History of chocolate the South of Mexico. After its arrival to Europe in the sixteenth century, sugar was added to it and it became popular throughout society, first among the ruling classes and then among the common people. In the 20th century, chocolate was considered essential in the rations of United States soldiers at war. The word "chocolate" comes from the Classical Nahuatl word "chocolātl", and entered the English language from the Spanish language. Cultivation, consumption, and cultural use of cacao were extensive in Mesoamerica where the cacao tree is native. When pollinated, the seed of the cacao tree eventually forms a kind
Tree and frost, and the seed germinates in the spring. Pine cones may similarly be hoarded by red squirrels, and grizzly bears may help to disperse the seed by raiding squirrel caches. The single extant species of Ginkgophyta ("Ginkgo biloba") has fleshy seeds produced at the ends of short branches on female trees, and "Gnetum", a tropical and subtropical group of gymnosperms produce seeds at the tip of a shoot axis. The earliest trees were tree ferns, horsetails and lycophytes, which grew in forests in the Carboniferous period. The first tree may have been "Wattieza", fossils of which have been found