Mexico

Mexico holds a foundational place in the human history of cacao. The Pacific coast of Chiapas and the Gulf lowlands carry some of the earliest archaeological evidence of cacao use in Mesoamerica, dating to roughly 1900-1750 BC, and the crop was central to Maya and Aztec ritual, cuisine and exchange. In the modern era Mexico is a modest producer by world standards, and national output is concentrated overwhelmingly in two states: Tabasco, the largest, and Chiapas, which together account for almost all production.

Growing is centred on the low-lying Chontalpa zone of Tabasco around Comalcalco, the Soconusco coast of Chiapas, and smaller foothill areas such as the Chinantla and Papaloapan lowlands of northern Oaxaca. Farms are mainly smallholdings worked under fruit-tree and forest shade.

Genetically, Mexican cacao is significant as a historic home of ancient Criollo. Work by Motamayor and colleagues traced Mesoamerican Criollo to a small founder population, and surveys in Soconusco and the Chontalpa still identify trees of high Criollo ancestry, including pale-bean strains locally called 'almendra blanca'. Most cultivated stock today, however, is admixed Trinitario and Forastero-derived material. Production has declined under disease pressure and low prices, but Criollo conservation and a domestic fine-chocolate revival sustain interest in the origin.