The Story of Chocolate

It would be quite unthinkable to even attempt to produce good chocolates without
knowing the fabulous history of chocolate which dates back to the 10th century.

The Aztecs were the first to start working with cacao beans. At that time their God,
Quetzalcoatl, was the Gardener of Paradise, which explains why cacao beans were
used as their form of currency. At this stage they served no culinary purpose
whatsoever, and it was only on observing the monkeys that the Aztecs started to
become interested in the culinary properties of the cacao tree fruit. To begin with
only the pulp of the tree was used and it was not until later on that the beans
themselves started to be consumed. We do not know who actually had the idea to
roast the beans and then grind them into a paste, but whoever it was had hit on
something fantastic. This mixture of cocoa and spices was to bring happiness to a
whole population. That is until the day a strange vessel sailed into their harbours.

When in 1502 Christopher Columbus set foot in this "New Spain" he received a gift
of cacao beans from an Indian Chief. He had no idea of the immeasurable value of
what he held in his hands.

Meanwhile the legends of Quetzalcoatl continued. As a King cum Priest seeking
immortality he lost his way and finally became mad when he swallowed a potion
prepared by an evil magician. Before moving eastwards he prophesized saying "I will
return in a year of the reed and exercise my authority once again". The cult
continued to live on under the name of Votan until 1519, a year of the reed. Chance
had it that on 21 April 1519, the time Quetzalcoatl was due to return Hernan Cort©s
actually landed on the shores of belonging to King Moctrezuma. Convinced that the
"Great Plumed Serpent" had returned, the Aztecs were invaded and easily
conquered, and endured only bitter hardship until they finally disappeared. The
Conquistadors who were in the search of a new El Dorado also went through terrible
times. The cocoa prepared for them by the Aztecs was not to their liking because it
was too fatty and bitter, but since they had already exhausted their own supplies
they had no other choice but to get used toit. Cocoa served either with cane sugar
or as a drink gradually gained a reputation as a powerful aphrodisiac. This
reputation was of course reinforced by what the legends had to say about cocoa.
The Spanish soon became very fond of this beverage.

But it was not until 1580 that cocoa reached Europe and the first chocolate makers
began to set up along the Iberian Peninsula. Their recipe for the cocoa drink was
kept secret for a long time until the Netherlands and the Flemish Kingdom
eventually discovered it. It was not before the beginning of the 17th century that
Europe finally discovered the virtues of cacao beans and it was only in 1671 that the
first Parisian ³Drinking Chocolate House² opened.

It was not until 1674 that the "chocolate bar" from Great Britain finally caught on.
But there was still a long way to go and it was as late as 1850 that chocolate ceased
to be a product solely reserved for the aristocracy and started to enjoy widespread
public distribution.

A new industry started to replace the handmade production market, with Menier et
Poulain leading the way in France. Other large names started to appear over the
years: Van Houten who introduced a manufacturing process for chocolate powder in
1825, Peter from Switzerland who introduced milk into chocolate in 1875, Caffarel
from Italy who created Gianduj, Neuhaus from Belgium who invented praline and the
box of chocolates as we know it today, and finally Suchard who made the bar of
milk chocolate the popular success it is today.

Bonnat came onto the scene in 1884 and the famous French praline was only the
beginning of what has turned out to be a long story full of chocolate delights and
surprises. It is worth noting that Chocolatier Bonnat was the first chocolatier to
make Chartreuse chocolates. Bonnat remains the exclusive supplier today.

Despite the fact that chocolate traditions began over 5 centuries ago the love,
passion and pleasure which kindled desires then, still live on today. Chocolate the
perfect partner for all gourmet discoveries.

Cehf Heidi Arndt multi award winning Cordon Bleu Chef.

Between Chocolate and Love

Love somehow resembles eating chocolate, large amount of chocolate! Speaking of the Devil’s Advocate, everything, purposely, have it’s own good side, and thenwarning!.. the bad side.

