Legend says chocolate is a powerful love potion. History is full of stories about people who put chocolate’s reputation to the test. - Montezuma supposedly drank 50 cups of chocolate a day. And as if that weren’t enough, he downed an additional cup to increase his stamina before consorting with his female companions.
- Cacao seeds were like cash. In fact, dishonest Aztec merchants are believed to have made counterfeits!
- It’s said that in the 18th century, chocolate was the preferred drink of Cardinals—they even served chocolate while electing a new Pope. In fact, chocolate was rumored to have disguised a poison that killed Pope Clement XIV in 1774.
- Casanova, reportedly the greatest lover who ever lived, was said to have drunk chocolate daily to increase his amorous energy. Supposedly he preferred it over champagne as an aphrodisiac.
- The Marquis de Sade, an author and the inspiration for the term “sadistic,” had his wife send him chocolate in prison. He was even rumored to have thrown a hedonistic party where he served guests chocolate laced with cantharsis (a Spanish fly also believed to induce lust).
- St. Valentine’s Day supported the tradition of sending chocolates to the one you love—the idea being that the candy’s mysterious properties would seduce your beloved’s heart and cause him or her to return your feelings.
- Mass production has made chocolate available to a much wider market. However, in countries where cacao is grown, the value of cacao as an export crop outweighs the sensory delights of eating it.
- And not everyone is in love with chocolate. Most Asian cultures have never really developed a taste for the sweet. In fact, the Chinese eat only one bar of chocolate for every 1,000 consumed by the British.
- In Japan, American soldiers introduced chocolate to the country during World War II. Its popularity is now beginning to rise, and the Japanese consume about 3.75 pounds of chocolate per person a year.
Today, the Catholic Church recognizes at least three martyred saints who bore the name Valentine or Valentinus. On February 14, 273 C.E. [A.D.], the Roman Emperor Claudius II beheaded a priest named Valentine. It seems that Valentine continued to perform marriages in secret after Claudius declared that young soldiers must remain single.
Claudius outlawed marriage because he believed it decreased a man’s zest for battle. One legend says that, while he was in prison, St. Valentine actually sent the first valentine to his jailer’s daughter. Having fallen in love with her, he signed his romantic letter “from your Valentine”—the phrase we still use today.
When picking out a St. Valentine’s Day gift for a loved one next year, you may want to head for the grocery store. Cheddar cheese, salami, and pickled herring all contain more PEA (the chemical connected with emotional highs) than chocolate. During the Middle Ages, Europeans believed that birds chose their mates each year on February 14th. To emulate their feathered friends, people drew lots on this date and let fate decide who their future mates would be.
Will I Live Longer If I Eat Chocolate? Perhaps. A Harvard University study found that men who ate chocolate lived one year longer than those who didn’t. Scientists think that chocolate contains chemicals that help keep blood vessels elastic and increase beneficial antioxidants in the bloodstream, but research is under way and no conclusive results have been found.
“If you are not feeling well, if you have not slept, chocolate will revive you.” Marquise de Sevigne, February 11, 1677
Florence Nightingale, the mother of nursing, considered chocolate a basic ingredient of healthcare. A single bar of dark chocolate contains more than twice as many antioxidants as a bar of milk chocolate. Also, dark chocolate harbors fewer calories than milk chocolate. Milk chocolate is much higher in unhealthful saturated fats and calories simply because it contains milk. Also, it contains fewer cocoa solids per ounce (and thus fewer antioxidants). In fact, it takes four cacao seeds to make one ounce of milk chocolate and 12 seeds to make one ounce of dark chocolate. About the only health advantage milk chocolate has over dark chocolate is that it contains calcium.
yours truly,
witsanwisdom
