Chocolate and Dark Chocolate Origins

The chocolate tree, Theobroma cacao, evolved in the tropical rain forests of South America's Amazon region. Evidence of cacao usage dates back as far as 1000 BC, when wild forms of the tree were cultivated by Mesoamerican Indians in small, diversified gardens in what are now Belize, Guatemala, and Honduras, as well as the Yucatan peninsula. Much later, in the 15th and 16th centuries, the Aztecs cultivated cacao in the central highlands of Mexico.