Hey, Chocolate Lovers: New Study Traces Complex Origins of Cacao

Cacao beans are seen at "Minimal - Bean to Bar Chocolate - " shop, manufacturer that oversees the chocolate production from sourcing the cacao beans to making the chocolate bars in the shop, in Tokyo, Japan July 20, 2017. (Reuters)
Cacao beans are seen at "Minimal - Bean to Bar Chocolate - " shop, manufacturer that oversees the chocolate production from sourcing the cacao beans to making the chocolate bars in the shop, in Tokyo, Japan July 20, 2017. (Reuters)
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Hey, Chocolate Lovers: New Study Traces Complex Origins of Cacao

Cacao beans are seen at "Minimal - Bean to Bar Chocolate - " shop, manufacturer that oversees the chocolate production from sourcing the cacao beans to making the chocolate bars in the shop, in Tokyo, Japan July 20, 2017. (Reuters)
Cacao beans are seen at "Minimal - Bean to Bar Chocolate - " shop, manufacturer that oversees the chocolate production from sourcing the cacao beans to making the chocolate bars in the shop, in Tokyo, Japan July 20, 2017. (Reuters)

Scientists are getting a better taste of the early history of the domestication and use of cacao - the source of chocolate - thanks to residues detected on a batch of ancient ceramics from South and Central America.

Using evidence from these artifacts, the researchers traced the rapid spread of cacao through trade routes after its initial domestication more than five millennia ago in Ecuador. They showed cacao's dispersal to South America's northwestern Pacific coast and later into Central America until it eventually reached Mexico 1,500 years later.

A tropical evergreen tree called Theobroma cacao bears large, oval pods containing the bean-like cacao seeds that today are roasted and turned into cocoa and multitudes of chocolate confections. In these ancient times, cacao was consumed as a beverage or an ingredient with other foods.

The researchers tested more than 300 pre-Columbian ceramics spanning nearly 6,000 years for traces of cacao DNA and three chemical compounds related to it, including caffeine. They discovered cacao evidence on about 30% of them. The findings indicate cacao products were used more widely among these ancient cultures than previously known.

The ceramics themselves offered an artistic glimpse at the cultures, some displaying wondrous anthropomorphic designs.

A study published in 2018 revealed the domestication and use of cacao beginning about 5,300 years ago in Ecuador, based on evidence from ceramics at the Santa Ana-La Florida archeological site. The new study builds on that by tracking cacao's spread through 19 pre-Columbian cultures. Some of the earliest use was shown through ceramics made by the Valdivia culture in Ecuador and Puerto Hormiga culture in Colombia.

The ancient DNA found on the ceramics also indicated that various cultures cross-bred cacao trees to adapt to new environments.

"The first steps of cacao domestication correspond to a more complex process than the one we had previously hypothesized," said molecular geneticist Claire Lanaud from the AGAP unit of CIRAD, a French agricultural research center for international development, lead author of the study published on Thursday in the journal Scientific Reports.

"We were not at all aware of such an important domestication of cacao trees all along the Pacific coast in South America in the pre-Columbian times, and so early. The significant genetic mixing that was observed testifies to numerous interactions that could have happened between peoples from Amazonia and the Pacific coast," Lanaud added.

Cacao's dispersal from Ecuador to Mesoamerica may have occurred through vast and interconnected political-economic networks, according to the researchers.

"First of all, we can firmly state that the origin of cacao and its domestication was the Upper Amazon and not in the tropics of Mesoamerica - Mexico and Central America. The process of dispersal was rather quick and involved the close and long-distance interaction of the Amerindian people," said archaeologist and study co-author Francisco Valdez of the PALOC unit of France's IRD research institution and Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle in Paris.

"Maritime contacts must have been involved as well as the inland contacts. Previously, the common (belief) was that cacao was domesticated in the Mesoamerican lowlands and that it was dispersed from there to the south," Valdez said.

The study provides insight into the earliest trade in what is now one of the world's most important cash crops. Today's sugary chocolate confections differ greatly from cacao's early uses. Before Europeans reached the Americas five centuries ago, cultures like the Aztecs and Maya prepared it as a drink, mixed with various spices or other ingredients.

"Cacao as a plant is an energy-source food, as well as a medicinal product," Valdez said. "Amerindian people used it in many ways. Raw, the pulp was sucked. The (cacao seed) could be cooked, roasted, grinded and made into liquid and solid foods. The bark, branches and the cob can be burned, and the ashes are an antiseptic. And it is also used to relieve skin or muscle inflammations and sores."



Spain Says April Blackout Was Caused by Grid Failures and Poor Planning, Not a Cyberattack 

This photograph shows a general view of Barcelona at night, partially without electricity, with the Sagrada Familia seen on the right, following a massive power cut affecting the entire Iberian peninsula and the south of France, on April 28, 2025. (AFP) 
This photograph shows a general view of Barcelona at night, partially without electricity, with the Sagrada Familia seen on the right, following a massive power cut affecting the entire Iberian peninsula and the south of France, on April 28, 2025. (AFP) 
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Spain Says April Blackout Was Caused by Grid Failures and Poor Planning, Not a Cyberattack 

This photograph shows a general view of Barcelona at night, partially without electricity, with the Sagrada Familia seen on the right, following a massive power cut affecting the entire Iberian peninsula and the south of France, on April 28, 2025. (AFP) 
This photograph shows a general view of Barcelona at night, partially without electricity, with the Sagrada Familia seen on the right, following a massive power cut affecting the entire Iberian peninsula and the south of France, on April 28, 2025. (AFP) 

Spain's government said Tuesday that the massive April power outage across Spain and Portugal that left tens of millions of people disconnected in seconds was caused by technical and planning errors that left the grid unable to handle a surge in voltage.

Ecological Transition Minister Sara Aagesen, who manages the nation's energy policy, told reporters that a voltage surge led to small grid failures, mainly in the south of Spain, which then cascaded to larger ones and brought the system down in the two Iberian Peninsula nations.

She ruled out that the failure was due to a cyberattack.

The outage began shortly after noon on April 28 in Spain and lasted through nightfall, disrupting businesses, transit systems, cellular networks, internet connectivity and other critical infrastructure. Spain lost 15 gigawatts of electricity, or about 60% of its supply. Portugal, whose grid is connected to Spain's, also went down. Only the countries' island territories were spared.

“All of this happened in 12 seconds, with most of the power loss happening in just five seconds,” Aagesen said.

Several technical causes contributed to the event, including “poor planning” by Spain's grid operator Red Eléctrica, which didn’t find a replacement for one power plant that was supposed to help balance power fluctuations, the minister said.

She also said that some power plants that utilities shut off preventively when the disruptions started could have stayed online to help manage the system.

Power was fully restored by the early hours of the following day.

The government's report included analysis from Spain's national security agencies, which concluded, according to the minister, there were no indications of cyber-sabotage by foreign actors.

The government had previously narrowed down the source of the outage to three power plants that tripped in southern Spain.

In the weeks following the blackout, citizens and experts were left wondering what triggered the event in a region not known for power cuts. The outage ignited a fierce debate about whether Spain's high levels of renewable power and not enough energy generated from nuclear or gas-fired power plants had something to do with the grid failing, which the government has repeatedly denied.

Spain is at the forefront of Europe's transition to renewable energy, having generated nearly 57% of its electricity in 2024 from renewable energy sources like wind, hydropower and solar. The country is also phasing out its nuclear plants.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez pushed back against such speculation and defended the country's rapid ramping up of renewables. He asked for patience and said that his government would not “deviate a single millimeter” from its energy transition plans, which include a goal of generating 81% of its electricity from renewable sources by 2030.