Pataxte, balamte’ (jaguar tree), Theobroma bicolor of Guatemala An innovative alternative source of cacao for cocoa for chocolate

 

I first paid attention to an actual Pataxte tree on one of my early visits to Takalik Abaj, to visit archaeologist Miguel Orrego and co-director Christina Schieber de Lavarreda.    This was perhaps 8 to 11 years ago. Then I studied Pataxte in a San Marcos area of Guatemala, since a pataxte tree grew in the yard of one of our employees whose family lived there. In 2008 I studied Pataxte in the Chochola area of San Antonio Suchitepequez.

In subsequent years I visited places where Theobroma bicolor was grown in other areas, including throughout Alta Verapaz. Throughout 2013 and 2014 I visited many more locations where pataxte is available to see and to photograph.

Ethnobotanists who study the utilitarian plants of the Maya are familiar with Pataxte. And if you read the Popol Vuh you see Pataxte mentioned frequently. So I was aware of Pataxte years before I had time to actually stand in front of a Theobroma bicolor tree at Takalik Abaj. I used the Popol Vuh as a resource for eight years from late 1970’s through to 1985 for my PhD dissertation. During these years (in Graz, Austria) I amassed a library of between 2000 and 3000 volumes, since it was more efficient to do research in my own apartment than to walk back and forth to the university every day and spend half of the day waiting for books to be found deep in the back rooms of a library.

Pataxte is not as well known as Theobroma cacao, but Mayanists who study the Popol Vuh tend to become familiar with Pataxte during their graduate school research.

Many web sites translate the name Balamte’ as tiger tree. This is because in many rural areas of Guatemala, “tigre” is the word for jaguar. Just as “leon” is a local word for puma. Neither tigre nor leon in local context means any of the African animals (unless the context is about Africa).

Balam is jaguar, te’ is Q’eqchi’ for what is che in Lowland Maya, a generic word for tree. Ironically, in Q’eqchi’ the word for jaguar is not balam! But balam is pretty much a universal word for jaguar in many Mayan languages and even most Q’eqchi’ understand what you are talking about when you mention balam. Besides, the town named Balamte’, Alta Verapaz, is filled with pataxte trees.

It definitely helps to live in Guatemala and to spend years out in remote areas speaking with the local people.

 

 

Here is an introductory bibliography on Pataxte, Theobroma bicolor

 

  • BRESSANI, Ricardo and Andrea FURLAN
  • 1997
  • Chemical characterization of the seed and pulp of Theobroma bicolour. Coffee and Cocoa News. Vol. 2. Pp. 17-22.
  • CANO, Mirtha and Nicholas HELLMUTH (editor)
  • 2008
  • Field Trip: Suchitepequez, Guatemala, June 2008. FLAAR Reports. 16 pages.

    Has several healthy-sized photographs of the pataxte pods.
    2008 is one of our earlier publications which features Pataxte. Since we are working on over 400 different plant species, we can’t feature them all at once. Sometimes we may work several years on a plant before we do a web page or PDF or an article.
  • COE, Sophie and Michael D. COE
  • 1996
  • The True History of Chocolate. London, Thames and Hudson.
  • GOITIA, William and Klaus JAFFE
  • 1997
  • Morfologia comparativa de las flores de Theobroma cacao L., T. bicolor Humb. & Bonpl., T. grandiflorum (Willd. Ex Spring.) Schum. Y Herrania sp. Acta Cientifica Venezolana 48:13-28.

    Has good drawings of all the flowers, though the scanning of the document is rather primitive. http://atta.labb.usb.ve/Klaus/art107.pdf
  • GREEN, Judith Strupp
  • 2010
  • Feasting with Foam: Ceremonial Drinks of Cacao, Maize, and Pataxte Cacao. In Pre-Columbian Foodways, John Staller and Michael Carrasco editors, pp. 315-243. Springer.

    http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-1-4419-0471-3_13 sample only, book is typical Springer (over)priced.
  • HELLMUTH, Nicholas
  • 2010
  • Cacao vs Pataxte Theobroma Cacao and Theobroma bicolor. REVUE magazine.

    Based on field trips since first noticing Pataxte at Takalik Abaj over a decade ago, and field trips to the Costa Sur over many subsequent years.
  • Hermes, Bernard A.
  • 1981
  • Cerámica arqueológica, Pataxte, Izabal, Guatemala. Thesis, USAC. 154 pages.
  • HUNBERTO Ruz, Mario
  • 2002
  • De antepasados y herederos: testamentos mayas coloniales Alteridades, vol. 12, núm. 24, julio-diciembre, 2002, pp. 7-32, Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana Unidad Iztapalapa México.

    www.redalyc.org/pdf/747/74702402.pdf
  • KUFER, Johanna Kufer and Cameron McNEIL
  • 2006
  • The jaguar tree (Theobroma bicolor Bonpl.). In Chocolate in Mesoamerica, ed. C. L. McNeil, 90-104. Gainesville: University of Florida Press.

