The chocolate industry in the Philippines developed after introducing the cocoa tree into Philippine agriculture. The growing of cacao or cocoa boasts a long history stretching from the colonial times. Originating from Mesoamerican forests, cacao was first introduced by the Spanish colonizers four centuries ago. Since then the Philippine cocoa industry has been the primary producer of cocoa beans in the Southeast Asia. There are many areas of production of cacao in the Philippines, owing to soil and climate. The chocolate industry is currently on a small to medium scale. Etymology, history and development Local terms The word "chocolate" as we know it today was spelled in different ways throughout time, in different ways such as "chocalatall", "jocolatte", "jacolatte", and "chockelet". It is a derivative of the word cacahuatl or xocoatl, a bitter drink the Aztecs brewed from cacao beans mixed with spices, wine, and other local ingredients that can be traced back to Pre-Columbian Mexico. Cacahuatl is an amalgamation of the Mayan words kaj and kab, which translates to "bitter juice". The suffix -atl that means water or liquid was added to kajkab, forming kajkabatl, and then later kajkabhuatl with the insertion of the diphthong hu. The cacao tree, whose scientific Latin name given by Swedish botanist Carolus Linnaeus in 1753 is Theobroma cacao, is one of the 22 Theobroma species. Theobroma means "food for the Gods", from the Greek words theo (god) and broma (food). This species is utilized as raw materials for pharmaceutical products and cosmetics, however, cacao is primarily used for the production of chocolate and cocoa by processing the beans. In the Filipino language, chocolate translates as tsokolate, which is also a hot chocolate drink made from tablea, cacao tablets made from roasted and ground cacao nibs molded into rounds or tablets traditionally used in the Philippines for making hot chocolate. A batirol, the Filipino adaptation of the Mexican molinillo, is used to thoroughly mix hot water with the tablet in a chocolatera to make it frothy. The result is tsokolate de batirol, a thick, creamy, hot chocolate drink, otherwise referred to as sikawate in the Visayas region. Tablea is also used in the production of champorado, among many other cacao delicacies. Written tsamporado in Filipino, it is a sweet, rice porridge dish in the Philippines enjoyed by many hot or cold, usually partnered with dried fish, called tuyo or daing. Origin of cacao in