*Chocolate* Listen
i
/
ˈ
tʃ
ɒ
k
l
ə
t
/
is a processed, typically sweetened food
produced from the seed of the tropical "Theobroma cacao
" tree. Cacao has been cultivated for at least three millennia in Mexico
,Central America
and Northern South America
. Its earliest documented use is around 1100 BC. The majority of theMesoamerican
people made chocolate beverages, including the Aztecs
, who made it into a beverage known as"xocolātl
" [ʃo'kolaːt͡ɬ]
, 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.