Mmmmmm…Chocolate!
Maybe it's because it's getting near to the end of the world (thank you very much to the Mayan calendar carver who needed a toilet break, took a wrong turn, ended up as a human sacrifice and...well, you know the rest) or perhaps it's just because it's coming up to Christmas, but my mind is currently set on visions of my favourite things. Obviously one of them is books and 2013 is going to be fab since Mr. Stephen King has not one but two new books coming out (cue happy dance) - presuming we all survive the whole predicted world ending thing of course. Since I'm currently not aware of any chocolate books being currently available and since I pretty much talk non-stop about books here, I thought I'd shake things up a bit and talk about...yep...chocolate.
For the majority of us, the word
‘chocolate’ brings to mind a bar of sweet deliciousness, a luxurious box of
mixed centres or maybe even a biscuit enrobed in a thick blanket of the stuff.
Close your eyes, whisper ‘chocolate’ to your subconscious and you will find
yourself salivating in anticipation of a sweet treat.
If pressed (and if we managed to
stay awake during school history lessons), several of us could probably point
out a cacao plant and make a decent stab of guessing which European country it
was first introduced to (Spain) and perhaps even by whom (Christopher
Columbus).
Few of us, while munching a few
squares of our favourite calorific indulgence, know that the refined and
processed bar we hold in our hands is a descendant of an alcoholic beverage
produced from the sweet pulp of the cacao fruit by an enterprising Honduran
around 1400 BC.
Chocolate has always been highly
prized – the cacao bean was even used as currency by the Aztecs while also
being the key ingredient in their bitter spicy beverage called xocolātl. The Aztecs associated cacao
with their goddess of fertility, Xochiquetzal.
None of the ancient Aztecs would be at all surprised that modern courting
couples exchange gifts of chocolate!
As you can see, chocolate’s origins
have little to do with hard bars and even less to do with a sweet taste. Before
the 1700s, chocolate tended to be a drink, and a dark, bitter one at that. We
can thank a notable physician, Hans Sloane, for pushing chocolate evolution
forward. In 1689, in Jamaica, he developed the recipe for a milk chocolate
drink which was initially used in apothecaries and which he later sold to the
Cadbury brothers.
After the development of the first
form of solid chocolate in Turin, a Dutchman, Johannes Van Houten, invented a
method of removing the bitter taste. It is believed that an Englishman, Joseph
Fry, made the first chocolate for eating in 1847, followed, in 1849 by the
Cadbury brothers. Chocolate’s bid for global domination had begun.
Nowadays we are all aware of
chocolate’s reputation for being a calorie laden, obesity inducing, guilty
pleasure. However cocoa or dark chocolate is also known to have beneficial
effects for the circulatory system and may also be a good brain stimulator and
cough preventer. There is no proof that it has any kind of aphrodisiac effect,
although a report by the BBC found that melting chocolate in your mouth
produced more brain activity and a higher increase in heart rate than
passionate kissing! (something women have known for years!)
So, this year, as you make the
agonizing decision of which Christmas treat to eat first, you can stun your family
and friends with a quick history of chocolate, safe in the knowledge that (so
long as you don’t over-indulge too
much) your brain is being stimulated, a nasty winter cough may be prevented and
eating that piece of chocolate is possibly even better than snogging Channing Tatum! Enjoy!
