The birth of chocolate

Cultivated cacao trees first emerged 3,600 years ago, researchers have found.

The researchers, funded by chocolate firm Mars, analyzed 'the prince of cocoas' a rare, flavorful variant known as Criollo that was the first to be domesticated.

The study, which involved 18 scientists from 11 institutions, also found that cacao's domestication ended up selecting for flavor, disease resistance and the stimulant theobromine.

They found that it was domesticated in Central America 3,600 years ago, but originated in the Amazon basin, near the modern-day border of southern Colombia and northern Ecuador, from an ancient germplasm known as Curaray.

The tree's population at the time consisted of between 437 and 2,674 individual trees, and most likely about 738 trees.

(Daily Mail)