Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Henderson JS
PROVIDER: S-EPMC2141886 | biostudies-other | 2007 Nov
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-other
Henderson John S JS Joyce Rosemary A RA Hall Gretchen R GR Hurst W Jeffrey WJ McGovern Patrick E PE
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 20071116 48
Chemical analyses of residues extracted from pottery vessels from Puerto Escondido in what is now Honduras show that cacao beverages were being made there before 1000 B.C., extending the confirmed use of cacao back at least 500 years. The famous chocolate beverage served on special occasions in later times in Mesoamerica, especially by elites, was made from cacao seeds. The earliest cacao beverages consumed at Puerto Escondido were likely produced by fermenting the sweet pulp surrounding the see ...[more]