Some experts suggest chocolate may have certain health benefits, though most people know it best is as an exclamation of love from one heart to another on Valentine’s Day or any other time an expression of love is needed or appreciated.
If you love chocolate— and most of us are willing to confess to a strong “like”— you may not necessarily know where it originated or how it came to be so enmeshed in our lives. A little history may help.
A Bit of Chocolate History
According to Luk Casteleyn of Casteleyn Belgian Chocolatiers in Burlington, Ontario (Canada) the cocoa plant is a tree that grows in tropical areas. As the tree flowers, one in every 100 blossoms produce a cocoa pod. The pods are harvested twice a year. The beans are removed from the pod, sorted, allowed to ferment for a few days, then dried and finally roasted. The roasting process is a delicate procedure that develops the color and flavor of the chocolate. The roasted beans are then crushed to produce a paste that is processed to make cocoa powder and chocolate.
It takes approximately four hundred cocoa beans to make one pound of chocolate.
Casteleyn says the cocoa tree was believed to be first cultivated by the Olmecs in the Gulf of Mexico area around 1000 BC. The use of chocolate thereafter spread throughout Mexico. Spanish explorer Cortes brought back the first chocolate to Europe to present to Charles V in 1528. The first chocolate stores in Europe opened in the 1580’s.
Chocolate continued to grow in popularity in Spain when Cortes learned how to convert the bitter cocoa bean into a flavourful drink.
In France, chocolate was considered a powerful drug and not recognized by the French court until the Paris faculty of medicine gave its approval. Finally, the wife of Louis XIII, Anne of Austria, declared chocolate as the drink of the French court. But that wasn’t until 1615, many years after it was already popular in Spain.
The demand for chocolate spread throughout Europe in the early seventeenth century and continues to this day to grow in popularity worldwide.
We Eat More Chocolate Now Than Ever
Almost 500 years later we are consuming more chocolate than ever before, some countries more than others. “Typically Belgians eat close to 10 kg of chocolate a year per person. In Canada the number is close to 5.5 kg per person. Canada has some catching up to do,” says Casteleyn.
You can purchase chocolate at the corner store, or you can venture into the pricier but all the more irresistible world of the Chocolatier; those entrepreneurs whose business is making this wonderful item from scratch, and whose stores present for the visitor a sensory taste of heaven.
As to why people love chocolate the way they do, Luk Casteleyn has his own opinion, “People love chocolate for the fact it tastes great and makes them feel good.”
So Why Does Chocolate Make us Feel so good?
Some of the good feeling may arise from its ingredients; the obromine and caffeine provide energy, serotonin and phenylethylamin have an anti-stress effect, and chocolate also contains lots of antioxidants. According to research it has also been said that chocolate stimulates the release of endorphins in the body, which can block pain and generate feelings of euphoria.
But back to one of our opening statements: If you’re looking for further reasons to eat chocolate, how about for its possible dietary benefits? The nutritious cocoa used to create chocolate contains calcium, iron, niacin, thiamine, zinc, carbohydrate, vitamin A and riboflavin.
So what the heck. Eat and enjoy, within reason -- and don’t forget to give some to the one you love. For while good chocolate may not be the foundation of a good relationship, it can certainly be used to help cement a relationship along the way!
Anything that makes your mouth water and makes you feel good just thinking about it, is something special.
Mary-Louise Langlois - Mary-Louise Langlois has been a freelance writer since 1978, with “time off” to raise her four children. She is a graduate ...
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