Vanilla was first cultivated by the Totonac people along Mexico's Gulf Coast, and was originally used to flavor chocolate beverages. Its unique flavor comes from a type of orchid plant. The potato was unknown to the Aztecs and Maya. It was found only in South America, growing high on the slopes of the Andes Mountains in Peru. Native farmers first started growing potatoes 3,000 years ago. They developed many varieties with brown, red, orange, pink and purple skins, some no bigger than walnuts, others as big as grapefruits! The Aztec and Maya used cacao seeds as a form of money because they were considered "the food of the gods". Some tricky people would fill the empty cacoa seed shells with dirt or clay and pass them off as the real thing.