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Theobroma cacao
Assorted cacao fruits on the tree
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Eudicots
(unranked):	Rosids
Order:	Malvales
Family:	Malvaceae
Genus:	Theobroma
Species:	T. cacao
Binomial name
Theobroma cacao L.

Theobroma cacao also cacao tree and cocoa tree, is a small (4–8 m (13–26 ft) tall) evergreen tree in the family Sterculiaceae (alternatively Malvaceae), native to the deep tropical region of the Americas. Its seeds are used to make cocoa powder and chocolate.

Description[link]

Cacao leaves are alternate, entire, unlobed, 10–40 cm (3.9–16 in) long and 5–20 cm (2.0–7.9 in) broad.

The flowers are produced in clusters directly on the trunk and older branches; they are small, 1–2 cm (0.39–0.79 in) diameter, with pink calyx. While many of the world's flowers are pollinated by bees (Hymenoptera) or butterflies/moths (Lepidoptera), cacao flowers are pollinated by tiny flies, Forcipomyia midges in the order Diptera.^[1] The fruit, called a cacao pod, is ovoid, 15–30 cm (5.9–12 in) long and 8–10 cm (3.1–3.9 in) wide, ripening yellow to orange, and weighs about 500 g (1.1 lb) when ripe. The pod contains 20 to 60 seeds, usually called "beans", embedded in a white pulp. The seeds are the main ingredient of chocolate, while the pulp is used in some countries to prepare a refreshing juice. Each seed contains a significant amount of fat (40–50%) as cocoa butter. Their most noted active constituent is theobromine, a compound similar to caffeine.

Taxonomy and nomenclature[link]

Cacao (Theobroma cacao) belongs to the genus Theobroma. It is now classified under the family Malvaceae, the mallow family, that of, e.g. jute, marshmallow, kola nut, baobabs, okra, kenaf and cotton. Cacao belongs to the subfamily Sterculioidea, along with the kola tree. Both were in the ancient system into the family Sterculiaceae.

In 2008, researchers proposed a new classification based upon morphogeographic and genomic criteria: 10 groups have been named according to their geographic origin or the traditional cultivar name. These groups are: Amelonado, Criollo, Nacional, Contamana, Curaray, Cacao guiana, Iquitos, Marañon, Nanay, and Purús.^[2]

The cupuaçu, Theobroma grandiflorum, is a closely related species, rather widely grown in Brazil, from which is produced a chocolate called cupulate in Brazil, or more generally cupuaçu chocolate,^[3] and is considered of high potential by the food and cosmetics industries.^[4]

The generic name is derived from the Greek words θεος (theos), meaning "god," and βρομος (bromos), meaning "oats". It translates to "food of the gods." (→ there is a Greek word for "food" : βρῶμα)

The word cacao derives from the name of cacao in one of the indigenous Mesoamerican languages (note Tzeltal, K’iche’ and Classic Maya kakaw, Sayula Popoluca kagaw, Nahuatl cacahuatl), learned at the time of the conquest when it was first encountered by the Spanish.

Cacao flowers.

Distribution and habitat[link]

Two prominent hypotheses conflict about the origins of the domestication of the originally wild Theobroma cacao tree. One is that wild examples were originally distributed from southeastern Mexico to the Amazon basin, with domestication taking place both in the Lacandon area of Mexico and in lowland South America. But recent studies of T. cacao genetics seem to show the plant originated in the Amazon and was distributed by humans throughout Central America and Mesoamerica.

The tree is today found only growing wild in the low foothills of the Andes at elevations of around 200–400 m (660–1,300 ft) in the Amazon and Orinoco river basins. It requires a humid climate with regular rainfall and good soil. It is an understory tree, growing best with some overhead shade.

History of cultivation[link]

Toasted cacao beans grown at the La Chonita Hacienda in Tabasco, Mexico

Cultivation, use, and cultural elaboration of cacao were early and extensive in Mesoamerica. Ceramic vessels with residues from the preparation of cacao beverages have been found at archaeological sites dating back to the Early Formative (1900-900 BC) period. For example, one such vessel found at an Olmec archaeological site on the Gulf Coast of Veracruz, Mexico dates cacao's preparation by pre-Olmec peoples as early as 1750 BC.^[5] On the Pacific coast of Chiapas, Mexico, a Mokaya archaeological site provides evidence of cacao beverages dating even earlier, to 1900 BC.^[5] The initial domestication was probably related to the making of a fermented, thus alcoholic beverage,.^[6]

