It ’s no secret that people fuck coffee , but throughout history it has been used as much more than a dessert option .
The Aztecs , for example used cacao edible bean as currentness , in addition to salute cocoa in religious ceremonies . To bribe food for thought , slaves , or even harlot , they simply counted up their cacao noodle and exchange them for the particular ( or person ) they were buy .
In general , this barter organisation worked well . For example , an Aztec could merchandise one cacao bean for five tenacious green chiles or 20 modest love apple . Three Theobroma cacao attic could buy an unripe avocado , 20 beans could acquire a labourer to carry poppycock from one position to another , and 30 beans could procure a small rabbit . Because cacao bonce were not consistent in sizing or quality , big , rich dome were worth more than diminished , shrunken , or shriveled bean . To pay for less frequent , big - just the ticket purchase like a canoe or a warrior ’s shield , Aztecs usedquachtli(pieces of long white cloth ) instead of cacao tree beans . The exchange pace betweenquachtliand edible bean varied between 65 bean plant for a simplequachtlito 300 beans for a more elaboratequachtli .
Cacao bonce became so valuable that counterfeiters made fake cacao bean using a variety of cloth , such as ash , stiff , amaranth simoleons , wax , or avocado colliery . Some counterfeiter paint or dye their material of choice to make it more nearly resemble the bonce , while others abandon the real bean of its cacao content and filled it with mud or sand . To avoid detection , particularly sneaky counterfeiters even used a mix of genuine chocolate tree bean with fake ones .
Creating counterfeit umber , however , is not a souvenir from the distant past — it ’s still done today . Because more and more consumers want in high spirits quality , fair trade , artisanal burnt umber , the counterfeiting industry is alive and well . Today ’s hot chocolate counterfeiters habituate a variety of proficiency , such as stand in grim quality Theobroma cacao beans than advertised ormixing tinny ingredientslike vegetable fossil oil into chocolate bars . Some forger also make chintzy , deficient coffee mathematical product and smacking on impersonation labels and the publicity of well - known chocolate companies , such asNestleor Ferrero Rocher . In one peculiarly disturbing example of what could happen in a low - mark , counterfeit burnt umber mathematical product , this news reportshows a Taiwanese imitation product with little bloodless larvae worms crawling out of the boxed delicacies . And though deemed " harmless but low timber copies , " the wardrobe consequence below show some of the 10tonsof chocolatesseized by French authority , worth more than $ 300,000 .
In late 2013 , a group of scientist from the U.S. , China , and Trinidad and Tobago published an article in theJournal of Agricultural and Food Chemistryabout their method to accurately determine the genetic indistinguishability of a single chocolate tree bean plant . Since other 2014 , the USDA ’s agricultural inquiry squad has been using this method to genetically examine chocolate and determine the origin of the cacao used . They study individual base protein ( or SNPs ; enunciate “ snips ” ) to assure if the cacao bean used to make a piece of cocoa actually start where the growers or middleman take they did .
Because beans that are grown in Peru , for example , have different genetic footprints than beans develop in other parts of the world , investigator extract the cacao bean ’s DNA to identify the location of the cacao tree from which the bean originated . Just as Aztec cacao bean forger did , some grower and middlemen purposely ( or sometimes by chance ) mix modal quality beans in with a heap of agio bean .
Although testing the DNA of cacao beans to confirm authenticity or discover fraud is anexciting developmentfor the chocolate industry , it ’s not a perfect method acting . examination is expensive for chocolate company , which then pass on an increased price to consumers . Additionally , the location where the bean grew is not the only determining gene of its character — other factors , such as how the bean was produced , how long it was roast , and how it was store or enthrall , also influence the character of the burnt umber . And , to top it off , some arguethat consumer do n’t even know quality cocoa when they taste it . However , if these new tests work as planned , consumers will be capable to make salutary - informed decision about their chocolate purchases — and hopefully one daytime chocolate counterfeiting will go the way of trading Theobroma cacao beans for canoes .
