Ecuador's relationship with cacao goes back millennia. The country was hailed as the cradle of chocolate in 2018, when archaeological research rerouted the origins of the delicacy from Central America to the Ecuadorian Amazon. Traces of cacao were found on ancient pottery utilised by the Indigenous Mayo-Chinchipe civilisation, indicating it was being grown for food, drink or medicine over 5,300 years ago - some 1,500 years earlier than previously believed.
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