Collection: Honduras Cacao Bean Origin

Honduras is located in the middle of Central America, having mainly a Caribbean Coast connection. As part of the Mayan Civilization from 150 A.D. until as far as the 1200s, cacao and drinking chocolate was an important part of their culture. They ground the cacao seeds with stone tools, then serving chocolate similar to far east tea ceremonies. It seems, by the account of historians, that the Mayan culture settled in current day Honduras, thought of cacao as a drink that would support the departed on their travel to the underworld. Also, in the vital city of Copán, they found pottery containing turkey and traces of cacao, in the homes of "royal families," possibly explaining the origins of "mole." More recently, The Lenca, the largest native group in this country, still uses cacao as currency, especially with their converted Christian rituals, offering cacao beans as payment for future agricultural luck, as well as in a drink called "chicha."

Genetically, cacao beans from Honduras are wide-ranging going from ancient Criollo to Amelonado and Trinitario. The Criollo found in remote areas seems to be different than the one located on the Pacific coast of Central America, leading experts to think of current Venezuela, as the origin. There is a hybrid cacao varietal label "Indio Rojo" for its predominantly red cacao pods, and pink seed that has no genetic influence from Criollo. It seems that in Honduras, but particularly in the Ulua Valley, the Caribbean cacao varieties predominate.