In the recipe Mexican Chocolate Flan with Kahlua from the book Classic Home Desserts by Richard Sax it states that chocolate is native to central america well unfortunately that is not true. Chocolate is native to Mexico and then it was central america. 1500 BC-400 BC - The Olmec Indians are the first to grow cocoa beans as a domestic crop. (the olmecs indians were older indians that lived in Mexico.) Then in the 14th century chocolate got really popular with the aztecs.