Chocolate

Chocolate


Why we Crave Chocolate
You crave it. I crave it. We all crave it. I’m talking about chocolate, a sweet that’s in a category by itself. But what is so special about chocolate? Why do lovers send a heart-shaped box of chocolates for Valentine’s Day, instead of strawberry pastries or licorice whips? Is it simply the rich and creamy texture and delicious taste? After all, chocolate has over 500 flavor components, more than twice the amount found in strawberry and licorice combined. I took this as an opportunity to do some difficult research that included eating a lot of chocolate. While I was eating squares and truffles by the pound and finding myself happier, other researchers with degrees and funding, such as Danielle Piomelli, were publishing scientific explanations for why we love and crave this confection. Danielle found that chocolate contains phenylethylamine, a natural substance that increases the activity of neurotransmitters (brain chemicals) that stimulate the same reaction in the body as falling in love. And there is more! Another neurotransmitter called anandamide has been isolated in chocolate. This one stimulates feelings of euphoria and changes one’s perception of time. The good news keeps coming: there is two other brain chemicals found in chocolate that inhibit the natural breakdown of anandamide. This means that these euphoric feelings will last longer when we eat chocolate.

Benefits of Chocolate

Need more of an incentive to enjoy indulging in chocolate? How about that it may be good for your heart? Presented in February 2002 at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Sciences annual meeting, scientists reported evidence that chocolate may keep high blood pressure down, it can also keep your blood flowing and your heart healthy. Here is what they found:
· A substance in cocoa helps the body process nitric oxide, a compound critical for healthy blood flow and blood pressure.

· Flavonols in cocoa prevent fat-like substances in the blood stream from oxidizing and clogging the arteries.

· Cocoa beans contain potent levels of antioxidant properties, as much as, cranberries, strawberries, red wine, apples, tea, and peanuts.


The Delicious and Decadent History of Chocolate
It’s hard to believe that chocolate, as we know it has been around for less than 200 years. The origins of chocolate, however, stretch back at least 4000 years and begin with a tiny little bean called the cacao bean. The cacoa bean is derived from the “Theobroma” tree, which is Greek for “food of the gods”. To the Mayans and Aztecs, consuming chocolate was a privilege reserved for their “gods”. Legend tells us the Aztec emperor Montezuma drank 50 cups of cachautl (chocolate) a day, making him probably the greatest chocoholic of all time. Chocolate was originally served as a beverage in ancient Mexico. The conquering Spaniards changed the name of Montezuma’s cachuatl to chocolatl – and that’s where we get our English name. The gold hungry conquistador Hernando Cortes brought the cacao bean back to Spain in 1528as currency.

100 cacao beans would buy a slave, 12 beans the services of a courtesan and 10 beans for a rabbit. This is where the saying, “money doesn’t grow on trees” derived from. Columbus had actually discovered the cacao beans first, but I suppose he was too busy looking for the ocean route to India to pay any attention to the decadent delight of chocolate. Or, perhaps he disliked the taste, for originally the beverage was thick and bitter and was flavored with cornmeal, chilies, and hallucinogenic mushrooms. When the Spanish first brought chocolate back to Europe, it was still being served as a beverage, but it soon went through an important evolution: the chili pepper was replace by sugar and they left out the mushrooms. The new, sweetened chocolate beverage became such a hit that Spanish society ladies had it served during Mass. When the French latched onto it, Marquis de Sade immediately hailed it as an aphrodisiac and able to cure all ills. The French government slapped heavy taxes on it, further enhancing its status as a drink only the Royal Courts of Europe could afford.

From Beverage to Bar
We have the Mayans and Aztecs to thank for chocolate, but in the hands of the Dutch, English, and Swiss it evolved into its current heavenly form. Two heroes are responsible for the first Chocolate Bar. In 1828, Dutch chocolatier, Conrad van Houten patented a press to extract cocoa butter from the roasted ground beans. And in 1849, English chocolate maker Joseph Fry created the first chocolate bar by using the technology of the steam engine. Today, Switzerland is the chocolate capital of the world, and rightly so with two major developments that occurred in 1879. First, Henri Nestle, a baby food manufacturer developed a way to incorporate condensed milk into the candy, creating milk chocolate. Second, Rudolphe Lindt invented a process called “conching”, which produces a smooth-textured chocolate bar. America’s love affair with chocolate was ignited when Milton Hershey substituted fresh whole milk for the condensed milk in chocolate and the Hershey Bar was born.



My Favorite Chocolate Indulgences
1) Godiva
2) Lindt
3) Hershey’s Kiss
4) Baci-Perugina
5) Toberlone
6) Ghirardelli
7) Scharffen Berger
8) Sees
9) Cadbury
10) Rocher