Chocolateis a raw or processed food produced from the seed of the tropical Theobroma cacao tree. Cacao has been cultivated for at least three millennia inMexico, Central America and Northern South America. Its earliest documented use is around 1100 BC. The majority of the Mesoamerican people made chocolate beverages, including the Aztecs, who made it into a beverage known as xocolātl[ʃo'kolaːt͡ɬ], aNahuatl word meaning "bitter water". The seeds of the cacao tree have an intense bittertaste, and must be fermented to develop the flavor.