In a study of Theobroma cacao tree genetics,^[7] Motamayor et al. suggest a domestication and spread from lowland Amazonia, contesting an earlier hypothesis that the tree was domesticated independently in both the Lacandon area of Mexico, and in Amazonia. The cacao tree belongs to the Theobroma genus, in the Sterculiaceae family, that contains 22 species. Today, the most common of the cultivated species is Theobroma cacao, with two subspecies and three forms. Wild cacaos fall into two groups. The South American subspecies T. c. spaerocarpum has a fairly smooth, melon-like fruit. In contrast, the Mesoamerican cacao subspecies has ridged, elongated fruits. At some unknown early date, this subspecies T. cacao reached the southern lowlands of Mesoamerica and came into wide usage.

Kakaw (cacao) written in the Maya script: The word was also written in several other ways in old Maya texts.

The Maya believed the kakaw (cacao) was discovered by the gods in a mountain that also contained other delectable foods to be used by them. According to Maya mythology, the Plumed Serpent gave cacao to the Maya after humans were created from maize by divine grandmother goddess Xmucane ^[8]. The Maya celebrated an annual festival in April to honor their cacao god, Ek Chuah, an event that included the sacrifice of a dog with cacao-colored markings, additional animal sacrifices, offerings of cacao, feathers and incense, and an exchange of gifts. In a similar creation story, the Mexica (Aztec) god Quetzalcoatl discovered cacao (cacahuatl: "bitter water"), in a mountain filled with other plant foods ^[9]. Cacao was offered regularly to a pantheon of Mexica deities and the Madrid Codex depicts priests lancing their ear lobes (autosacrifice) and covering the cacao with blood as a suitable sacrifice to the gods. The cacao beverage as ritual was used only by men, as it was believed to be toxic for women and children.^{[citation needed]}

Several mixtures of cacao are described in ancient texts, for ceremonial or medicinal, as well as culinary, purposes. Some mixtures included maize, chili, vanilla (Vanilla planifolia), and honey. Archaeological evidence for use of cacao, while relatively sparse, has come from the recovery of whole cacao beans at Uaxactun, Guatemala ^[10] and from the preservation of wood fragments of the cacao tree at Belize sites including Cuello and Pulltrouser Swamp.^[11] In addition, analysis of residues from ceramic vessels has found traces of theobromine and caffeine in early formative vessels from Puerto Escondido, Honduras (1100-900 BC) and in middle formative vessels from Colha, Belize (600-400 BC) using similar techniques to those used to extract chocolate residues from four classic period (circa 400 AD) vessels from a tomb at the archaeological site of Rio Azul. As cacao is the only known commodity from Mesoamerica containing both of these alkaloid compounds, it seems likely these vessels were used as containers for cacao drinks. In addition, cacao is named in a hieroglyphic text on one of the Rio Azul vessels. Cacao was also believed to be ground by the Aztecs and mixed with tobacco for smoking purposes.

The first Europeans to encounter cacao were Christopher Columbus and his crew in 1502,^{[citation needed]} when they captured a canoe at Guanaja that contained a quantity of mysterious-looking "almonds". The first real European knowledge about chocolate came in the form of a beverage which was first introduced to the Spanish at their meeting with Moctezuma in the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan in 1519. Cortez and others noted the vast quantities of this beverage the Aztec emperor consumed, and how it was carefully whipped by his attendants beforehand. Examples of cacao beans, along with other agricultural products, were brought back to Spain at that time, but it seems the beverage made from cacao was introduced to the Spanish court in 1544 by Kekchi Maya nobles brought from the New World to Spain by Dominican friars to meet Prince Philip ^[12]. Within a century, the culinary and medical uses of chocolate had spread to France, England and elsewhere in Western Europe. Demand for this beverage led the French to establish cacao plantations in the Caribbean, while Spain subsequently developed their cacao plantations in their Philippine colony (Bloom 1998, Coe 1996). The Nahuatl-derived Spanish word cacao entered scientific nomenclature in 1753 after the Swedish naturalist Linnaeus published his taxonomic binomial system and coined the genus and species Theobroma cacao.

Traditional pre-Hispanic beverages made with cacao are still consumed in Mesoamerica. These include the Oaxacan beverage known as tejate.

