All about chocolate

A breath of mystique and a drop of serenity in every bite of chocolate

Sweet, aromatic, melts in your mouth…Sometimes only the thought of it makes one crave for chocolate to the sound of a silent, romantic melody.Chocolate…The sweet seducer, without which we cannot imagine the word delicious.

Chocolate, before becoming a popular treat, travelled a long road full of change and adventure. Prior to becoming a delicacy, it served as money.Prior to becoming a sweet, it was a bitter drink.Prior to becoming a food product, it was medicine.It has a millennia-long history. Chocolate unites modern civilisation and the ancient world of Indians, building a bridge between different continents and the hearts of people.

From Indian Gods to the Present Day. AShort History of Chocolate

The Olmec, who were the Indians of Central America, were the first to appreciate cacao fruits approximately 1000 B.C.Later the Maya and Aztec started cultivating and consuming cacao.They would produce hot and sour drinks from cacao beans using various recipes.Maya and Aztec legend said that cacao seeds descended to earth from heaven, from the children of the sun.Indians believed that the cacao-tree bestowed wisdom and power, thus the cacao drink was considered to be the drink of wisdom, power and higher sexual potency.Chocolate was a luxurious and sacred drink not only in life, but also in the afterlife. Cacao beans were highly valued and functioned as a form of currency.

The origin of the word chocolate is intermingled with mystery and legend, which tells of the god of snakes Quetzalcoatl gaving his name to the cacao tree. The name of the drink originated from the word cacaua or the cacao-tree. The Maya called the chocolate drink xocolatl, and the Aztecs – cacahuatl. For this reason people call cacao the divine delicacy. The botanist Carl Von Linné, who was himself very fond of chocolate, acknowledged the divine origin of the chocolate and called the cacao-tree Theobroma cacao or the food of the gods.

Chocolate began its path to Europe together with a Spanish traveller, the conqueror of Aztecs, Cortés.He became fond of the Aztecs’ divine food and brought to Spain two chests of cacao beans, which were as precious as gold and diamonds.In the beginning, only noblemen and the clergy could enjoy the chocolate drink, and later in the 17th century, cacao became available to the general public.At that time chocolate was also considered to be a medicine for all diseases.Chocolate was popular as a drink up until the middle of the 19th century. However, with the discovery of the cacao butter extraction method, the era of the ‘solid chocolate’ and the victorious march of chocolate across the world began.

Food and Medicine.Chocolate and Health

This mysterious conqueror of the world has always been extremely popular and appreciated. Chocolate is generally considered to be a delicacy and bonne bouche, however, its more useful characteristics are becoming increasingly popular. The medicinal characteristics of chocolate have been confirmed by scientific discoveries.The Journal of Internal Medicine announced a research report, which claims that eating chocolate two or three times per week decreases the mortality from heart disease by 66 percent, whereas if the chocolate is consumed less than two or three times per week, the risk decreases more slowly.

Chocolate has such useful substances as antioxidants, which protect cells and the genetic information they contain from chemically active free radicals; it also contains theobromine, which perks your mood and improves the circulation of blood, urinary function, muscular tone as well as enhances the activity of the cortical centre of the brain. The carbohydrate chocolate stimulates the substances responsible for lifting one’s mood, i.e. the production of serotonin in brains.Even when smelling chocolate, many people increase their secretion of immunoglobulin A. This substance protects one from microbes and viruses.