Speaking of which, chocolate is non-other but tempting. Chocolate blows away mind, shouts..persuades”Taste me, Eat me..Come get me! Indulge over me!” Chocolate? Just can’t get enough of.. Based from a survey I had a year ago, 28 out of 30 have the chocolate stamina, meaning, a bar is never enough! Tick Tack Tick

L-O-V-E..love! You get dumped, been ditched..what? Brokenhearted.. Who stole your magic? It’s not just the matter of who here, it’s a What, Who , When and How. Bling! What? LOVE(compare your definition with the before and after scheme). Who? LOVE(now, be honest.. Did you say “I love you” when you were together? I_love_You doesn’t mean You_Love_I See it this way, it’s not the person but the feeling, right?) When? LOVE(When this irrational feeling hits you, you’re lost already from the startnow, it’s in the matter of how you deal with the maze. Your maze. It’s either you find your way and win, or lose temper and lose!) How? LOVE(Again, you let love get the hold of you, conquer you.)

I love chocolate! I never get tired of falling in and out of love! I can’t get enough of Hershey’s kisses, Toblerone, M and M’s, Lindt, HH, Ferrero, Godiva, Cadburry‘s fruit and nuts, and oh! Yes! Pinoy flat tops! Let me rephrase this, “I can’t get enough of Drew’s kisses, Todd, Marvin and Mike, Lyndon, Henry’s *Hug, Fernando, George, Carlo’s soft kisses and hard screams, and oh! Yes! Pinoy flat tops!(Marine students who are as hot as burning ovens!)” Names, brands..All are the same. All are different. You crave for them, both, him, all

Passion. I love his blue eyes, his nose really is for Eskimo kisses, I feel secured with his arms around me, his voice takes me to heaven, and damn! He just shot me dead with his looks!

Again, passion. I hate it when we argue, that of too much anger I turn blue! His nose I would love to get a closed fist of, and break it! I would call for a body guard now, I can’t stand this fight, my arms are weak. Sweet talk, and then what? Bed? He gets laid, and damn! He just shot my heart dead with the picture of him with a hoe!

Love, like chocolate addicting, insanely devoting, shoddy temperance. Learn? What learn? Stop? When stop? Get a life? How?

Then, I remember her said, yes..immortality said. She said, chocolate? It is for reward system. Love? I sank When you are complete, then you’re cool to be in the next level. Let me meet you there! See you!

Why Do We Love To Eat Chocolate?

Do you ever wonder why we love chocolate so much? The answer may seem as simple as because it tastes good, but there may be more to it than that. There are actual studies to back up some of the physical effects you can experience while eating certain kinds of chocolates. The stimulation your body gets provides a pleasant feeling to your taste buds, making you always come back for more.

Chocolate is known to be a mild mood elevator, stimulating brainwaves and pushing your stress levels down. This is probably why alot of people will stuff themselves with sweets when they are angry or upset. Little do they know it, but they are actually helping themselves out by eating chocolates. When your stress levels lower, you become more relaxed which in turn is beneficial to your health.

Chocolates also raise antioxidant levels in the blood, which in turn help fight any foreign bodies that can cause illnesses. With healthier levels, you are much less likely to come down with viruses or other things that could affect you at various times of the year.

And of course there is the benefit your taste buds feel when consuming your favorite candy bar or other chocolate treat. Eating sweets just puts you in a better mood, keeping you in touch with the child within. Whether it is peanut butter flavored chocolates, chocolate covered raisins, or creamy white chocolate you will be experiencing utter satisfaction when you indulge yourself. It’s hard to explain, but only true chocolate lovers will understand this.

Giving the gift of chocolates is a very rewarding experience. You know that the person who receives it will enjoy it many times over and be grateful with every savory bite. There is a tremendous variety of gifts today, from chocolate flowers to boxed treats. And many are low priced making them an even more attractive option. Several companies specialize specifically in this area, personalizing and shipping items direct for you.

