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In 1910, the Antarctic
Nimrod Expedition was in trouble.
Led by Ernest Shackleton,
the team had set the record for the
southernmost point ever reached.
But after miscalculating how long
it would take to return
to the nearest supply depot,
the crew had run out of food.
Fatigued and desperate,
they turned to their medical kit.
It contained a drug called
“Forced March tablets,”
which promised to mitigate
hunger and prolong endurance,
thanks to the powerful combination
of its two ingredients:
cocaine, and the extract
of the African kola nut.
After taking the pills, the team was able
to push through and reach safety.
So how did the kola nut,
a sacred ingredient from West Africa,
end up in Shackleton's emergency kit?
And how did this same combination
of kola nut and cocaine
make its way into the original recipe
of a drink
that billions of people consume every day?
The kola nut is the seed of the kola tree,
a small evergreen native
to the tropical forests of West Africa,
where it has long been integral to the
cultural fabric of many communities.
Among the Igbo, the bitter nut
is known as the food of the gods.
In Igbo homes, its custom to greet
and honor guests
by breaking a seed and sharing the lobes.
Within Yoruba communities,
kola plays a central role in many
religious ceremonies,
such as weddings, funerals,
and divination.
Kola nuts can contain up to 2.5% caffeine,
or about twice the concentration
found in coffee beans,
along with trace amounts of theobromine,
a structurally similar compound.
Both molecules stimulate
the central nervous system,
causing effects like alertness
and increased blood flow
to the muscles and lungs.
And it’s these properties that likely led
to kola’s long-standing use
in traditional West African medicine.
But there’s also a bitter side
to the kola nut’s history.
As early as the 10th century,
it was used by various groups
in West Africa as currency
to purchase captives across the Sahara.
And in the 16th century, Portuguese and
Afro-Portuguese traders in the region
similarly exchanged the seeds for people,
whom they then sold
into transatlantic slavery.
By the 17th century, the kola nut
had made its way to the Americas.
Brazilian oral narratives tell
of enslaved peoples
smuggling the seeds across the Atlantic
in their clothing and hair.
Enslavers who learned of the nut’s
energizing properties often weaponized it,
supplying it to subjugated workers
to induce more back-breaking labor.
However, in places like Jamaica,
Cuba, and Brazil,
many enslaved communities managed
to cultivate kola on their own,
allowing them to preserve
and continue practicing
their cultural and religious traditions.
In the late 19th century,
the kola nut gained the attention of
pharmacists in Europe and North America.
Many claimed, without much evidence,
that the nut contained countless medicinal
and even mind-altering properties.
Soon, kola-containing tonics, chocolates,
and lozenges lined pharmacy shelves.
It was combined with extracts from
the coca leaf, the source of cocaine,
to create Shackleton’s
Forced March tablets,
which were also supplied to British
soldiers during World War I.
In 1886, Atlanta pharmacist John Pemberton
used this same potent combo
to create the original recipe
for Coca-Cola,
which he claimed could treat ailments like
headaches, indigestion, and impotence.
By the 1920s, African export
of the kola nut slowed,
thanks in part to the introduction of
another energizing seed from the region:
the cocoa bean.
Around this time, the Coca-Cola company
is also said
to have significantly reduced
the kola nut in its recipe,
but no one knows for sure—
the exact ingredients remain
a closely guarded trade secret.
However, we do know that the company
removed all traces of cocaine by 1903.
Today, the kola nut can still be found
in various drinks and supplements,
like Bissy tea,
a staple in many Jamaican homes.
Believed to have been first brought
to the region on slave ships
in the 17th century,
this tea is just one example of how
the kola nut, despite its bitter past,
continues to serve as a powerful symbol
of cultural preservation and remembrance.
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