History of cocoa beans as barter currency

It was the first civilization of the Americas, the Olmec, living some three millennia ago in the humid lowlands of the Mexican Gulf Coast, who first domesticated the cocoa plant.

The cacao bean was so significant to the local cultures that it was used as a currency in trade, given to warriors as a post-battle reward, and served at royal feasts.

During the fourteenth century, the Aztecs conquered a large part of Central America and became the dominant power. In addition to enjoying chocolatl as a beverage, the Aztecs so prized the beans that they used them as currency. In an Aztec market, one bean could buy a tamale or a tomato; 100 beans could buy a turkey. A copper ax cost a whopping 8,000 beans.

A rabbit could be purchased for 10 cacao beans or a llama for 50 beans. A large successful household might be taxed 20 of the 50 Ziquipilli it produced in a year.

Aztec warriors were paid with cocoa beans and it was part of their regular military rations. The great wealth of the Aztec ruler Moctezuma was based on cacao currency.

The Mayan people of southeastern Mexico also used cocoa beans as currency, to buy anything from avocados to turkeys to sex.

In 1544, the cocoa industry at this time began to flourish with the help of Dominican Friars who were assigned to learn the secrets of the bean from the Mayans. Once they perfected their craft of processing the cocoa, the friars began to share their discovery with the wider world, leading to cocoa being used as currency in Europe as it once was among ancient Mayans and Aztecs.
History of cocoa beans as barter currency

History of Onion

History of Onion
If a person eats half of raw onion every day, the good HDL will goes up 30%. Onions increase blood circulation and good for reducing blood pressure. Onion usually refers to Allium cepa. Allium cepa is one of the oldest vegetable known. It’s a large family containing 500 species.

It has been used as a food source for millennia. Onion is a native to South Asia and is widely used in Indian cooking.

Most researches agreed that the onion has been cultivated for 5000 years. It grew in Chinese gardens as early as that time.

Apart from using as a currency to pay the workers who built the pyramids, Ancient Egypt 3500 B.C worshipped the onion and believed that its spherical shape symbolized the eternal life. Painting of onions appears on the walls of the pyramids and in tombs of both the old Kingdom and the new Kingdom.

King Ramses IV, who died in 1160 B.C, was entombed with onions in his eye sockets. Egyptian believed that onion strong scent would prompt the dead to breathe again. Sumerians also believed to have grown the onions since 2500 B.C in their farm.

In middle ages, onion became one of European three main cuisines (beans, cabbage and onion). It was the Roma who introduced the onion to Europe. The Latin name unio was to describe a species of onion resembling a single white pearl. At that time, in American native was using wild onions in syrups, in dyes even in toys. They also ate as a raw.

History of Onion