Rosita de cacao
Also known as flor de cacao, madre de cacao, cacahuaxochitl, cacahoaxochitl, Quararibea funebris
Quick answer
The dried flower of Quararibea funebris, a tree of Mexico and Central America, a pungent spice with a smell like fenugreek. In Oaxaca it flavours tejate, the frothy drink of maize and cacao.
- Tastes of
- fenugreek-like, pungent
- Goes with
- Dark chocolate, Maize
Other names
What this spice is called elsewhere, and where the translation is not clean.
rosita de cacao
Spanish — Mexico
Also flor de cacao, "cacao flower", although it is not the flower of the cacao tree but of an unrelated one.
cacahoaxochitl
Nahuatl
The name the PROSEA account records as the Aztec one; spelt variously.
Flavour and aroma
Pungent; the PROSEA account records that the Aztecs held it to rival chilli in pungency.
Highly pungent and very persistent, suggesting fenugreek. The odour principle isolated from the flowers is 3-hydroxy-4,5-dimethyl-2(5H)-furanone.
Sepia-brown when dried.
Taste, smell and sensation, channel by channel
Smell, taste and the chemical sense of heat and cold are different senses. Each is listed with the compounds evidenced as producing it.
Smell
- Sweet-aromatic — Sotolon
The odour principle isolated from the flowers is 3-hydroxy-4,5-dimethyl-2(5H)-furanone — sotolon, the compound of fenugreek — and the dried flower is described as highly pungent and suggestive of fenugreek.
- 3-Hydroxy-4,5-dimethyl-2(5H)-furanone — The odour principle of the flowers, and the reason the smell is compared with fenugreek.(what sotolon is)
Pairings
Ranked by how well established the combination is, with the reason and the caveats attached.
Foods
Dark chocolate
ClassicUsed with cacao since Aztec times, as its Nahuatl name records, and still the spice of the cacao-and-maize tejate.
How: In tejate
- Tejate is made with cacao rather than with chocolate as a bar
Maize
ClassicThe flower flavours tejate, the Oaxacan drink of finely ground maize, cacao and water.
How: In tejate
Preparation and use
The characteristic spice of tejate, the Oaxacan maize and cacao drink.
Storage and freshness
| Form | Good for | Conditions | Fridge |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dried whole | Not established | Cool, dark, dry and sealed. | No |
Quality is not the same as safety
A faded flower is a quality matter, not a safety one.
Forms
The form the sources describe, and so the one this page is about.
Dried flowers
The whole dried flowers, ground into the drink.
Botany
Malvaceae
Placed in Bombacaceae in the PROSEA account; the GBIF backbone places it in Malvaceae.
A tree up to 25 m tall with horizontal, drooping branches in whorls, large leaves and white flowers whose petals turn sepia-brown when dried. It grows in moist to wet forest up to 1600 m and takes five or six years from seed to flower; in Oaxaca it flowers all year, most in the rainy season.
Commonly confused with
Cacao
Theobroma cacao. The names flor de cacao and rosita de cacao tie the flower to cacao because it is used with it, not because it comes from the cacao tree.
How it is grown
The plant, how it is propagated and farmed, what threatens the crop, and where it is produced now. Crop diseases here are plant health, not food safety.
The flowers, white when fresh and sepia-brown when dried. In Oaxaca the tree flowers all year, most in the rainy season.
From planting to first harvest: 5–6 years
How it is propagated
- Seed.
Grown from seed, taking five or six years to flower.
A tree of moist to wet forest from central Mexico to north-western Costa Rica, occasionally cultivated there and elsewhere.
Where it comes from and how it is made
From central Mexico to north-western Costa Rica.
- Mexico — native range. Where the flower is used as a spice.
- Costa Rica — native range
- Drying — The flowers are dried, turning from white to sepia-brown.
Occasionally cultivated, in its range and elsewhere.
Moist to wet primary forest, lowland and highland, up to 1600 m.
Buying and quality
- A strong, persistent smell like fenugreek.
Culture
Recorded by tradition rather than merged into one narrative — these are genuinely different practices.
Oaxaca, Mexico
The flower flavours tejate (also pozonque), a thick, frothy drink of cacao, finely ground maize and water. Tejate is an important part of the diet and of cultural identity in rural Zapotec households of the Central Valleys of Oaxaca.
- In tejate
Also documented in Oaxaca: Avocado leaf, Chilhuacle.
The flowers and fruits are used in local medicine. Recorded as context only; SpiceHQ makes no health claim.
What it is called
- Spanish: rosita de cacao
- Nahuatl: cacahoaxochitl
What we do not know
Published openly. A gap we have named is more useful than a gap we have filled with plausible prose.
Not yet established for rosita de cacao:
- Archaeological evidence
- Historical timeline
- Ceremonial use
- Regulatory limits
- Traditional uses
Its history. No historical source has been read. The botanical account records the Aztec name cacahoaxochitl and that the spice never became popular outside Mexico.