cacao beans
Cacao is in the genus Theobroma and species Cacao. Other common names include, Cacao, cacaoyer, cocoa. cacao beans were so revered by the Mayans and Aztecs that they used them as money. Records show that Montezuma, the famous Aztec emperor, had his vaults filled not with gold but with about 960,000,000 raw cacao beans! He even considered chocolate drink as “a divine drink, which builds up resistance and fights fatigue and that a cup of this precious drink permits a man to walk for a whole day without food". This may be due to the fact that chocolate contains essential trace elements and nutrients such as iron, calcium and potassium, and vitamins A. B1, C, D, and E.