Its consumption limited to the elite, with strict taboos production and use, cacao was mixed with foods and spices such as chili, maize flour, and cinnamon to make various chocolate drinks. The conquest of Mexico and conquest of Central America transformed the production and consumption of cacao in important ways. No longer restricted exclusively to the elite, cacao consumption soared Indian, Spanish, mestizo, and, to a lesser extent, Africans. Spaniards also changed the traditional recipe, often dispensing with maize flour and sweetening it with sugar and vanilla. By the mature colonial period, cacao had become a most popular nonalcoholic beverage in Spanish and colonial Mexico.