Cacao Beer May Have Been First Chocolate

A frothy, bitter chocolate brew of fermented, roasted and ground cacao seeds often spiced with chili peppers (that was much more like mole than Swiss Miss) was what the ancient peoples of Mexico and Central America loved to drink.

Archaeological findings have pushed the date of the first use of cacao back to about 1100 B.C., 500 years earlier than what was previously known. Also the findings suggest that this early "chocolate beverage" was very different. It was a fermented beer made from cacao pulp – not the seeds or beans.

Studies suggest that the Meso Americans fermented cacao pulp first to make beer, then they discovered (probably by accident) that the fermented seeds made an even better chocolate beverage.

This frothy, bitter beverage "cacao beer," was served and drank at important ceremonies to mark such things as weddings and births.

It could have even been used to celebrate a "Happy New Year!!"