The 'Spirit of Chocolate' celebrates chocolate as both science and story

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — On Valentine’s Day, the Palmer Museum of Art became a tasting room and a classroom all at once. “The Art of Chocolate: A Guided Tasting Experience,” presented by the Arboretum at Penn State, invited guests to explore chocolate as both science and story, pairing research with sensory discovery and chocolate with cheese.

The event was a collaboration among arboretum staff and College of Agricultural Sciences professors Siela Maximova and Mark Guiltinan, co‑leaders of Penn State’s Cacao and Chocolate Research Network (CCRN). About 75 attendees filled the museum’s event space as the scientists led a hands‑on tasting and a mini‑masterclass in cacao’s past, present and future.

An art installation tied to the event, "The Spirit of Chocolate," is currently on public view in the Palmer Museum Administrative Wing.

“Chocolate is often seen as a luxury,” Guiltinan, J. Franklin Styer Professor of Horticultural Botany and Professor of Plant Molecular Biology, told the crowd. “Yet its roots lie in the hard work and traditions of people living close to nature.”

Maximova, research professor of plant biotechnology, then guided participants through how professionals evaluate chocolate — including snap, sheen, aroma, the initial taste, and how it develops and resolves, prompting the room to search for notes that were fruity, nutty, smoky and beyond. A local flourish came from cheesemaker Goot Essa, whose owner led a parallel cheese-tasting and offered pairing suggestions that underscored what arboretum director Casey Sclar called the “local to global and back again” story of food.

The "Spirit of Chocolate" project

Cacao’s story dates back more than five millennia. At the Santa Ana–La Florida archaeological site in Ecuador’s upper Amazon, in 2018, an international team of researchers recovered ancient DNA from pottery bearing traces of cacao, evidence that people have processed the seeds of the plant for over 5,000 years.

“It sort of reset our entire timeline,” Guiltinan said.

To honor that heritage, the government of Ecuador created replicas of a historic cacao vessel and distributed them to embassies worldwide. In recognition of Penn State’s contributions to cacao and chocolate research spanning five decades, in November 2025, the Ecuadorian Embassy in Washington, D.C., presented one of those replicas to CCRN and to Guiltinan and Maximova, an acknowledgment of scholarship that bridged culture and science.

The replica became the spark for "The Spirit of Chocolate," a multimedia installation years in the making. The installation was co‑created by scientists Guiltinan and Maximova with Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences’ SciArt collaborators Daryl Branford and Talley Fisher.

Through the multimedia art installation, the project seeks to capture the profound connection between cacao growers and the land, highlighting their craftsmanship and reverence for the crop. It also aims to amplify the voices of Indigenous cacao farmers and bring attention to the chocolate’s true origins and meaning, celebrating farmers’ dedication and cultural heritage through a blend of visual art, storytelling, and academic insight. The installation includes interviews with researchers and farmers, a replica of a historic cacao vessel, a living cacao tree, and other interpretive materials. The original vessel was discovered at the Santa Ana–La Florida archaeological site in Ecuador’s upper Amazon and contained ancient cacao DNA, providing evidence that people have processed cacao for over 5,000 years.

“We wanted to create something that tells the farmers’ story, their connection to the land and their craftsmanship, in a way that resonates emotionally and visually,” Guiltinan said. “Through art and storytelling, the goal is to help people appreciate the human and cultural journey behind chocolate every time they savor it.”

The installation’s inauguration ceremony took place on Nov. 20, 2025, at the Ecuadorian Embassy in Washington, D.C., where an international audience of roughly 120 honored Ecuador’s legacy as "cacao’s cradle." The Ambassador of Ecuador recognized Penn State’s contribution to cacao and chocolate research and global collaborations and named Maximova and Guiltinan as Ambassadors of Cocoa and Chocolate of Ecuador.

Building on this momentum, the team is now working with the Arboretum at Penn State to establish a permanent exhibit — a living, outdoor experience that invites visitors into the world of cacao.

The research engine behind the art

The Spirit of Chocolate’s public storytelling rests on a formidable research legacy. Penn State’s long‑standing leadership in cacao and chocolate science is rooted in global interdisciplinary collaboration. The Cacao and Chocolate Research Network links natural and social scientists, artists, and humanities scholars with partners worldwide to advance sustainability, cultural heritage, and the global significance of cacao and chocolate.

At the core of CCRN is the endowed Program for the Molecular Biology of Cacao, which celebrates its 40th anniversary this year. Under the co‑leadership of Professors Mark Guiltinan and Siela Maximova, the program has become one of the world’s premier academic centers for cacao genetics, physiology, disease resistance, and crop improvement, delivering advances from somatic embryogenesis and functional genomics to CRISPR‑enabled trait development. The goal is clear: scientific breakthroughs that matter on the farm.

“Helping farmers is our main motivation,” Guiltinan said.

Maximova agreed.

"Penn State is a powerhouse for cacao and chocolate research, and the farmers are the primary beneficiaries,” she said. “We continually seek opportunities to expand our work in the cacao space for the benefit of producers. For example, the current Feed the Future Innovation Labs call references cocoa, so we are exploring that opportunity."

"We are grateful to our partners, both internal and external, for making this so successful," she added.

The CCRN places high value not only on technical improvements, but also making them locally applicable and accessible. The co-leaders emphasized that any innovation must honor culture and place.

“Indigenous peoples of the Amazon and Central America cultivated cacao not just as food, but as a sacred plant woven into culture and spirituality,” Guiltinan noted.

A global crop, shared challenges

Although cacao originated in the Amazon basin, across what is now Ecuador, Peru, Brazil and Colombia, its cultivation and trade now span the tropical world. That global spread brings global challenges, the researchers explained. Farmers face devastating diseases such as frosty pod rot and witches’ broom that can wipe out plantations, climate change that shifts rainfall and increases heat stress, and economic constraints that limit investments in sustainable practices.

“Science is addressing these threats through a variety of strategies, aiming not only to secure the future of chocolate, but also to support the millions of smallholder farmers who depend on cacao for their livelihoods,” Guiltinan said.

Among those strategies are developing disease‑resistant cacao varieties; applying genomic tools to understand resilience; improving agroforestry systems for climate adaptation; and creating technologies that enhance productivity while preserving biodiversity.

Penn State Global and the Americas

For Maximova, who also serves as director for Latin America and the Caribbean at Penn State Global and a Latin America faculty fellow for Ag Sciences Global, CCRN exemplifies how the University engages across the global south.

Maximova explained that Latin America is a priority region for Penn State Global, and the University has made a significant investment in the Americas Water, Energy, and Food (WEF) Nexus Alliance to deepen collaborative research and engagement. The WEF Nexus focuses on interlinked essentials, clean water, energy production and food security, themes echoed across Penn State’s colleges and institutes and aligned with the Penn State Climate Consortium.

“The Americas WEF Nexus started eight years ago with partnerships in Colombia, with Penn State Global as a driving force behind multiple projects, including several CCRN efforts,” Maximova said.

Guiltinan echoed Maximova.

“International collaborations are essential for university research and for making a real difference," Guiltinan said. "No single organization or country can address these challenges alone. Disease, climate change and socioeconomic pressures cross borders and oceans.”

For more information about Penn State's Cacao and Chocolate Research Network and "The Spirit of Chocolate" art installation, contact Guiltinan at mjg9@psu.edu or Maximova at snm104@psu.edu. The installation is currently on view in the Palmer Museum Administrative Wing.