Cacao

The tropical American tree and its fruit from which cocoa and chocolate are made. Chocolate was the favored drink of the nobility of many Mesoamerican cultures. It grows in only in tropical lowlands was therefore considered a luxury item by the Aztec and Maya. Depictions on Izapan sculpture give its first use as the Pre-Classic period. The Codex Mendoza indicates that the beans were a medium of exchange and tribute in Aztec times. Cocoa beans were taken to Europe in the 16th century, where cocoa and chocolate were developed.

The crop from which chocolate, the favoured drink of the nobility of many Mesoamerican cultures, is produced. Because its production is limited by the environmental setting in which it will flourish (that is, tropical lowlands), cacao attained considerable importance as a luxury item in the economies of the Maya, Teotihuacan and Aztec. Depictions on Izapan sculpture show that it was first used in the Pre-Classic period. The Codex Mendoza indicates that by Aztec times it had become a medium of exchange and that tribute was commonly paid in this commodity.