HISTORY

The Cacao Bean originates in Central and South America and its use can be dated back 2000 years. The Aztecs made a beverage out of the beans and Cacao was an important part of religious and royal ceremonies of the Mayans and Aztecs. The Latin name for Cacao is Theobroma Cacao, Theobroma meaning “Food of the Gods”.

Chocolate was introduced to Europe by the Spanish explorers in the 1600s. They also introduced the cacao tree into the West Indies. Up until 1989 Brazil was a leading grower of Cacao beans until crops were severely damaged by the dreaded Witches Broom disease. By the late 1800’s to early 1900’s Cacao trees were brought over to Africa where they were carefully cultivated and flourished. Today world cocoa production has reached 3,000,000 tons per year with demand fast outstripping supply.

Most of the world’s cocoa is produced in West Africa with Ivory Coast leading in production. Ghana is the next highest producing country and is considered to have the choicest cocoa. Indonesia is third followed by Nigeria. Other producing countries can be seen in the chart. Dominican Republic and Ecuador are leading producers of organic Cocoa.