Currency system[link]

Cacao beans constituted both a ritual beverage and a major currency system in pre-Columbian Mesoamerican civilizations. At one point, the Aztec empire received a yearly tribute of 980 loads (xiquipil in Nahuatl) of cacao, in addition to other goods. Each load represented exactly 8,000 beans.^[13] The buying power of quality beans was such that 80-100 beans could buy a new cloth mantle. The use of cacao beans as currency is also known to have spawned counterfeiters during the Aztec empire.^[14]

In some areas, such as Yucatán, cacao beans were still used in place of small coins as late as the 1840s.^{[citation needed]}

Cultivation[link]

Cacao seed in the fruit or pocha

Young cacao plantation

Cacao is cultivated on roughly 17,000,000 acres (27,000 sq mi; 69,000 km²) worldwide.^[15] According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the top 20 cacao-producing countries in 2005 were as follows:^[16]

Rank, Country	Value (Int'l $1,000*)	Production (Metric tons)
1  Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast)	1,024,339	1,330,000
2  Ghana	566,852	736,000
3  Indonesia	469,810	610,000
4  Nigeria	281,886	366,000
5  Brazil	164,644	213,774
6  Cameroon	138,632	180,000
7  Ecuador	105,652	137,178
8  Colombia	42,589	55,298
9  Mexico	37,281	48,405
10  Papua New Guinea	32,733	42,500
11  Malaysia	25,742	33,423
12  Dominican Republic	24,646	32,000
13  Peru	21,950	28,500
14  Venezuela	13,093	17,000
15  Sierra Leone	8,472	11,000
16  Togo	6,547	8,500
17  India	6,161	8,000
18  Philippines	4,352	5,650
19 Congo, Rep.	4,336	5,630
20  Solomon Islands	3,851	5,000

*Based on 1999–2001 international prices

Cacao production has increased from 1.5 million tons in 1983-1984 to 3.5 million tons in 2003-2004, almost entirely due to the expansion of the production area rather than to yield increases. Cacao is grown both by large agroindustrial plantations and small producers.

A tree begins to bear when it is four or five years old. A mature tree may have 6,000 flowers in a year, yet only about 20 pods. About 300-600 seeds (10 pods) are required to produce 1 kg (2.2 lb) of cocoa paste.

There are three main cultivar groups of cacao beans used to make cocoa and chocolate.^[17] The most prized, rare, and expensive is the Criollo group, the cocoa bean used by the Maya. Only 10% of chocolate is made from Criollo, which is less bitter and more aromatic than any other bean. The cacao bean in 80% of chocolate is made using beans of the Forastero group. Forastero trees are significantly hardier than Criollo trees, resulting in cheaper cacao beans. Trinitario, a hybrid of Criollo and Forastero, is used in about 10% of chocolate.

Major cocoa bean processors include: Hershey's, Nestlé and Mars, all of which purchase cocoa beans via various sources.

In June 2009, Mars Botanicals, a division of Mars, launched Cirku, a cocoa extract product that provides cocoa flavanols made with a patented process that contains a high level of phytonutrients.^[18]

Pests[link]

Various plant pests and diseases can cause serious problems for cacao production; see: Illustrated guide to pests and their management.

• Insects
  • Cocoa mirids or capsids (worldwide, but especially in West Africa)
  • Conopomorpha cramerella (cocoa pod borer - in Southeast Asia)
• Fungi
  • Moniliophthora roreri (frosty pod rot)
  • Moniliophthora perniciosa (witches' broom)
  • Ceratocystis cacaofunesta (mal de machete) or (Ceratocystis wilt)
  • Verticillium dahliae
  • Oncobasidium theobromae (vascular streak dieback)
• Oomycetes
  • Phytophthora spp. (black pod) especially Phytophthora megakarya in West Africa
• Viruses
  • CSSV
• Mistletoe
• Rats and other vertebrate pests (squirrels, woodpeckers, etc.)

Cacao genome[link]

The genome of T. cacao is diploid, its size is 430 Mbp, and it comprises 10 chromosome pairs (2n=2x=20). In September 2010, a team of scientists announced a draft sequence of the cacao genome (Matina1-6 genotype).^[19] In a second, unrelated project, the International Cocoa Genome Sequencing Consortium-ICGS, co-ordinated by CIRAD,^[20] first published^[21] in December 2010 (online, paper publication in January 2011), the sequence of the cacao genome, of the Criollo cacao (of a landrace from Belize, B97-61/B2). In their publication, they reported a detailed analysis of the genomic and genetic data.

