Kyle Thompson
MMCH Dietician
Smooth, creamy chocolate candy melts on the tongue and tastes like heaven. For most of its long history, however, chocolate was thought of as a bitter drink, not a food, and sweetness wasn’t even associated with it.
Sweetened chocolate appeared only after the Spanish conquistadores carried the bitter cacao (chocolate) beans back to Europe from South America. The Spaniards quickly discovered that when mixed with honey or sugar, cacao was, well, pretty darn good.
Increase your chocolate IQ with these “bon-bons” of chocolate knowledge:
• Chocolate terminology: Cacao means the chocolate plant or its beans before processing; chocolate means anything that is made from the beans; and cocoa refers to chocolate in a powdered form.
• Theobroma cacao, the Latin term for the cacao tree, means “food of the gods.”
• Chocolate in one form or another has probably been around for at least 2,000 years, but recent research has revealed that it may have been used as a food much earlier. Cacao residue has been found on pottery dating back to about 1,500 B.C.
• Casanova was reputed to have been very fond of chocolate.
• Chocolate came to the American colonies in 1765. Irish chocolate-maker John Hanan brought cacao beans imported from the West Indies into Massachusetts, where he refined them with the help of an American, Dr. James Baker. The two built America’s first chocolate mill, which by 1780 was producing the still famous BAKER’S ® chocolate.
• In 1861, Richard Cadbury marketed the first known heart-shaped candy box for Valentine’s Day.
• In 1897, the Sears Roebuck catalog provided the first known recipe for chocolate brownies.
• On July 1, 1907, the first Hershey’s Chocolate Kiss was made.
• By 1925, chocolate was big business. The New York Cocoa Exchange was opened so that chocolate buyers and chocolate sellers could get together to make “sweet” deals.
• In 1930, dietitian Ruth Wakefield invented the chocolate chip cookie at the Toll House Inn.
And now for the two big chocolate questions: Is chocolate good for you? Dark chocolate (at least 70 percent cocoa), as opposed to milk or white chocolate, may have beneficial effects on blood pressure and cholesterol.
Dark chocolate contains healthful substances called flavenoids, similar to those found in tea, red wine, fruits and vegetables.
Enjoy 20 grams, or about 3⁄4 oz. of dark chocolate, three times per week. (20 grams is about 2.5 Hershey’s Miniature Chocolate Bars). Because dark chocolate is high in calories, balance your intake of chocolate with your total diet to avoid excess calories and weight gain.
Is chocolate an aphrodisiac? Chocolate contains small amounts of phenylethylamine, or PEA, which has been linked to physical energy and mood. A very small amount of PEA is released by the body at moments of emotional euphoria.
Unfortunately, there’s no evidence that PEA found in food affects PEA levels in the brain. Many other foods, including cheese, contain more PEA than chocolate. So, it doesn’t seem that chocolate is a “love drug,” although chocolate lovers may beg to differ!
RECIPE
Chocolate Dipped Strawberries
8 oz. quality dark chocolate
12-14 large fresh strawberries
Instructions
1. Rinse the strawberries with water and pat dry.
2. Melt chocolate over a double boiler.
3. Dip strawberries in the melted chocolate until 3/4 covered.
4. Put berries on a sheet of waxed paper to cool.
5. Let stand until chocolate hardens.
