How cacao beans circulated in some Mesoamerican markets, alongside high-value objects sometimes described as axe money.
In pre-Columbian Mesoamerica, cacao beans served as a small, portable medium of exchange in some markets, especially in Aztec-period and later colonial accounts. Their use varied by place and period rather than replacing every other form of exchange.
Chocolate as a Medium of Exchange
Cacao trees (Theobroma cacao) required specific tropical conditions and intensive labour to cultivate. Contemporary descriptions record example market rates such as these:
- 1 Cacao Bean: Purchased a large avocado or a sweet tamale.
- 3 Cacao Beans: Purchased a fresh turkey egg or a ripe pumpkin.
- 30 Cacao Beans: Purchased a small rabbit or a woven cotton tunic.
- 100 Cacao Beans: Purchased a mantle or a working turkey.
Because you could drink your savings as a spicy frothy chocolate beverage (cacahuatl), this currency literally possessed intrinsic consumption value!
Mesoamerican Counterfeiters
Some historical accounts mention adulterated or hollow cacao beans being passed off as genuine, showing that sellers and buyers had to judge the quality of a perishable medium of exchange.
Accounts also describe penalties for tampering with cacao beans.
Jade Axe-Money
For larger exchanges, merchants also used T-shaped bronze and jade objects often described as axe money. These blades were too thin for practical chopping and could function as high-value stores of wealth.