Although cacao has been cultivated by many cultures for at least three millennia in Mexico and Central America, its earliest documented use is by the Olmecs of south central Mexico around 1100 BC. In fact, the majority ofMesoamerican people made chocolate beverages, including the Mayans and Aztecs,[1] who made it into a beverage known as xocolātl [ʃoˈkolaːt͡ɬ], a Nahuatl word meaning "bitter water". The seeds of the cacao tree have an intense bitter taste and must be fermented to develop the flavor.