chocolate

=__ Chocolate __ =

**Plant Name:** Cocoa tree( //Theobroma spp.)// **Domestication**: **Biology:** **Human/Plant relationship**: **Refection:** Chocolate has come a long way from what the Maya people had found. It went from a sour bitter, spicy drink to one of the sweetest and loved foods in the world. The transportation of the plant from South America to Europe is incredible. It shows how humans were intrigued by the plant and what we can do with something if we really like it enough. Chocolate is now being used any many ways, from the sweet chocolate bars to medicine. The plant is now being overused for our liking. What came as a spicy drink from the jungles of South and Central America has gone to Europe as a luxury treat for the rich, to again being somewhat affordable for almost everyone to enjoy and savor in. **Other interesting facts:**
 * The trees are native to the jungles of South America, but the beans were first cultivated and domesticated in Central America
 * The use of cocoa beans goes back to 1900-1500 BC.
 * First use of the cocoa beans was in Mesoamerica, now know as Mexico.
 * The Maya people grew the trees, harvested, fermented, roasted, and ground the seeds into paste.
 * The word Chocolate comes from the Nahuatl language of the Aztec
 * The Cocoa Tree is a small evergreen tree in the Sterculiaceae family
 * The seed of the cocoa tree is what is used in making chocolate. This seed is also called the Cocoa bean.
 * Cocoa trees can reach 40 to 50 feet tall when fully mature, which can take up to three years.
 * Cocoa trees produce thousands of pink flowers. Only 2 percent of these blossoms will become cocoa seed pods
 * Seed pods take five or six months to reach full maturity, growing 6 inches to 1 1/2 feet when fully grown.
 * Peak production occurs when the tree is 10 years old.
 * Cocoa Trees require constant warmth and rainfall to thrive.
 * Cocoa trees grow only in tropical regions of Africa, Asia, South America and Central America, within about 15 degrees of the equator.
 * **The Cocoa Tree requires:**
 * 65+ Degrees Frahrenheit
 * 80+ inches of rain
 * Shade
 * High Humidity
 * The cocoa tree is very closely related to insects called midges, which help pollinate the plant. Other insects just hurt the plant. Cool!
 * Chocolate has become to be one of the most liked food in the world.
 * Chocolate releases special hormones that make a person happier.
 * Chocolate contains polyphenols, which prevent heart disease in humans
 * The plant and seeds have been used in many different medicines, in Europe and The Americas.
 * Chocolate is not essential to humans, but we enjoy it too much to not have it.
 * The plant has not changed over the years, but humans trying to make chocolate sweeter have changed the taste of the final product.
 * The Maya took the paste and mixed it with water, cornmeal, and other ingredients to make a spicy drink.
 * The Aztecs in 1400 and traded with the Maya in cocoa seeds, used seeds as a form of money.
 * The Olmecs, Mayans, and Aztecs used parts from the tree to treat anxiety, fever, fatigue, and coughs
 * Chocolate contains polyphenols, which prevent heart disease.