Chocolate as Currency

As long ago as 600AD, chocolate was prized among the ancient Mayan and Aztec cultures of South America. Made from cocoa beans harvested from the cacao tree, these people drank chocolate as a spicy, bitter brew, called Xocolatl, reputed to bestow ‘wisdom and power’ on the drinker. The beans were considered so precious and were so treasured that they were often used as currency – a foreshadowing of the chocolate coins we greedily consumed as children.