One thing to remember though is that there are some negative effects on your body, should you consume it often. There are generally high levels of sugar in chocolates, mainly due to the other ingredients that are added. Too much sugar will result in extra calories and fat which can lead to higher cholesterol if you don’t regularly exercise. One of the largest problem plaguing our society today is obesity. Eating too much chocolate will put you in this category and increase your risk for serious health problems.

So the next time you are enjoying your favorite candy bar or talking to a fellow chocolate lover, you can ponder why it is you love eating it so much. The simple answer is the taste, but you now know that there is much more to it. There are even some physical reasons for this, almost forcing your body to eat it. And fortunately for you the chocolate choices are endless.

Improve Your Health and Well-Being with Raw Chocolate

(NaturalNews) Kit Kats, Snickers, Cadbury. We all know that chocolate is bad for us right? Wrong!
Chocolate is actually one of the healthiest foods on the earth! Research is continually proving that chocolate is actually a super food. The problem is that most chocolate has been highly processed and heated, stealing all the nutrients.

Further, Many ingredients are added to chocolate which have a negative impact on our health. Sugar, for example, destroys the immune system, and causes diabetes, premature aging and other serious health complaints. Studies show that adding milk to chocolate cancels out all of the goodness. In addition, researchers have found that commercial chocolate can be contaminated with extremely high quantities of the toxic metal lead.

You may be asking yourself what is left if you can’t have milk chocolate, dark chocolate or any sort of processed chocolate. Fear not, the absolutely delicious raw chocolate is taking the world by storm. You don’t need to avoid chocolate this holiday season because you can have raw chocolate.
Raw chocolate is chocolate that has not gone through any sort of heating or processing, so all of the nutrients are still in tact.

So What are the Nutrients?

Chocolate contains more magnesium than any other food. Magnesium is the number one mineral deficiency in the west. It is the most powerful stress relieving mineral. It also relaxes the muscles and builds strong bones and teeth.

Chocolate is also power packed with antioxidants, which protect us from aging and disease. The following is a list of the foods with the highest ORAC values (the number given to foods based on their antioxidant activity):

•Unprocessed Raw Cacao - ORAC 28,000
•Acai Berries - ORAC 18,500
•Dark Chocolate - ORAC 13,120
•Prunes - 5,770
•Goji Berries - 3,472
•Pomegranates - 3,307
•Raisins - 2,830
•Blueberries - 2,400

Amazing! You can see that even heated dark chocolate has a high antioxidant level. Unfortunately, most dark chocolate has sugar added to it.

Chocolate is actually higher in the antioxidant resveratrol than red wine. The media have been giving red wine a lot of attention over the last few years because it is rich in this antioxidant, which is know for protecting cells from free radical damage and inhibiting the spread of cancer. It is also know to your lower blood pressure and normalize your anti-inflammatory response.

Chocolate is also rich in sulphur, which is the beauty mineral. Sulphur is essential for gorgeous skin, lustrous hair and strong nails.

Chocolate is one of the only sources of PEA, which is a compound that increases the serotonin levels in the brain, which increases joy. No wonder people are so attracted to chocolate!

More Benefits of Chocolate

Chocolate may help prevent cardiovascular disease in diabetics because of their high levels of flavanol. Research has shown that people with diabetes that drank flavanol rich cocoa for one month showed dramatic improvements in their blood vessel function. In fact, the improvements they noticed were as high as those found in taking drugs. Chocolate is an amazing super food for keeping your heart healthy and for improving elasticity in your blood vessels.

Chocolate helps people to feel amazing. Besides PEA, the rich creaminess of chocolate has been known to boost sex drive and make us feel alive. And the good news is that it doesn’t have to contain milk, sugar, aluminium, or any other ingredients that may have a negative impact on our health. Raw chocolate can be combined with other super foods so that we can indulge our sweet tooth and improve our health at the same time.

Even the biggest sweet tooth junk food eaters enjoy raw chocolate.

How to Get Raw Chocolate

Some health food shops are beginning to sell raw chocolate, and you can also order it online.

