Chocolate

The Sweetest Seduction

The relationship between Love and chocolate is a bit shaky and there are plenty of myths about it! One myth about chocolates magic is in the history of Mesoamerica. The Aztecs and Mayans inherited cacao from the Olmecs who had discovered it around 1500 BC. Aztecs associated cacao with their God of fertility while the Mayans with their Goddess of fertility. The Mayans also connected cacao with a male deity they knew as Seven Flower, and the Aztecs with his equivalent, Xochipilli, these two Gods controlled stimulants and hallucinogens.

Cacao beans grow inside of a large pod, on the side of cacao tree. The beans are harvested, fermented, roasted and ground and mixed with a variety of different ingredients, chilis, cinnamon ground flowers, honey, or anise. In 1590 Jose de Acosta observed, Spanish men, and women were addicted to it. European women living in the new world loved drinking chocolate during mass, but when the local bishop realized this he condemned it as a "damned agent from the witches brew," and he threw the evil cacao drinkers out of church causing a sword fight to break out. Later the priest was mysteriously poisoned.

Aztec warriors believed cacao gave them strength for battle and considered to be an aphrodisiac. Aztecs allowed only the elite to partake of cacao; the poor were given their first and last cup of hot chocolate immediately before they were sacrificed. The foreheads of newborns were anointed in a rite resembling baptism.

Spaniards renamed it chocolatl. They combined the Mayan word, chocol (hot), and Nahuatl, alt (water). So chocolate means hot water. Cacao also meant Food of the Gods' By the 17th century the Spanish were famous throughout Europe for their chocolate drinks. In 1644 chocolate was known in Italy as medicine. Italians were adding chocolate to meat dishes and ice cream. French chefs experimented with cakes and the English thought of adding milk to their hot chocolate. The French Court was enthusiastic about chocolate but in 1659 strange tales began circulating cumulating with the marquise de Sevigne in one of her finest pieces of gossip telling about the marquise de Coetlogon. She took so much chocolate being pregnant last year that she was brought to bed of a little boy as black as the devil!'

In 1847 a cacao press was invented. Cocoa butter could now be added back to the powder mixed with sugar and molded into the world's first chocolate bar. In 1861 Richard Cadbury created the first heart shaped candy box, a box that is still very popular!

By the end of WW II the Hershey Company was producing 24 million chocolate bars a day for our men in arms for rations. As seen in old war movies these bars and silk stockings were often used for bartering.

Another interesting historical note about chocolate; The Chocolate chip cookie. Ruth Wakefield was baking her famous Butter Drop Do' cookies for her guests at the Toll House Lodge she and her husband owned, when she realized she had no bakers chocolate. Rather than panic she chopped up a chocolate bar and used it instead. To every ones surprise these cookies were Awsome!' The chocolate bar had been a gift from Andrew Nestle. She contacted Nestle and sold him her cookie recipe for a life time supply of chocolate.

Thanks to modern science we are beginning to understand why the world has become a bunch of Chocoholics'. The chemical in chocolate, Theobromine' triggers the production of dopamine in the brains and causes a euphoric feeling similar to that of opium. Nutritionists have also discovered chocolate contains caffeine, flavanoids, and lowers blood pressure. +

The draw back is you'd have to eat a bucketful because the amount of these nutrients is minute and chocolate is fattening! Chocolate is good for a cough, soothes the throat and can cause acid reflux. It is not an aphrodisiac and does not cause acne; in fact it is good for skin. As you can see, there are lots of ways to look at Chocolate!

To me Chocolate will always represent Love and passion. Chocolate,' wrote the English poet Wadsworth, t'will make Old Women Young and Fresh, Create new Motions of the Flesh, and cause them to long for You-Know-What if they but Taste CHO-CO-LATE.'

This recipe for romance sounds good to me, strawberries in Chocolate Fondue with Champagne and candlelight for my guy tonight.

Chocolate fondue

6 oz. Milk chocolate chips
6-oz. Semi Sweet chocolate chips
½ cup vanilla ice cream
3 TBSP of Kahlua
Fresh fruit, strawberries, bananas, pears, pineapples or apples.

In double boiler, melt Chocolate chips with ice cream and Kahlua over hot, not boiling water. Pour into fondue or serving dish.'Do not heat Chocolate while serving'

Dip fruit in sauce, pour Champagne, Light candles, etc. etc. etc. etc. and enjoy;

Clothing is optional!

Please be sure to buy Chocolate from companies that display "Free Trade" Labels only!

To contact Crystal Hayes email her at crystalhayes@peak.org

Added 24 May, 2007 by Crystal