, who teaches chocolate at the Institute of Culinary Education, has seen a growing interest in cocoa flavors, indicating a return to a time when chocolate was not just a hidden ingredient in a treat.

He added that he was trying to integrate the past of chocolate into his classes, including a 1644 recipe combining Mayan and Aztec versions of beverages with European influences.

"It's something that has always been transforming," he said.