The sequence of the cacao genome identified 28,798 protein-coding genes, compared to the roughly 23,000 protein-coding genes of the human genome. About 20% of the cacao genome consists of transposable elements, a low proportion compared to other plant species. Many genes were identified as coding for flavonoids, aromatic terpenes, theobromine and many other metabolites involved in cocoa flavor and quality traits, among which a relatively high proportion code for polyphenols, which constitute up to 8% of cacao pods dry weight. The cacao genome appears close to the hypothetical hexaploid ancestor of all dicotyledonous plants,^[22] and it is proposed as an evolutionary mechanism by which the 21 chromosomes of the dicots' hypothetical hexaploid ancestor underwent major fusions leading to cacao's 10 chromosome pairs.

The genome sequence will help accelerate research on cacao molecular biology and breeding for elite varieties through marker-assisted selection, in particular for genetic resistance to fungal, oomycete and viral diseases responsible for huge yield losses each year.

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Coe, Sophie D. (1994). America's First Cuisines. Austin: University of Texas Press. ISBN 0-292-71155-7. 
• Coe, Sophie D.; and Michael D. Coe (1996). The True History of Chocolate. London: Thames & Hudson. ISBN 0-500-01693-3. 
• Dienhart, John M. (1997). "The Mayan Languages- A Comparative Vocabulary" (electronic version (PDF)). Odense University. http://maya.hum.sdu.dk/proto-forms/cacao.pdf. Retrieved 2007-02-14. 
• McNeil, Cameron (editor) (2006). Chocolate in Mesoamerica: A Cultural History of Cacao. Gainesville: University of Florida Press. ISBN 0-8130-2953-8. 

• Bergmann, John (1969). "The Distribution of Cacao Cultivation in Pre-Columbian America". Annals of the Association of American Geographers 59: 85–96. DOI:10.1111/j.1467-8306.1969.tb00659.x. 
• Motamayor, J. C.; Risterucci, AM; Lopez, PA; Ortiz, CF; Moreno, A; Lanaud, C (2002). "Cacao domestication I: the origin of the cacao cultivated by the Mayas". Heredity 89 (5): 380–386. DOI:10.1038/sj.hdy.6800156. PMID 12399997. 
• A. Frison, M. Diekman and D. Nowell (2000). Cacao. FAO / IPGRI Technical Guidelines for the Safe Movement of Germplasm No. 20. ACRI - FAO - IPGRI. http://www.bioversityinternational.org/Publications/pubfile.asp?ID_PUB=360. 
• A.B. Eskes and Y. Efron, editors (2006). Global Approaches to Cocoa Germplasm Utilization and Conservation. CFC - ICCO - IPGRI. http://www.bioversityinternational.org/Publications/pubfile.asp?ID_PUB=1172. 

External links[link]

This article's use of external links may not follow Wikipedia's policies or guidelines. Please improve this article by removing excessive or inappropriate external links, and converting useful links where appropriate into footnote references. (June 2010)

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Theobroma cacao

Wikispecies has information related to: Theobroma cacao

• Theobroma cacao at the Encyclopedia of Life
• Chocolate can bring the forest back - Worldwatch Institute
• World Cocoa Foundation - Supporting Sustainable Cocoa Farming
• The food of the Gods – the nature, growth, cultivation, manufacture and history of Cocoa, by Brandon Head, from Project Gutenberg
• Malaysian Cacao Board
• International Cocoa Organization (ICCO)- cacao daily market prices and charts are available
• TransFair USA Fair Trade Cocoa Program
• Illustrated guide to pests and their management
• Plant Diseases Imperil Chocolate Production - Science Friday on NPR, 2006-06-09
• Photographs of cacao plants (detail)
• Theobroma Gallery (Stewart R. Hinsley)
• Concerted effort to conserve Cacao diversity
• FemiStyle's Chocolade dossier (Dutch)
• Cocoa-derived Cirku launched for better circulation

v t e Chocolate Background Outline of chocolate History of chocolate Health effects of chocolate History of chocolate in Spain Origins Theobroma cacao Cocoa bean Varieties Types of chocolate Chocolate chip Chocolate milk Fudge Chocolate bar Hot chocolate Chocolate spread Chocolate ice cream Chemicals Theobromine See also List of bean-to-bar chocolate manufacturers Harkin-Engel Protocol Children in cocoa production