Better yet, you can make your own vegan raw chocolate at home. There are so many different recipes out there that combine different super foods. Here is one of the most basic for you to try out:

Raw Cacao butter
Raw Cacao powder
Mesquite
Agave Nectar (yes…only four ingredients, but you won’t believe how it tastes!)

Put boiling water in a bowl. Put the cacao butter (how ever much chocolate you intend to make) in another bowl, then set that in the bowl with the boiling water. This will ensure that the cacao is not heated above 116 degrees f, which is the point at which the molecular structure begins to change. Thus, if it is heated to a temperature under 116, it is still considered raw.

Make sure that you break the cacao butter down into tiny bits; otherwise it will take ages to melt.
Once the butter is melted, pour in half the amount of chocolate powder. So if you melted 2 grams of butter, put in 1 gram powder.

Now put in that same amount of mesquite. Mesquite meal is a traditional Native American food that has been used as a staple food for centuries by desert dwellers. This high protein meal contains good quantities of calcium, magnesium, potassium, iron and zinc, and is rich in the amino acid lysine as well. It has a sweet taste that will give your chocolate a kick.

Add as much agave nectar as you want. Agave nectar is an incredibly delicious natural sweetener that will NOT make your blood sugar levels spin out of control. It is actually the same plant that tequila comes from.

Now take a rubber ice cup tray (you can use a plastic one, but it can be difficult to get the chocolate out of) and load it up with chocolate. Put it in the freezer, it should be ready to eat in about 30 minutes.

Chocolate Really Is Good For You: Studies Prove It

Reports from recent studies have given you plenty of reasons to keep on eating chocolate without feeling guilty. In fact, the news from several studies released this spring shows that chocolate is quite effective against the number one killer of Americans, heart disease. Another serious threat to our health, environmental pollution, was significantly reduced by eating chocolate. And the news is even better for females.

Studies and results

Epidemiologic investigations have supported the hypothesis that regular consumption of flavonoid-containing foods reduces the risk of cardiovascular diseases. While flavonoids are found in many plants, cocoa is particularly rich in a subclass of flavonoids known as flavanols. Several dietary intervention trials with flavanol containing cocoa products have shown improvements in endothelial and platelet function, as well as blood pressure. These studies have provided direct evidence of the benefits of flavanol containing foods and have helped to substantiate the epidemiological data.

The April, 2008 Journal of Nutrition reports a double-blind controlled study evaluating the efficacy of daily consumption of a cocoa flavanol-containing dark chocolate bar and chocolate bar with added plant sterols on serum lipids, blood pressure, and other circulating cardiovascular health markers in a population with elevated serum cholesterol. Plant sterols are essential components of plant membranes that resemble the chemical structure of animal cholesterol and carry out similar cellular functions in plants. 49 adults participated in the study, eating the American Heart Association style diet for two weeks prior to beginning the study. They were divided into two groups and instructed to consume 2 cocoa flavanol containing dark chocolate bars per day with or without plant sterols. Each bar was nutrient matched and contained approximately 180 mg of cocoa flavanols.

Participants consumed 1 bar 2 times per day for 4 weeks, then switched to the other bar for an additional 4 weeks. Serum lipids and other cardiovascular markers were measured at baseline and after 4 and 8 weeks. Blood pressure was measured every 2 weeks. Regular consumption of the plant sterol containing bar resulted in reduction of 2.0 and 5.3 % in serum total and LDL cholesterol (P<0.05), respectively. Consumption of cocoa flavanols also reduced systolic blood pressure at 8 weeks.

In the International Journal of Immunopathology and Pharmacology, April-June, 2008, researchers note that epidemiological and experimental studies have suggested that diesel exhaust particles which generate free radicals may be involved in the recent increases in the prevalence of lung diseases. Diesel is a distillate of petroleum. The study investigated the effects of dietary supplementation of cocoa proanthocyanidins on mice in which lung injury from diesel exhaust particles was induced. Proanthocyanidins are polyphenols that occur naturally in chocolate and have powerful antioxidative effects. This supplementation of 1.0 percent inhibited the diesel induced lung injury.

