This article is about "cocoa", the food. For information about "Cocoa", the API and programming environment for the Mac OS X operating system, see Cocoa (software). For information about the city in Florida, see Cocoa, Florida.
Cocoa may refer to either the dried and partially fermented fatty seeds of the cacao tree, which are used to make chocolate; or, more usually in the United States, to cocoa powder, the dry powder made by grinding the seeds and removing the cocoa butter. Hot cocoa is often confused with hot chocolate, but hot cocoa is made from the cocoa solids, while true hot chocolate is made from whole chocolate. See the end of this article for a recipe for Mexican-style hot cocoa.
1 History
Chocolate and cocoa are made from the beans of the cacao tree, which apparently originated in the highlands of the Amazon and Orinoco basins of South America. The tree was introduced into Central America by the ancient Maya, and was cultivated in MexicoThis article is about the country Mexico. For other meanings, see Mexico (disambiguation The United Mexican States or Mexico ( Spanish: Estados Unidos Mexicanos or Mexico regarding the use of the variant spelling Mejico see section The name below) is a co by the ToltecThe Toltecs (or Toltec or Tolteca were a Pre-Columbian Native American people who dominated much of central Mexico between the 10th and 12th century AD. Their language, Nahuatl, was also spoken by the Aztecs. They originated as a militaristic nomadic peops and later by the AztecThe word "Aztec" is usually used as a historical term, although some contemporary Nahuatl speakers would consider themselves Aztecs. This article deals with the historical Aztec civilization, not with modern-day Nahuatl speakers. The Aztecs were a Mesoames.
Cocoa was an important commodity in Pre-ColumbianThe term Pre-Columbian is used to refer to the cultures of the New World in the era before significant European influence. While technically referring to the era before Christopher Columbus, in practice the term usually includes indigenous cultures as the MesoamericaMesoamerica is the region extending from central Mexico south through the northwestern border of Costa Rica that gave rise to a group of stratified, culturally related agrarian civilizations spanning an approximately 3,000-year period before the European.
SpanishThe Kingdom of Spain is a country located in the southwest of Europe. It shares the Iberian Peninsula with Portugal, Gibraltar and Andorra. To the northeast, along the Pyrenees mountain range, it borders France and the tiny principality of Andorra. It inc chroniclers of the conquest of MexicoThis article is about the country Mexico. For other meanings, see Mexico (disambiguation The United Mexican States or Mexico ( Spanish: Estados Unidos Mexicanos or Mexico regarding the use of the variant spelling Mejico see section The name below) is a co by Hernán CortésHernan Cortes ( 1485 December 2, 1547) (who was known as Hernando or Fernando Cortes during his lifetime and signed all his letters Fernan Cortes was the conquistador who conquered Mexico for Spain. Early Life Cortes was born in Medellin, Extremadura prov relate that when Moctezuma IIMoctezuma II (also Motecuhzoma Xocoyotzin ( 1466- 1520) was an Aztec ruler or tlatoani c. 1502- 1520. Name He is sometimes referred to as Moctezuma only. Montezuma is an older English spelling of the name, while Moctezuma is commonly used in Spanish., emperor of the Aztecs, dined he took no other beverage than chocolate, served in a golden goblet and eaten with a golden spoon. Flavored with vanilla and spices, his chocolate was whipped into a froth that dissolved in the mouth. No less than 50 pitchers of it were prepared for the emperor each day, and 2000 more for nobles of his court.
Chocolate was introduced to Europe by the Spaniards and became a popular beverage by 1700. They also introduced the cacao tree into the West Indies and the Philippines. It was used in alchemical processes, where it was known as Black Bean.
Today, most of the world's crop of beans is grown in equatorial Africa, especially on the Gold Coast, and a small amount in South America, chiefly Brazil. The use of chocolate, cocoa and other products is world-wide. Belgium has the highest per capita consumption of cocoa at 5.5 kg, ten times the world-wide average.[1]
Prices for the commodity reached a five year high in November, 2004; this is because exports from the Ivory Coast will likely be cut, due to escalating violence in the region.
