Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

2,600-year-old Mayan Chocolate Found

Posted by michael on Wednesday July 17, 2002 @08:19AM from the dark-and-bitter dept.

Peter T Ermit writes "In this week's issue of Nature, scientists report that they have discovered traces of chocolate in a Mayan spouted jug from 600 BC. (The Mayans liked to drink their chocolate rather than eat it.) This is about 1000 years older than the next oldest chemical detection of cocoa. Maybe the Maya rabbit in the moon was really the Quik bunny."

1 of 30 comments (clear)

Min score:

Reason:

Sort:

Chocolate by wakaramon · 2002-07-17 08:36 · Score: 5, Informative

(The Mayans liked to drink their chocolate rather than eat it.)

That is why it is called "chocolate", from the Náhuatl choco ~= froth and atl ~= water: frothy water. Náhuatl is the language spoken by the aztecs and other peoples in Mexico.