Analysis showed that cocoa proanthocyanidins prevented enhanced expression of adhesion molecules caused by the diesel lung injury. Other evidence of lung injury indicative of oxidative stress was also observed in the lungs of diesel treated mice, however these indicators of free radical damage were barely visible in mice pretreated with the cocoa supplementation. In addition, the level of reactive substances indicative of oxidative stress in the lung was decreased by the cocoa supplementation in the presence of the diesel particles.

We have learned that the stress response leads to behavioral and metabolic changes. Exposure to chronic stress can promote the development of physiological and behavioral dysfunction, including alterations in eating behaviors. The aim of a study reported in the April 25 issue of Appetite was to verify whether chronic restraint stress alters the consumption of chocolate chronically offered to the animals. Male rats ate more chocolate than females, and exhibited a higher weight gain, abdominal fat deposition, and higher plasma levels of total cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol and glucose. The stress exposure increased adrenal weight and decreased plasma insulin levels.

The female rats, however, had lower plasma insulin levels and chocolate consumption prevented the increased adrenal gland weight after exposure to chronic stress, suggesting a reduction of stress effects induced by the chocolate consumption. These results imply that at least some of the stress related effects of chocolate consumption are sex-specific. The fact that females often reach for chocolate in times of high stress while males generally do not may be instinctual behavior.

Chocolate has been revered throughout history

Love of chocolate goes back at least as far as the Aztecs. Cocoa beans were so highly valued during the rule of Emperor Montezuma that they were used as currency. Chocolate was believed to boost physical and mental energy, provide memory and wisdom, and act as an aphrodisiac. When explorer Cortez arrived in the central American’s, Montezuma presented him with gold, silver and cocoa, and Cortez brought the recipe for hot cocoa back to Spain. Later, in Sweden, naturalist Linnaeus christened the chocolate plant the Latin equivalent of ‘food of the gods’.

For hundreds of year, healers used chocolate to cure ailments such as tuberculosis, gout, fatigue, diarrhea, weak digestion, hemorrhoids, low virility, and shortness of breath.

More health benefits of chocolate

Chocolate is chock-full of nutrients. It is an excellent source of potassium and magnesium, and calcium. It also contains vitamins A, B1, B2, D, and E.

Chocolate gives us energy. The theobromine in chocolate stimulates the central nervous system and facilitates muscle exertion. The small amount of caffeine it contains increases intellectual activity, watchfulness, and resistance to fatigue. An average size chocolate bar contains about 6 mg. of caffeine, compared to 100-150 mg. in a cup of coffee.

A study conducted in the U.K. found that theobromine may be more effective as a cough medicine than standard drug treatments. The research showed that theobromine acts on the sensory nerve endings of the vagus nerve, which runs through the airways in the lungs to the brain.

The mood boosting effects of chocolate are due to the endorphins it contains. These natural brain chemicals are released when you eat chocolate. Endorphins also help with premenstrual syndrome. Anandamide acts on brain receptors to help promote the mood boost and enhance feelings of well being.

A researcher from the John Hopkins University School of Medicine says that eating a few squares of dark chocolate every day can reduce your risk of dying from a heart attack by as much as 50%. The study found that blood platelets clotted slower in people who ate chocolate.

Another study found that adults with chronic fatigue syndrome who eat 1.5 ounces of 85% dark chocolate were less fatigued.

An Italian study found that eating dark chocolate normalizes the body’s metabolism of blood sugar, reducing the risk of diabetes and hypoglycemia.

In addition to phenols, which promote heart health, chocolate contains catechins which are antioxidants that help protect the body against cardiovascular disease and cancer.

Chocolate is also high in tryptophan, an essential amino acid that increases the production of serotonin, antidepressants and stress relievers. Keeping up your tryptophan level may prevent cravings for starchy and sweet foods, and help you if you are trying to lose weight.