    This is one of the few articles by a Mayanist on Pataxte.
  • LOPEZ Rios, Claudio Alberto
  • 2008
  • Aportes para la identificacion de especies forestales de uso actual en la region II de Las Verapaces e Ixcan, del Instituto Nacional de Bosques – INAB-. Trabajo de Graduacion, Facultad de Agronomia. 139 pages.

    In Ixcan, El Quiche, no cacao is listed whatsoever. Actually he mentions zero pataxte and zero cacao. Ixcan, Huehuetenango, is clearly listed by Standley and Steyermark as having pataxte.

  • LORENA Arriaga, Claudia
  • 2007
  • Contenido de Ácidos Grasos de la manteca proveniente de mezclas, en distintas fracciones, de semillas de Theobroma cacao y Theobroma bicolor y su uso en la manufactura de chocolate. Thesis, Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala Facultad de Ciencias Químicas y Farmacia. 50 pages.

    http://biblioteca.usac.edu.gt/tesis/06/06_2516.pdf
  • de MacVEAN, Ana Lucrecia
  • 2006
  • Plantas Útiles de Sololá, Guatemala. Universidad del Valle, Guatemala City, 222 pages.
  • MEDRANO, Sonia
  • 1996
  • La población rural de Santa Elisa Pacacó, Retalhuleu. En IX Simposio de Investigaciones Arqueológicas en Guatemala, 1995 (editado por J.P. Laporte y H. Escobedo), pp.540-553. Museo Nacional de Arqueología y Etnología, Guatemala (versión digital).

    En la Historia Quiché de Don Juan de Torres se menciona que cuando Quicab emprendió la conquista de los pueblos de la costa llegó al poblado de Xetulul, bajo los zapotes, que fue traducido al náhuatl por los indígenas tlaxcaltecas durante la conquista a Zapotitlán. Luego de lograr la conquista de Xetulul, durante el siglo XV, los K'iche' recibieron tributo que incluía: pescado, camarón, cacao y pataxte. (Medrano :540).
  • MILLON, Rene
  • 1955
  • When Money Grew on Trees. A Study of Cacao in Ancient Mesoamerica. PhD dissertation, Department of Anthropology, Columbia University.
  • NORTON, Marcy
  • 2008
  • Sacred Gifts, Profane Pleasures: A History of Tobacco and Chocolate in the Atlantic World. Cornell University Press
  • ORTIZ, Julieta
  • 2004
  • Caracterización fisicoquímica de la grasa de semillas de Theobroma bicolor de Guatemala. Universidad del Valle, Guatemala. 32 pages.
  • RECINOS, Adrian (editor)
  • 2006
  • Memorial de Sololá (Memorial de Tecpan-Atitlan) : anales de los Cakchiqueles. Título de los señores de Totonicapán. Fondo de Cultura Económica, Mexico, D.F.

    Pataxte is mentioned as a tribute in the Memorial de Solola

    (www.geocities.com/Athens/Atrium/9449/s8docs.htm)
  • STALLER, John Eduard
  • 2008
  • Pre-Columbian Landscapes of Creation and Origin. Springer New York
  • STALLER, John Eduard and Michael D. CARRASCO
  • 2010
  • Pre-Columbian Foodways: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Food, Culture, and Markets in Ancient Mesoam�rica, pages. 333-334. Springer.
  • STANDLEY, Paul C.
  • 1920
  • Trees and Shrubs of Mexico, Contributions from the United States National Herbarium, Vol. 23, Part I. Washington, Government Printing Office.

    Standley and his co-authors tend to copy-and-paste from one country to another. But nonetheless, they produced a lot of helpful information. Here are their comments from Trees and Shrubs of Mexico, page 808.

    Theobroma bicolor Hunib. & Bonpl. PI. Aequin. 1 : 104. pi. 30. 180S.
    Theobronia ovatifolia DC. Prodr. 1: 485. 1824.
    Tribroma bicolor Cook, Journ. Washington Acad. Sci. 5: 288. 1915.
    Chiapas and Tabasco, and perhaps elsewhere. Central America and northern South America; type from Colombia.
    Slender tree, the upright shoots each ending in a cluster of 3 lateral branches leaves dimorphous, those of the upright shoots rounded-cordate, very large (sometimes 50 cm. long), long-petiolate, deeply cordate at base; leaves of lateral branches short-petiolate, oblong-ovate, 15 to 30 cm. long, abruptly short-pointed, shallowly cordate at base, green and nearly glabrous above, whitish beneath ; flowers borne on the young branches, in loose panicles, reddish purple ; fruit ellipsoid, about 15 cm. long, ribbed and irregularly netted, dark, with a thick woody shell, the pulp white.2 " Cacao bianco," "pataste" (Chiapas); "patatle" (Tabasco); "pataxte" (Tabasco, Guatemala); "bacao" (Colombia); "pataste," "pataiste," "cacao silvestre," "teta negra" (Costa Rica). This plant is cultivated in some parts of tropical America, and the seeds are used like those of T. cacao. Their product is variously known in commerce as "tiger," "wariba," or "patashte" cacao. The seeds are used locally for the preparation of sweetmeats.

