Spice-laden chocolate bars, whisky-filled truffles and raw cacao drinks filled the tables at the Puerto Viejo Chocolate Festival this weekend. Hopeful attendants for the festival’s popular liquor and chocolate pairing called in favors and waited in long lines with the enthusiasm of super-fans trying to snag tickets to a sold-out concert.

This weekend Costa Rican chocolate will be front and center as the Antigua Aduana in San José hosts the first Feria de Chocolate.

Confirming what we already knew, last weekend's Puerto Viejo Chocolate festival proved that chocolate goes well with everything.

A large crowd gathered at Hot Rocks bar in Puerto Viejo Friday for the opening ceremonies of the third annual Chocolate Festival, only to have the event shut down by the Health Ministry. The community festival was planned to celebrate Puerto Viejo's re-emerging chocolate scene.

Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory is small beans compared to Puerto Viejo.

MANAGUA, Nicaragua – Switzerland will invest $24 million in Nicaragua this year for cacao production, climate change reduction and municipal management, the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (Cosude) announced Wednesday.

A photo story exploring how cacao is grown and prepared on the Caribbean.

Before the Europeans arrived in the Americas on the hunt for gold, the region's indigenous people used money that literally grew on trees. The tiny brown seeds that came to be known as cacao beans held real value, and the Incas, the Aztecs and Costa Rica’s Chorotega people all used cacao as currency. For them, it was worth as much as gold.

Ecuador, where the fatty beans used to make chocolate have been grown since pre-Columbian times, is surpassing Brazil as Latin America's top cocoa producer after boosting planting and offering education programs for farmers.