How did the aztecs make chocolate?
The Origins of Chocolate. The answer to the question of who invented chocolate, or rather who discovered a use for the cocao bean, seems to date back around 3500 years ago to the Olmec civilization, the oldest known peoples in the Eastern area of Mexico. The cocoa plant was probably growing wild in that equatorial region during the Olmec period, which they then cultivated. The Olmecs (1500-400 BC) were almost certainly the first humans to consume chocolate, originally in the form of a drink, crushing the cocoa beans, mixing them with water and added spices, chillies and herbs. Over time, the Mayans (600 BC) and Aztecs (400 AD) developed successful methods for cultivating cocoa as well. The cocoa bean was widely used as a monetary and measuring unitt, 400 beans equalling a Zontli and 8000 equalling a Xiquipilli, and was used as such, in some areas, right up to the 20th century. During their wars with the Aztecs and the Mayans, the Chimimeken people’s preferred method of levying taxes in
