Newlink is the Mexico Tourism Board’s New Agency for Public
Relations in the United States
HAVE A TASTE OF MEXICO’S
CHOCOLATE, IN MIAMI
Miami, FL; January 22nd, 2009- On the 24th and 25th of January, locals and
visitors will discover a chocolate story that began more than 3,000 years ago,
when the first cacao tree was cultivated by the ancient Olmecs, who lived near
the equator and the Gulf of Mexico in what is now the exuberant state of
Tabasco.
The Mexico Tourism Board is bringing the indulgence of
Mexican chocolate to Miami.
Along with the State of Tabasco, the MTB will
be showcasing the origins, history and flavors of one of the oldest and maybe
one of the most popular sweet beans in the world: the cocoa (cacao), at Fairchild's
3rd Annual International Chocolate Festival at the FairchildTropicalBotanic Garden. Water
your mouth with the delicious and enchanting flavor of the first chocolate
known in the world, the cocoa from Tabasco.
Did you know that Cocoa beans were a
currency in Pre-Colombian Mesoamerica and that in those primordial times one
could buy a rabbit for 4 cocoa beans, the services of a prostitute for 10 beans
and a wife or a medium quality slave for 100?
Everything started in the tropical
climate of Tabasco,
a fertile terrain ideal for the cacao plant to thrive. Xocolatl
was a primitive combination of cacao beans, ground up with stones to
produce a grainy paste then transformed into a foamy drink, spiced with chili,
allspice, honey or vanilla. Tabasco, as well
as the region known as the Soconusco in the state of Chiapasare the two most important producers of these beans in
Mexico.
Today you
can learn more of the history of chocolate by visiting its place of origin
through the Cocoa Route,
the gateway to the land of the Maya-Chontales. Here you will find the cacao
plantations, acres of cacao trees, witness the vestiges of archeological sites,
unique churches, old cocoa haciendas and ancient communities in a vast
landscape of mountains, rivers and lagoons surrounded by lush vegetation. You
can also visit the cacao haciendas or fincas of the region: Finca
Cholula, Hacienda Jesús María and La Luz. Immerse yourself in the warm
and peculiar world of the fincas, unique architecture with fine woods, “talavera”
tiles, and tempting terraces enclosing beautiful patios.
Learn about
the history and process -from the harvest to the production- while you try some
of the traditionally hand made chocolates of the region, at the Mexico
booth in this unique and luscious Fair.
**The Fairchild's 3rd Annual
International Chocolate Festival at the FairchildTropicalBotanic Garden, will take place from 9:30 am to 4:30 pm, at 10901 Old Cutler Road, Coral Gables, Florida.