  • STANDLEY, Paul C. and Julian A. STEYERMARK
  • 1949
  • Flora of Guatemala. Fieldiana: Botany, Vol. 24, Part VI. Chicago Natural History Museum.

    Theobroma bicolor Humb. & Bonpl. PI. Aequin. 1 : 104. pi. 30. 1808. Patashte; Pataxte; Balam, Balamte (Quecchi); Pec (Poconchi).
    Native region uncertain, but the tree is said to grow wild in Tabasco; found apparently wild in dense wet forest in Huehuetenango (near Ixcan); known, in cultivation at least, from Chiapas and Tabasco southward to Colombia; planted in many parts of the Guatemalan lowlands, especially along the base of the Pacific bocacosta, and noted from Alta Verapaz, Chiquimula, Santa Rosa, Suchitepequez, and Quezaltenango; said to be planted in Suchitepequez more than elsewhere.
    A slender tree, the upright shoots each ending in a cluster of 3 lateral branches; leaves dimorphous, those of the upright shoots rounded-cordate, very large, sometimes 50 cm. long, long-petiolate, deeply cordate at the base; leaves of lateral branches short-petiolate, oblong-ovate, 15-30 cm. long, abruptly short-pointed, shallowly cordate at the base, green and almost glabrous above, covered beneath with a dense close white tomentum; flowers reddish purple, in small lax panicles, borne in the leaf axils on the young branches; fruit broadly ellipsoid or oval, about 15 cm. long, pale green or grayish, handsomely ribbed and irregularly reticulate, becoming dark in age, with a thick woody shell, the pulp white.
    Sometimes called "cacao bianco" in Chiapas. For a rather detailed account of the species see 0. F. Cook, Branching and flowering habits of cacao and patashte, Contr. U. S. Nat. Herb. 17: 609-625. pis. 44-54, 1916. The native country of this species is quite as uncertain as that of most other cultivated members of the genus. The seeds are used like those of T. Cacao, being known in commerce as "tiger," "wariba," or "patashte" cacao. In Central America the cacao obtained from this species is considered decidedly inferior. The fresh pulp of the green fruits is sometimes eaten. The fruits are very handsome, because of the curious white and green network covering the shell, reminding one somewhat of certain varieties of muskmelons. In general appearance they are very unlike the fruits of any other cultivated species.

    Standley and Steyermark, 1949, Flora of Guatemala, Vol. 24, Part VI, pages 422-423.
  • TEDLOCK, Dennis
  • 1996
  • Popol Vuh: The Definitive Edition of The Mayan Book of The Dawn of Life and The Glories of Gods and Kings. Touchstone, 384 pages.

    A version on-line by Tale Books is 244 pages. It should be noted that all on-line versions are over 50 pages shorter than the printed versions.

    There is also a 1985 edition on-line, with no pagination.
  • WEINBERG, Bennett Alan and Bonnie K. BEALER
  • 2001
  • The World of Caffeine: the Science and Culture of the World’s Most Popular Drug. Routledge. 394 pages.
  • WILSON, Michael "Mike"
  • 1972
  • A Highland Maya People and their Habitat: The Natural History, Demography and Economy of the K’ekchi’. PhD dissertation, University of Oregon. 475 pages.           

    This has the best ethnozoological and the best ethnobotanical dictionary that I have yet found for the Q’eqchi’ language. We are also preparing a list of dictionaries of Q’eqchi’, and also, dictionaries specifically on medicinal plants. About every two weeks we hope to publish more. These Q’eqchi’ dictionaries will be on our www.maya-archaeology.org web site.

    Available on-line.

 

Web sites with helpful information on pataxte

There are articles and web pages on pataxte of lower central America and South America, but we tend to focus on pataxte of Mesoamerica.

http://methodusconsultora.blogspot.com/2009/11/produccion-agroforestal-de-theobroma.html
Producción agroforestal de Theobroma bicolor (cacao blanco) en la Chinantla, Oaxaca. Although only one page it is always nice to know where pataxte is grown.


 

First posted February 2, 2015.