Patrick Edward McGovern ca. 7000-6600 B.C. It was a mixed fermented beverage of rice, honey, and grape and/or hawthorn ("Crataegus pinnatifida" and "C. cuneata") fruit. The laboratory and collaborators began studying some of the most ancient chocolate from ancient Mesoamerica (ca. 1400-1100 B.C.) in 2004 Jars from Puerto Escondido in Honduras were in the shape of the cacao ("Theobroma cacao") pod or fruit, as if to advertise the contents as being a chocolate beverage. The fruit's sweet pulp contains about 15% sugar, which naturally ferments to a 5 to 7% alcoholic beverage. This beverage might have led to the domestication of the tree.
Moniliophthora perniciosa cacao beans annually. "T. cacao" L. is an understorey tropical plant, and the understorey growth of cacao helps to preserve habitat for numerous animal and bird species in these regions. With the production losses associated with WBD, tropical landowners are forced to convert their land to other production systems that usually require the destruction of the forest cover. WBD does not only affect the supply of cacao, but also largely impacts the conservation of tropical environment where cacao is grown. Moniliophthora perniciosa Moniliophthora perniciosa (previously "Crinipellis perniciosa") is a fungus that causes "witches' broom disease" (WBD) of the cocoa tree