One Of The World's Rarest Chocolates Was Once Eaten By The Aztecs

If you're looking for a type of chocolate to bake with or want to make a cup of hot chocolate from scratch, you'll find dozens of varieties of chocolates as your disposal. One variety in particular is a precious form that makes up only a small sliver of the cacao produced worldwide — and that isn't because this is an inferior type. Criollo can be pinpointed as the original cocoa from which all other varieties have been developed. The Aztecs once traded Criollo fruit as money, and alcoholic beverages were made from fermentations in Central America. Similarly, the ground chocolate has been mixed with water or wine.

Unlike other varieties of cocoa, there is no bitter taste following the consumption of Criollo cocoa beans, only a rich, soft, chocolate note that dances on the tongue. The beginnings of Criollo cocoa can be traced to Amazonia, where in time, the cacao eventually made its way to Venezuela and other South American countries. Criollo, Spanish for creole, has come to reference many Latin American products that have become intertwined with Europe, including corn and tobacco.

Criollo cacao is packed with a deliciously rich taste, a bright aroma, and hundreds of antioxidants, but the trees that generate these pods can be sensitively fickle and tough to grow and produce. As a result, no more than three percent of all cocoa production is made up of Criollo. Since it takes around 100 cocoa beans to produce a 100-gram chocolate bar, the common approach to using Criollo is to combine it with other cacao varieties. 

Criollo pods tend to run leaner than other cacao varieties, and the skin of each round orb is delicate. The pods turn deep red when ripe. The beans concealed inside each pod can range from an ivory shade to light purple, and because these beans are less available in market, they can cost as much as three times the amount when compared to other cacao purchases. Though Criollo can be susceptible to disease, when the beans are bred well, the result speaks for itself. Ground with a mortar-and-pestle-like mano and metate and enjoyed in a recipe, a true chocolate connoisseur will be able to immediately notice the difference when Criollo is involved — no trip to Central or South America required.