Our taste for chocolate is older than you think

If you thought the chocolate bar or hot chocolate you’re enjoying right now is a relatively modern thing, you’d be completely wrong. In fact, you’re even more wrong than you thought as new research has pushed back the time line of when humans started to enjoy chocolate back over 5,000 years ago.

New botanical evidence has emerged that shows early humans harvested cocoa in an area that is today found around Ecuador. Our ancestors used cocoa as a good, drink and medicine according to research conducted by the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. Their study concluded that chocolate was a staple in the diet after examining remains of pottery found at a site near Santa Ana in the highlands of Ecuador.