Hot Chocolate: Did Mesoamericans think cacao was an aphrodisiac?

Painting from the ancient Maya city of Calakmul depicting the preparation and drinking of cacao. Photo by Kenneth Garret, Nat Geo image collection.

When you think of aphrodisiacs, what comes to mind? Oysters, champagne, red wine, pomegranates and, of course, chocolate.

Chocolate has been considered an aphrodisiac for centuries, a reputation it holds to this day. And, if we believe chocolate makers, it’s women in particular who can barely contain themselves when they eat the stuff.

Just watch the advert below if you want proof.

Even the ads that include half-naked men (which I welcome) are centred around ‘ladies’’ pleasure.

Mesoamerican marital aid?

An Aztec woman generates foam by pouring chocolate from one vessel to another. Codex Tudela. Wikimedia Commons.

A quick Google or visit to Wikipedia will tell you that cacao was considered an aphrodisiac in Mesoamerica, where it was first cultivated. According to History.com, ‘ancient Mesoamericans believed chocolate was an energy booster and aphrodisiac with mystical and medicinal qualities.’

But there is, in fact, no evidence from any Olmec, Mayan or Aztec archeology, anthropology or surviving codices which supports this claim.

So where did the idea come from?

Early Spanish explorers in the New World claimed that the Aztec elite used chocolate as an aphrodisiac, reporting that the emperor Montezuma drank it ‘for success with women’.

One historian suggests this might have been because cacao was drunk at night after meals, leading the Spanish to believe it must have had some sort of sexual purpose. A more likely explanation comes from Sophie and Michael Coe, authors of The True History of Chocolate, who say, ‘the reader should stop to consider if there has ever been a consumable substance that has not had this reputation [as an aphrodisiac] at some time or other.’

This is especially true in early modern Europe, which was pretty obsessed with procreation. Motherhood was central to a woman’s role in society and fatherhood was closely linked to masculinity. With so much riding on sex, it makes sense that chocolate was added to the already substantial list of marital aids. (According to historian Jennifer Evans, common aphrodisiacs of the period included rocket, mustard, pepper, cinnamon, cress, ginger and ‘warm moist meats.’ Sexy.)

Francisco Hernández, a Spanish physician who visited the New World in 1570, did record a recipe for atextli, a kind of chocolate beverage said to be an aphrodisiac. But the Aztecs consumed various drinks made from cacao and only atextli is recorded by Hernández to have these properties, so it may have been another ingredient, or the specific combination of ingredients, that helped get drinkers ‘in the mood’. But to say the Aztecs considered all cacao an aphrodisiac is a bit of a stretch.

Holy Cacao: Cacao in Mesoamerican culture

Glyph of cacao tree from the front page of the Aztec Fejérváry-Mayer Codex. The tree flanks the god Tezcatlipoca, as one of the 'trees of life'. Public Domain Review.

The Olmec, Maya, and Aztec civilizations consumed cacao mostly as a drink, rather than food, and possibly even as a drug. One Spanish missionary said Aztec chocolate, ‘makes one drunk, takes effect on one, makes one dizzy, confuses one, makes one sick, deranges one.’

While cacao does contain the stimulants caffeine and theobromine, it doesn’t usually have such a strong effect, leading some scholars to believe the Aztecs mixed it with alcohol or fermented cacao pulp. Either way, it sounds like a party.

It would have been a bitter drink flavoured with an array of ingredients, including chilli, maize, vanilla, flowers, herbs and honey.

The Princeton Vase, A.D. 670–750. Princeton University Art Museum.

Cacao was central to Mesoamerican culture and religion. It was offered to the gods and was considered a ‘tree of life’, as well having an important ceremonial role in birth, marriage and burial rites.

According to Alan Davidson, in The Oxford Companion to Food, the Aztecs and Mayans used cacao ‘to anoint newborn children on the forehead, face, fingers, and toes in a rite resembling baptism.’ Just way more delicious.

Cacao was also central to Mayan marriage ceremonies, signifying the connection of different families. Chocolate beverages - often depicted as a red liquid - may have symbolised the blood flowing between newly connected families.

There are also Maya vases which depict the harvest, preparation and consumption of chocolate. The Princeton Vase (pictured), for instance, shows a woman preparing a chocolate drink, by pouring the beverage from one container to another to create a foam.

A lot of these vases have been found in graves, with evidence suggesting they were left filled with liquid chocolate, perhaps nourishing the dead on their final journey.

Not so hot chocolate

So no, Mesoamericans probably didn’t think cacao was an aphrodisiac. Though maybe that’s just because they hadn’t invented chocolate fondue yet. But that’s not to say they didn’t think chocolate was sexy, because, let’s face it, it is.