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.
Forcipomyia squamipennis Forcipomyia squamipennis Forcipomyia squamipennis is a biting midge species in the genus "Forcipomyia". It is an important pollinator of cacao trees ("Theobroma cacao") in Ghana, and other related midges pollinate the tree in other parts of the tropics. "Forcipomyia squamipennis" is an important pollinator of the cacao tree "Theobroma cacao" in Ghana, not because it pollinates more effectively than other insects but because it is so numerous in cacao plantations. The population is greatest in the rainy season. Adult midges spend the day in shady spots such as between the buttress roots of large trees, in crevices in logs, in